Beverley Knight is a woman well aware of the consequences of poor decision-making. “Now ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’ means I’m out of time, “Coz ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’, can’t change your mind.” Inexplicably, popular music tends to gives more attention to matters of the heart than it…Read more…
Of course I’ll defend the rights Europe has delivered. But we want better, not just more of the same!
David Cameron is touring national capitals around Europe garnering support for his pre-referendum EU renegotiation strategy. And because his strategy seems to be bad news for British workers, he sometimes finds we’ve been there first. Today, for example, I’ll be travelling to Luxembourg…Read more…
Organise and win – like the Chainmakers
Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland (pictured left) on Sunday (July 12) helped Midlands trade unionists celebrate the successful achievements of 800 striking women Chainmakers in 1910 by…Read more…
Missing skills emergencies
The UK is now facing an emergency skills crisis in key sectors including manufacturing, construction, science and engineering, the Confederation of British Industry warned today (July 13). The…Read more…
Building on sand
‘Fixing The Foundations’, the government’s plan to ‘boost productivity, was launched this week by business secretary Sajid Javid. Addressing workers at a UK automotive factory, Javid talked…Read more…
The shambles that wrecks lives
More than 30 Unite Community activists and local residents protested outside an ex Unite shop steward’s house today (Monday July 13) to stop bailiff’s evicting him and his severely disabled daughter….Read more…
Apprentices levy: government skills policy paradigm shift
It’s a game changer – that is the general reaction to the news of a levy on large employers to pay for apprentices. It has met with much surprise too. Is this really what we expect from a Conservative government? Something that three successive Labour governments felt was a step too far?…Read more…
Council signs up to Fight for 5
We have just learned that a Unite young activist has signed his employer up to Unite’s #fightfor5 pledge for decent work for all. Joe McGurk (pictured), who is part of Unite’s youth committee and…Read more…
The passion and the colour
It was cheers all round for Unite general secretary Len McCluskey when he announced at Saturday’s (July 11) 150,000 strong Durham Miners’ Gala that, “Unite has signed up 50,000 of our members to take…Read more…
Cameron playing with fire on workers’ rights
The TUC has been criticised for crying wolf over the Prime Minister’s plans to use the EU renegotiation phase of the referendum strategy to attack workers’ rights. But today’s media stories suggest we are spot on the money on both working time and temporary agency workers. The…Read more…
Clock is ticking for Ofsted on FoI requests
On June 30, ATL submitted a Freedom of Information (FoI) request regarding the failure of 1,200 inspectors to pass Ofsted’s rigorous new assessment process: Dear Madam/Sir Freedom of…Read more…
Honour pay deal call
The delivery of cash to the UK’s 4,500 post offices could be hit, if a group of Post Office managers take industrial action over the management’s refusal to make an agreed one-off payment of between…Read more…
“In our unity there is strength”
Osborne’s onslaught on tax credits will disproportionately impact Northern Ireland, Unite has warned. If adopted in Northern Ireland, plans to scrap student maintenance grants would exclude a…Read more…
We are not the enemy within
Ministers should stop regarding trade unions as ‘the enemy within’ when it comes to partnership working to jump-start the UK’s dismal productivity record, Unite said today (July 10). …Read more…
Contradictory tangle
George Osborne’s emergency summer Budget was released with much fanfare on Wednesday (July 8), with the announcement of a compulsory “Living Wage” being hailed as the chancellor’s “master stroke”….Read more…
Migrant workers expose wins plaudits
The Unite communications department took home two awards at the TUC trade union communications awards on Tuesday night (July 7), including winner of the Best Feature category and a Highly Commended…Read more…
Pay offer ends action
Strike action at pharmaceuticals and healthcare supplier United Drugs/Sangers was suspended yesterday (July 9) after management offered the workforce a backdated pay improvement. Unite…Read more…
Construction failure reflects neglect and recklessness under the coalition
Latest ONS figures show construction falling by -1.3 per cent into May; this follows a Q1 growth figure that was the slowest for two years. The chart below shows the longer view. Construction output caved-in in the early years of the coalition; from ar…Read more…
George Osborne: British Conservative or German-style Christian Democrat?
My former TUC colleague Duncan Weldon, who is now the Newsnight economics correspondent, has written an interesting post for his BBC web page today under the headline ‘Osborne’s “Christian Democrat Budget”? Duncan knows that I’ve long taken an interest in the German economic model and, accordingly,…Read more…
Common priorities for Europe in Britain & Ireland
Yesterday I had the honour of addressing the Congress of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), and a large part of my speech focused on the challenges facing the European Union. Including, of…Read more…