A London tour guide approached me recently near to the office. He was a Unite member and wanted to know what we have been doing for the past year to help self-employed workers such as him.
The post…Read more…
‘From feast to famine’
We meet Eddie, a Unite London cab driver member who explains why self employed taxi drivers need immediate help from the government. WATCH SIGN, SHARE, SUPPORT Sign our petition to the Prime…Read more…
Tough times for our cabbies
Four weeks into lockdown Unite London taxi driver Jim Kelly on what it’s really like for our self-employed members.
The post Tough times for our cabbies appeared first on UNITElive.org.Read more…
Unite: taxi drivers in urgent financial support plea
“Taxi drivers are really struggling. We can’t wait until June to be paid.”
That is the message being echoed by taxi drivers up and down the country, and it is the one Unite has urged the transport…Read more…
Pulling out every lever
Up to 9m workers may lose out on statutory sick pay, including those in the gig economy, agency workers or on zero hours contracts, and over seven million workers may not be eligible for the job…Read more…
Help the five million now call
Unite is ramping up the pressure on the chancellor to throw a lifeline to the 5m self-employed and other gig and freelance workers whom the government has so far failed to support amid the Covid-19…Read more…
Bogus self-employment rising
Research by Unite has revealed a fresh rise in bogus self-employment in the construction industry. A Freedom of Information request made by Unite to the HMRC revealed that 1.12 million…Read more…
Gig economy challenged
The gig economy has again come under the spotlight as Labour MP Frank Field announced an inquiry into pay and working conditions at controversial food delivery firm Deliveroo this week (June 18)….Read more…
Blow to gig economy
Another blow was struck against the gig economy yesterday (March 26) when delivery firm DPD announced it will be offering its 5,000 self-employed drivers holiday and sick pay after one of its…Read more…
Unite: End worker abuse now call
Courier driver Don Lane was, according to the company DPD for which he worked, self-employed. But he was a far cry from being his own boss – he did have to answer to a supervisor. He…Read more…
When the parcel’s worth more than you
Imagine a worker having his contract terminated for taking time off because his child was born prematurely, or a courier struggling in while sick, being told “the parcel is more important then you.”…Read more…
‘Families will go hungry’
“Small businesses are the backbone of the UK,” prime minister Theresa May said just over a year ago. But she failed to reveal just how broken this backbone would be under government plans for…Read more…
Legal ‘knockout’ blow
A bogus self-employment case supported by Unite, which could set a legally binding precedent for tribunals across the UK, gets underway today (December 5) at the employment appeal tribunal in London….Read more…
‘Self-employed’ fight win
In the latest blow to gig economy firms, taxi company Uber has lost an appeal against a ruling that its’ staff are entitled to workers’ rights. Last year a tribunal ruled that two of Uber’s…Read more…
‘Bogus’ self-employment
The use of ‘sham and bogus’ employment practices and agency worker abuses in the road transport industry is going to be tested at an employment tribunal (ET) in Manchester. Unite today…Read more…
Bogus self-employed fight win
Taxi giant Addison Lee wrongly classified its drivers as self-employed and must pay them the minimum wage and holiday pay, an employment tribunal has ruled. Unite hailed the case, which was…Read more…
Govt to rob from lowest earners
Low-paid self-employed workers face a massive tax increase in April, which threatens to see many of those on the very lowest incomes in the economy fall through the cracks. Even though the…Read more…
‘Out of control’
The number of people considered self-employed has risen to a record-breaking high, now comprising 15 per cent of the entire workforce. But don’t think for a second that this army of…Read more…
‘Failed spectacularly’
A much anticipated review into the gig economy has “spectacularly failed” to deliver protections for those in insecure work, Unite said today (July 11). The union said the review, by former…Read more…
Deliveroo ‘doublespeak’
Unless you move to a foreign country, having to learn another language seems an unusual requirement for a job in a firm that specialises in delivering takeaways. But managers at gig-economy…Read more…