What with the budget shambles, the ongoing concerns over the future of the UK motor industry and the never ending Brexit saga, it was very easy to miss a very significant announcement this week by…Read more…
‘Stitched up’
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced yesterday (March 9) proposals that would threaten 400 jobs, as the firm put forward plans to shut a surgical suture manufacturing plant in…Read more…
Masking sickness at work?
Fear for their jobs has prompted British workers to take the fewest number of sick days since records began – only 137m working days last year were lost to sickness, equivalent to just over four days…Read more…
Fairness call
Unite members at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases on the Clyde have voted in favour of industrial action, in a dispute over worker rights. Unite says that Babcock Marine is carrying out a…Read more…
Precarious work – the union experience
What is insecure work and has it increased? This blog examines precarious or insecure work, how it manifests itself in the workplace and whether insecure work practices have increased. Insecure work includes: agency work or seasonal, casual, temporary …Read more…
Blog: Hammond’s inadequate budget
While the Chancellor has – at long last – woken up to the reality of a situation exacerbated by his austerity government, the money announced yesterday won’t end the extreme rationing of care. In…Read more…
‘Pensions’ betrayal’
BMW Group bosses were accused of ‘penny pinching’ and seeking to rob car workers making the iconic Mini and Roll-Royce motorcars of their future pensions today (March 9), as the carmaker reported…Read more…
Stop the decline spiral
In the wake of the sharpest and most sustained drop in the price of oil in decades, the UK oil industry is staring into an abyss as more than a hundred thousand jobs have gone in the last two years…Read more…
‘Best decision you’ll make’
When Nikita Taylor began her four-year electrical engineering apprenticeship at the Vauxhall plant in Luton she was one of only a handful of women working at the site. “Over the six years that…Read more…
Funding care can lift women workers out of poverty, Welsh councils urged
UNISON Cymru/Wales writes to all country’s councils on International Women’s Day
The article Funding care can lift women workers out of poverty, Welsh councils urged first appeared on the UNISON…Read more…
Prosegur IPO – potential investors should take note of labour risks
Just a quick plus for UNI and their excellent work exposing poor labour practices at Spanish-listed security firm Prosegur. The company is about to carry out a partial float of its cash-in-transit business, which makes this a very timely issue for inve…Read more…
Print jobs at risk
Unite said today (March 9) that it would mount a strong campaign to retain the estimated 120 jobs under threat at Suffolk book printer, Clays. “Clays is the heart of the local community…Read more…
‘Nothing more than PR’
Plans outlined today (March 9) by the embattled retailer Sports Direct, to choose a worker representative to sit in on its board meetings, drew a sceptical response from Unite. The union which…Read more…
UK Budget 2017 – still no coherent economic plan
The UK Budget does little for hard pressed households in the short-term, and even less for the long-term health of the economy.
Let’s look at the issues that matter to UNISON members.
Austerity is…Read more…
UNISON Housing Association Branch AGM – 21 March 2017 UNISON Centre. Keynote speaker Tom Copley AM
Looking forward to my Branch AGM on the 21st March. Our keynote speaker will be Tom Copley AM. We are holding the AGM at the UNISON Centre (our national headquarters) in Euston Road during lunchtime and also the evening to maximise attendance. Read more…
OECD must involve workers in developing global rules on investment
On Tuesday I spoke at a conference held at the OECD in Paris on the costs and benefits of investment protection agreements like Investor-State Dispute Settlement. In the morning conference participants had heard something important – the experts gathered by the OECD had, in all their…Read more…
SERTUC HEALTH CONFERENCE:
PLEASE SUPPORT / CIRCULATE ALL WELCOME (FREE ADMISSION – PLEASE REGISTER) SERTUC HEALTH CONFERENCE NHS in Crisis – How do we sustain its future? TUC CONGRESS HOUSE (Free lunch – vegetarian…Read more…
West Ham Women’s Forum Councillor Training and AGM
Hat tip West Ham Labour blog on Women’s International Day.
“On Monday, West Ham women gathered to boost the sisterhood for the 2018 local government elections.
It was so wonderful to see a group of women from all walks of life dedicated to makin…Read more…
A decade of blogging
I realised recently that I’ve just completed a decade of blogging. Although the arrival of two kids means I blog a lot less often than I used to, and read a lot less to blog about, I still feel the urge to communicate. Partly I just enjoy writing, but …Read more…
Did #Budget2017 deliver for public services?
This blog takes a look at what this Budget delivered for social care, health and education. In our pre-Budget blog we looked at what the Budget needed to deliver for public services, creaking after almost a decade of austerity. Social Care Few could de…Read more…