Apprenticeships started during the present academic year have dropped by 26.5 per cent compared to the previous year – a drop Unite says is due to the botched rollout of a new apprenticeship levy….Read more…
Steel – still challenges ahead
The last couple of years have been very rocky for Britain’s steel industry, as the UK’s major players – including Tata, SSI and Caparo – announced sell offs, shut downs and redundancies. There…Read more…
New fears for Melrose bid
The national security of the United States could be jeopardised if the takeover of UK defence contractor GKN by investment company Melrose goes ahead, Unite has warned. Unite has written to…Read more…
GKN: a takeover too far
When Theresa May first promised a new industrial strategy for UK manufacturing, she claimed to be following in the footsteps of her political hero Joseph Chamberlain. It’s ironic then that this…Read more…
‘Predatory’ bid
An investment firm is still aiming for a “predatory” takeover of engineering company GKN despite having two bids rejected in recent days. In response, Unite held an emergency meeting of GKN…Read more…
Charging up for success
The watershed news came just before Christmas – the number of fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the world’s roads has now passed the three million mark. The global growth rate now…Read more…
Don’t close a healthy plant call
Len McCluskey has warned Peugeot-owner PSA that attempts to close the Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port will result in Unite making sure “their UK market is finished for good”. Unite’s general…Read more…
‘Constitutional outrage’
Unite has joined forces with manufacturers and other unions to urge MPs to protect manufacturing jobs by amending the controversial customs bill, a key part of the government’s Brexit legislation….Read more…
Happy new Leaf
Unite signed a landmark deal on behalf of its Nissan members in Sunderland this week, as production began on the firm’s latest electric car. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey travelled to…Read more…
Where another world is possible
It’s not very often that a suit and tie from management speaks of his indebtedness to the union. But that’s exactly what happened when in October Rolls-Royce celebrated the contribution of…Read more…
‘Robust and credible plan’
Unite’s new Manufacturing Strategy won praise from MPs yesterday (November 29), with the document being hailed as a “robust and credible plan” by shadow ministers. MPs contrasted the…Read more…
‘Small steps’
While it’s essential that trade unions must be involved in any proposed ‘sector deals’, worker voice and collective bargaining were absent from April’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper. So how does…Read more…
Why manufacturing matters
Unite delegates from across UK manufacturing companies will meet in Brighton (November 15) to discuss the future of UK manufacturing along with other key issues such as the chaos created by the…Read more…
‘From crisis to crisis’
The Tories are responsible for a recent deluge of gloomy economic indicators and are too bogged down in internecine conflict to come up with a long term plan to stabilise the economy, Unite has…Read more…
End uncertainty call
Unite called on the UK government today (October 9) to end the uncertainty for thousands of BAE workers and manufacturing communities across Britain by committing to build the next generation fighter…Read more…
‘Massive blow’
Unite said the announcement that Cummins Generator Technologies is to close one of its sites in Stamford threatening about 300 jobs is ‘a massive blow to the Lincolnshire economy’. It is…Read more…
EU crash out industry threat?
Unite Rolls-Royce reps will meet with MPs to reiterate the potential danger crashing out of the EU poses to the aerospace industry. They will lobby MPs to pressure the government into seeking…Read more…
‘End corporate bullying’
Unite has demanded that Boeing ‘ends its corporate bullying’ and the UK government stands up for manufacturing jobs after the company lodged claims of ‘price dumping’ with the US Department of…Read more…
New challenges
Mark Turner, Unite rep from Port Talbot steel works, has campaigned tirelessly alongside his union to save Britain’s steel industry. “Our steel industry has weathered one of the greatest…Read more…
Unveiled
The basic design for the new Mini Electric car, which will be built in the UK, has been unveiled by BMW. Unite hailed the moment as “an exciting development on the road towards the widespread…Read more…