N.B.This is not an official Unite Report; it is based on my notes of the EC meeting. I believe it to be a fair account of some of the key decisions taken (rather than my views about them), and I will willingly correct any errors upon receipt of official notification from Unite. This report is far...

The Burma Campaign recently launched their new edition of the “Dirty List” containing 170 companies that directly or indirectly fund Burma’s brutal regime. Thanks to campaigners emails over the past year many companies have pulled out of Burma, depriving the regime of hundreds of thousands of pounds....XL insurance, Cotton Traders, Arig insurance, Trailblazer Guides, Jet Gold Corp, CHC and

On Monday 13 June, 70 UNISON / UNITE members working as street cleaners will start a 7 day strike.  They will join 170 UNISON / UNITE members already on strike, 40 Parking Enforcement, 20 Itchen Bridge Toll Collectors and 110 Refuse Collectors.  The 13th June will be the one day that all four sections will be on strike.  Also on 13 June, 250 Cleaners working for Medirest at Southamp...

For the full report please use the above link. Downward trend in the volume of job losses continues, however the numbers remain high In...

Congratulations to UNITE members at IT company Steria in Manchester, who have voted by a sizable majority to strike in protest at planned redundancies. Let's ensure that they get a mass of messages of support (details here). If Steria don't see sense we must all help ensure the action is as...

An odd report from the BBC today. Naturally, it is provocative. No surprise there. Probably, it is rubbish. Not much surprise there. The report is based upon some odd remarks, probably taken out of context, attributed to Dr Dean Marshall. Never heard of him but he is said to be “one of the BMA's lead negotiators on flu planning, said of the pandemic” BBCDr Marshall seems to have confused two i...

UNITE members at telecomms company Nortel in Northern Ireland are striking half a day a week over pay.

Tony Woodley the unite general secretary today gave seven days notice to the Linamar management of strike action from 6 am Thursday 11 June. This was at a conference meeting with Wade the head of the Linamar UK. Woodley made it clear to the management that Unite would be prepared to fully finance a lengthy strike no

These days, all big companies — and most medium-sized companies — are software companies. By this I mean that the company’s software (particularly custom software they’ve made) and associated data is integral to the success of their business. And: The fact that every company is a software company has implications. The most important is that software is something companies have to understan...

I recently flagged up the Tomorrow's Company report Tomorrow's Owners. I've just got hold of the full report, and it is definitely worth a read. It actually poses a lot more questions than it answers, but it covers a lot of ground, and is the first report I've seen to try to grapple with the changing nature of company ownership (as hedge funds and private equity have displaced ...