The Tories’ latest right-to-buy housing scheme will spell disaster for London’s already beleaguered housing market. A key part of the Conservative manifesto, extending right-to-buy to housing…Read more…
Tory ‘toothless’ hours law
A key coalition government measure came into force on Tuesday (May 26) – the banning of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts. Now, employers cannot block workers who are on the…Read more…
Feeding the meter
More than half a million people struggling with debt have forcibly had prepay gas and electricity meters installed by their energy suppliers, a BBC investigation has found. Figures reveal that…Read more…
Housing sell off: ‘sheer stupidity’
David Cameron has confirmed that his right to buy extension to all housing association homes will now be part of the Queen’s Speech tomorrow (Wednesday May 27). The scheme, in effect, is…Read more…
If not now, when?
As talks between steel giant Tata and unions broke down over changes to members’ pensions scheme, Tata electrician Charlotte Upton, 25, spoke to UniteLive about the upcoming industrial action ballot…Read more…
Austerity doesn’t work
Earlier this week, the internationally renowned political scientist and author on world debt Susan George, addressed, the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) conference. Ahead of the…Read more…
UK poverty hits millions
The stark situation for many millions of Britons facing poverty has been outlined by new data from the office for national statistics (ONS). Staggeringly under the last Tory-led government…Read more…
Worst paid job in UK
Waiting tables is, according to the latest figures, the worst paid job in the UK. The vast majority of waiters are on the minimum wage, barely eking out a living from profit-flush companies,…Read more…
Reclaim the day
Waiters, the UK’s worst paid workers, will call on Pizza Express to stop pocketing an estimated £am that should go to poorly paid staff, at a protest in central London tomorrow (May 21). The…Read more…
Down below zero
Deflation, slow growth, pay in the doldrums, household debt on the rise, productivity stagnant. Can we survive more austerity? So prices in general have gone from not rising at all – zero…Read more…
First among un-equals
Rising income inequality, in which a handful of people earn millions and the rest struggle just to get by, is often seen as a problem of developing countries – a symptom of a corrupt elite and the…Read more…
Payday lenders circle afresh
As household debt is set to hit record levels, Wonga targets the market by slashing interest rates to 1,500 per cent a year and lend to those who can re-pay loans. Loans are big business, with…Read more…
Tories put your rights in peril
The Tories want to abolish the Human Rights Act and replace it with a watered down Bill of Rights. Their first try was attacked by former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve who said it was…Read more…
Not what we voted for
It started on May 9 in London, less than 48 hours after the election. Hundreds marched in an impromptu protest outside Downing Street, voicing their frustration with a government they did not vote…Read more…
Tories’ high rise of housing woe
Only a week after the Tories have begun their latest five-year reign of power, new, record-breaking figures released last Thursday (May 14) from the first few months of 2015 have shown the massive…Read more…
Just one simple step
When Cathy Cobbold goes to an airport people begin doing funny things. Although Cathy, who is profoundly deaf, shrugs her experiences off with a laugh, she has been working with Unite members…Read more…
US Senate blocks TTIP bill
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a mammoth EU-US trade deal, suffered a blow on Tuesday (May 12) , when the US Senate blocked a bill that would enable it and other similar…Read more…
Living Wage win for Saria cleaners
Unite wants all workers to be paid at least the Living Wage, which is the minimum income a worker needs to ensure their basic needs are met. Unite reps at many workplaces are increasingly…Read more…
Economic miracle or economic mire?
It now seems there have been more miracles attributed to the Tories than to Jesus Christ himself. So many economic miracles the Tory press don’t know who to raise to political sainthood. They…Read more…
Under attack
Sajid Javid, Vince Cable’s replacement as business secretary, today (May 12) set out his plans for office in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. Javid, a former banker appointed…Read more…