Forty five years ago, five dockworkers and trade unionists were imprisoned for standing up to a government which, through the new Industrial Relations Act, was inflicting draconian restrictions on…Read more…
‘Rights, rights, rights’
A clarion call to engage members, employers and politicians on the need to secure an EU exit that works for working people was issued at Unite’s East Midlands Brexit conference yesterday (November…Read more…
Over-regulation is not the problem a post-Brexit Britain would face
Yesterday’s report The Economy After Brexit by Economists For Brexit includes a section by Tim Congdon on EU regulation, essentially blaming all the evils of the British economy on excessive red tape and inferring that our economy could do so much better if it were unshackled from it all. The…Read more…
What would it take for trade deals to protect workers’ rights?
Protecting workers’ rights in trade deals is essential to ensure trade is fair. If trade deals don’t contain effective protections for workers’ rights, they just make it easier for companies to locate themselves in countries where wages are lower and workers are less able to resist…Read more…
EU citizens: UNISON returns to Parliament to defend members
Union backing new lobby for the ‘right to remain’ for EU citizens in the UK
The article EU citizens: UNISON returns to Parliament to defend members first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
ECJ Singapore ruling adds to case against ISDS in Brexit deal
Today the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave an important boost to the case for scrapping Investor State Dispute Settlement, as well as other corporate court systems like it, in trade agreements. Part of the ECJ’s ruling today was that trade deals that contain ISDS need to be ratified in EU…Read more…
Rights at work – this May Day, it’s all happening at once
You wait for years for the needs of working people to become the focus of political attention and then suddenly everybody’s interested. The onset of the General Election campaign has coincided with the beginning of Brexit negotiations and the long overdue dawning of understanding at the…Read more…
Unite urges members to sound the alarm if jobs threatened by #Brexit
Unite has launched a new website to make sure its members are kept informed about what’s happening about Brexit, an online resource dedicated to bringing the news, views, facts and analysis on…Read more…
Stopping the Government tinkering with workers’ rights
We’ve welcomed the Prime Minister’s promise to protect and enhance the rights of working people that the EU has underpinned over the last forty years, but we’ve stressed the need for a cast-iron mechanism to guarantee those rights aren’t watered down, and ensure the rights…Read more…
Brexit priorities: rights, living standards and jobs
Brexit is the defining issue of British politics. Our over-riding concern is to ensure that working people don’t pay the price for Brexit, and we are making progress. But there is a lot more to do to protect people’s rights at work, and we also need to tackle the impact on living…Read more…
Solidarity with workers in Turkey
Last night I spoke at a hastily-convened but well-attended meeting at the NUT in solidarity with public sector workers, teachers and journalists currently suffering a state purge in Turkey. The…Read more…
Workers’ rights in crisis in Bangladesh
Nine trade union members of IndustriALL affiliate, the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation, were detained over the weekend of 11-12 February in Chittagong after police interrupted…Read more…
MPs debate Brexit: we want to know what will happen to our rights at work
Today, the second reading debate for the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17 begins. Or in shorthand, MPs will finally start debating Article 50, or the start of the Brexit negotiations. It has taken a long time to get something substantive debated – something more than…Read more…
Right to paid holidays and parental leave under threat after Brexit, says UNISON
UNISON is backing a campaign launched today (Wednesday) to prevent employment rights enjoyed by millions from being scrapped after Brexit. The union is supporting a new bill that aims to ensure…Read more…
Working people’s rights after Brexit: campaigning for continued compliance
This morning I was pleased to be asked to address a European policy forum in Yorksire & the Humber by the local Labour MEPs Linda MacAvan and Richard Corbett. Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Keir Starmer spoke for Labour. Here are some of the remarks I made about…Read more…
Seat at the table
Theresa May’s pledge to install worker representatives on company boards could be law “within a year”, according to a new TUC report. The commitment, made during the prime minister’s summer…Read more…
Workers’ rights and Brexit: holding the PM to her pledges
Last Friday, I reiterated our key demand of the Government over Brexit: workers must not pay the price for the decision to leave. TUC opinion polling after the referendum showed that whatever people voted for on 23 June, it wasn’t to lose precious rights at work. The TUC and unions – as…Read more…
100 days after the #Brexit vote & we’re still in the dark on workers’ rights
It’s been 100 days since Britain voted to leave the EU, and still we’re no clearer about what Brexit means. In particular, despite Remain and Leave voters agreeing that workers’ rights should be maintained, the Prime Minister has failed to commit to that. The TUC is calling today…Read more…
Nothing ever handed to us on a plate, TUC president tells congress
‘Let’s use our fighting spirit to organise, to campaign and to win’ UNISON’s Liz Snape urges delegates
The article Nothing ever handed to us on a plate, TUC president tells congress first appeared…Read more…
Will Brexit affect workers’ rights?
Most UK employment rights are guaranteed and therefore protected by EU law, which means the Government cannot remove or reduce those rights whilst we are part of the EU. Holiday pay and…Read more…