The latest example of what’s wrong with Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) – the privileged route to riches for foreign investors who can persuade a separate international court that they have been disadvantaged by a democratically-elected government – is a case being lodged…Read more…
Tens of thousands of women a year suffer pregnancy discrimination but only a handful enforce their rights
Today, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published findings from the largest ever survey of the scale of pregnancy discrimination in Britain’s workplaces. Its headline finding: one in nine new mothers is forced out of work each year because of their pregnancy or maternity leave. That’s…Read more…
ISDS: we won’t be fooled by a rebranding
Yesterday, Brussels was full of rumours that the European Commission had finally found a way to respond to the massive backlash generated by its proposal for a special court for US investors: a simple rebranding should do the trick. Currently known as …Read more…
“Cash strapped Councils struggle to cope as Osborne’s austerity cuts bite”
Research by the Financial Times shows the extent to which local authorities are struggling to cope with the cuts in funding associated with the coalition government’s ‘austerity’ measures. The FT reported that vital services to 150,000 pensioners have been withdrawn whilst child…Read more…
UNISON Selection of Labour’s Leader and Deputy Leader Candidates
This survey below has gone out to all UNISON members in Greater London region who pay a voluntary affiliation levy to the Labour Party. We did a similar survey for the London Mayoral candidate and got an excellent response.
I hope to be able to…Read more…
Chancellor takes the high carbon road
Is the government about to take a series of high carbon decisions that will replace renewables with fossil fuels? Decisions are imminent on Cuadrilla’s fracking appeal, launched today, and Heathrow’s third runway. Meanwhile, the Chancellor is unceremoniously dumping green policies, while assuring…Read more…
The truth must out
Two years into the coalition government’s austerity programme in 2012, routine figures released by the department of work and pensions revealed a shocking phenomenon – in just one year (2011) more…Read more…
Productivity should be an integral part of the progressive agenda
Throughout post war history but markedly since the election UK workers have been told they are not productive enough. In a return to the union bashing anti-worker approach of the 1970s and 1980s the…Read more…
Our car workers are star workers
The news that automotive workers are the UKs most productive employees, each generating £100,000 a year in added value, will come as no surprise to Unite members working in the sector. …Read more…
Isle of Wight media take up issues surrounding “Save the Trains”…
The neo-liberal offensive, involving Austerity, Productivity and Social Programmes has met with much resistance since the island press first exposed how the Conservative MP has plotted to attack the…Read more…
Basic Organisation
Mat Thomas Some might say that organising is about taking professional minutes or putting out rules, others might say it’s about ‘democratic centralism’. The reality is that people need…Read more…
Older workers – Can we afford to ignore them?
The workplace at present is full of uncertainties and insecurity. But one thing is certain. The workforce is getting older and workers, by choice or necessity, are working longer. So what are…Read more…
Solidarity and freedom
The fight to reinstate the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) goes on despite the election of the most extreme right wing government since Mrs Thatcher, pledged Unite agricultural workers’ leader,…Read more…
Rent controls in Berlin: why not here?
When Berlin announced last month that it will introduce rent control because “we don’t want a situation like in London,” there wasn’t a renter in the UK who didn’t cry out in frustration: it’s the Germans, rather than our government, who are trying to avoid what’s going on in the capital, and all…Read more…
What can we do about shift work?
There has been a lot of research published in the past few years around the effect of shift work and our health since the World Health Organisation classified night shift work as a probable…Read more…
A New Message to RMT members from the campaign for Jeremy Corbyn to be Leader of the Labour Party
17th July 2015
Dear Colleagues
A New Message to RMT members from the campaign for Jeremy Corbyn to be Leader of the Labour Party
Please find enclosed a message from Jeremy…Read more…
‘March of the Makers’ goes into reverse
By David Bailey Whatever happened to the ‘March of the Makers’ and the much heralded rebalancing the British economy? This year has so far been pretty dire for UK manufacturing. The…Read more…
Behind the infant Queen’s gesture lies a dark history of aristocratic Nazi links
Karina Urbach It is no surprise that the royal archive is closed to historians: a wealth of embarrassment lies within The Duke and Duchess of Windsor meet Adolf Hitler in Munich on 23 October 1937…Read more…
UK government echoes Pinochet in trade union crackdown
The UK government crackdown on trade union rights is reminiscent of former Chilean dictator Augustus Pinochet and an attack on democracy itself, UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings has…Read more…
Isle of Wight’s debt problems revealed by new insolvency figures
INSOLVENCY rates on the Isle of Wight are among the highest in the country according to latest figures. CP They paint a bleak picture for the Island which has been ranked joint 18th in a league table…Read more…