All the union news that's fit to blog...
In my book Drax of Drax Hall: How One British Family Got Rich (and Stayed Rich) from Sugar and Slavery, I make the point that the Plunkett Ernel-Erle-Drax family are unique in still having an unbroken history of owning sugar plantations in the Caribbean from their inception in the early 17th century until the present day. […]
The post Drax Hall and Dorset appeared first on Unite Live.
The following feature first appeared in the most recent edition of Landworker – you can read the full issue online here. Vast fields, monitored by drones and sensors, with all planting, crop management and harvesting carried out by robotic tractors controlled by AI and a few workers sat behind screens miles from the farm. This […]
The post Rise of robocrops appeared first on Unite Live.
The following feature first appeared in the most recent edition of Landworker – you can read the full issue online here. Unite is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with migrant workers who have faced exploitation on British farms. The union joined a number of charities and NGOs at a protest outside the Home Office in London in January […]
The post “We are tired of being abused” appeared first on Unite Live.
Norfolk’s Burston Strike School Rally returns in 2025, and it will be a chance for the crowds to check out the newly refurbished school building. The Strike School was beginning to show its age, and earlier in the year the call out was made to Unite branches, regions and sister unions across the country to […]
The post Strike School welcomes the crowds appeared first on Unite Live.
The following feature first appeared in the most recent edition of Landworker – you can read the full issue online here. Working alone is normal in agriculture and forestry. Moving stock, doing maintenance at base or at distance, or operating mobile machinery, the rural worker is often a lone worker. In Landworker Winter 2024, we […]
The post Take care when working alone appeared first on Unite Live.
Every year on April 28, trade unions and their members unite to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD). Events are held across the world to remember those who have lost their lives at work, or from work-related injury and diseases. IWMD has turned its attention to ‘climate change and workers’ health’ this year. In today’s […]
The post Turning up the heat on farmworkers appeared first on Unite Live.
Dramatic headlines in the newspapers and reports on the radio tell stories about forthcoming egg shortages and price rises, and the impact on farmers and consumers. But they fail to mention how the workers looking after poultry will be affected. Unite the Union is naturally concerned about the way in which our members are being […]
The post Workers overlooked in egg industry crisis appeared first on Unite Live.
Every day for the ‘twelve days of Christmas’ this year, UniteLive is running a different story from our top stories of 2021. Today, we look back at a feature from Mental Health Awareness Week back in…Read more…
For many months Unite’s food and agriculture activists have been extremely concerned over the way workers are being packed into factories and field, many of them migrant workers often living in…Read more…
Unite celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Landworker magazine – the oldest trade union publication still in circulation – at this year’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival in Dorset with a panel…Read more…
Protracted isolation, long hours and stressful work conditions have created a toxic mix that’s fuelling mental health problems among British farm workers. A new BBC analysis of the latest…Read more…
Dozens of rich parliamentarians – many of them Tories – own or control farms that brought in millions of pounds in EU subsidies last year, raising conflict of interest issues that could influence the…Read more…
Farmworkers in Wales are set to be awarded a hefty six per cent cumulative pay rise through an Interim Agricultural Wages Order, leaving England’s agricultural workers further behind after the…Read more…