Removing this essential service will create new barriers to learning, participation, and employment at the college, undermining the ability of many to continue their courses or sustain their roles. We call on Milton Keynes College to halt the closure plans and work with staff, students, UNISON, and the wider community to find a fair, sustainable alternative that protects access to childcare.   UNISON will keep in touch as the campaign develops

Northern Trains is becoming part of a publicly owned Great British Railways, which is good news for passengers and rail workers.  But many rail workers are being left out of Great British Railways because they are outsourced to private companies.  Outsourcing companies cut costs to boost profits, resulting in worse pay and conditions for staff and a worse service for passengers. Northern Trains currently outsources station staff, cleaners and security guards to Carlisle, ISS and Amulet.  Carlisle is owned by the Tory donor and tax exile Lord Ashcroft and its treatment of staff is typical of the worst of outsourcing firms. ·         Imposing low pay: RMT members at Carlisle have been in a long-running dispute because the company won’t negotiate their pay, choosing to impose the minimum possible pay rates it can get away with. Our members have been forced to take industrial action in the form of strikes and refusing to scan tickets to try to get a negotiated pay rise.  ·         Bullying staff for taking legal strike action: Since the dispute began, Carlisle managers have tried to bully and intimidate our members into submission. Carlisle keep many of our members on zero hours contracts and threaten to cut their shifts or their holiday if our members take legal strike action.  ·         Passing the buck: Carlisle and Northern keep passing the buck between them, each blaming the other for the dispute, while hoping our members will be starved into giving up.  This treatment brings shame on Northern Trains.

Reform UK have pledged to introduce a Great Repeal Bill to remove the Employment Rights Act 2025 and the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Unions, workers, and renters have long campaigned for these essential new rights. Reform are threatening to snatch them away. They have also pledged to repeal the Equality Act 2010, the law that stops you from being discriminated against at work. With these plans, Reform wants to rig the system in favour of their corporate backers. Every ‘regulation’ they hate are hard fought for rights that give working people a voice and protect us at work. Axing workers’ and renters’ rights won’t cut our bills or increase our pay. It would slash standards and make us all worse off. Our message to Reform - and to every parliamentarian - is simple: commit now to opposing the Great Repeal Bill.

The National Coal Mining Museum for England, based at Caphouse Colliery in Wakefield, is a national treasure.  What makes the Museum so unique and special is that it is not just a Museum of objects, it is a working pit.  In addition to exhibitions, the public is able to travel 140m underground and hear about the 180 years of mining history from ex-miners.  The stories are real, the experience is authentic and the memory of the unique, immersive experience stays with people forever. There is currently a strike at the Museum.  At the time this petition went live, the workers have been on strike for 3 months over a dispute that would cost the employer less than £10k to resolve.  Rather than resolve the dispute, the employer has made a series of pay offers, each one is worse than the previous.  It has been reported in the public domain that the Museum is paying £1200 a day (£33,600 a month) for a private security firm to stand at the gate.  To date, £100,800 of taxpayers money that should be used to advance the charity’s purpose has been handed over to this private company. The operational leadership of the Museum is undertaken by a Chief Executive but the overall responsibility and governance of the Museum rests with the Board of Trustees.  They have completely failed to lead the senior leadership team of the Museum and resolve the dispute.  The Trustees have:- 1)  Failed to ensure that the charity is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit.  To try and ensure visitors continue to visit the Museum even when there is no underground tour, they have allowed the Chief Executive to schedule activities that do not further or support the Museum’s purposes.  Spending charity funds on the wrong purposes is a very serious matter; in some cases trustees may have to reimburse the charity personally. 2)  Failed to act in the Museum’s best interests.  By not intervening to resolve the dispute when it was made clear that the Chief Executive was either not competent or unwilling to, they have failed to make balanced and adequately informed decisions by not thinking about the long term as well as the short-term future of the Museum.   3)  Failed to manage the Museum’s resources responsibly.        i)   By handing over more that £100k of taxpayers money to a private security company rather than resolve a dispute for less that £10k shows that the Trustees have failed to act responsibly or reasonably.  They have failed in their duty of prudence. Prudence is about exercising sound judgement.       ii)   They have failed to avoid exposing the Museum’s assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk 4)  Failed to act with reasonable care and skill.  This includes the fact that some Trustees listed on the Museum’s website and on Companies House are not giving enough time, thought and energy to their role.  A number do not even attend or actively participate in the trustees’ meetings. 5)  Failed to ensure the Museum is accountable.  This includes the fact that the Museum is not always complying with the law and it is currently, not well run and effective For these reasons, THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND THE TRUSTEES MUST RESIGN FROM ALL THEIR PAID AND UNPAID ROLES WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT.  

This November, Rachel Reeves has the chance to act in the Budget. Our factories and plants are struggling with the highest industrial electricity bills in Europe. Why are our bills so high? • Wholesale privatisation of our energy system under the Tories means millions are extracted in profit each year. • Other European countries have safeguards to shield their critical manufacturing sectors from soaring prices. • The UK's electricity prices are currently set by the price of gas – a fuel that Putin can set the price of. When Putin invaded Ukraine and drove up gas prices, our electricity prices followed. • Our industries were starved of investment and upgrades under the Tories, while bosses and investors extracted profits and dividends.  We’re not against climate action. It’s not even climate action that’s the problem!  But British industry can’t compete with imports – and workers carry the costs. That has to change. What needs to happen now We need bolder, faster action from Rachel Reeves and the Treasury. The government recognised the problem and took first steps back in June as part of the Industrial Strategy and committed money to support industrial electricity prices.  But this mostly won’t kick in until 2027.  Our industry needs lower bills now. The support should be funded through general taxation. We need to delink our wholesale electricity prices from gas, so they’re not set by Putin or multinational oil & gas companies. And we need investment to upgrade and futureproof our industries. If you work in industry — cars, steel, ceramics, logistics, construction, energy, or other manufacturing — and want to see long-term investment that protects our jobs, powers clean growth, and secures British industry for the future: sign this petition. We’re industrial workers. We build, power, and make Britain.  We deserve a future — but we won’t get there without action now.

As the screen sector in Ireland continues to grow in size, talent, and global recognition, it is more vital than ever that we uphold the standards, protections, and rights that underpin fair and sustainable working conditions for performers. One key pillar of that protection is the use of properly registered union agreements, specifically the PACT/Equity agreement in Film and TV. We wish to remind the industry that: • For productions based in Northern Ireland, PACT/Equity is the appropriate agreement under which professional performers should be engaged. • For productions in the Republic of Ireland, Irish Equity recognises the PACT/Equity agreement as its preferred agreement for co-productions. We have witnessed an increasing trend of productions marketing themselves as “PACT/Equity equivalent”, or claiming to be “in line with Equity rates”, without providing the appropriate contracts. This is not the same as operating under an actual registered collective agreement — and the distinction matters. In NI, without proper appropriate registration, there is no legal mechanism to ensure that productions honour Equity agreed-upon rates or conditions, and no enforceability if those promises are broken. These productions also lack the financial safety net that a registered agreement provides, such as an escrow deposit to protect wages if funding collapses.  Even if a NI production (or co-pro in ROI) claims to pay Equity “equivalent,” it often omits crucial terms meaning the total compensation frequently falls below union standards, often excluding ongoing payments like royalties or profit shares.  These may contain exploitative clauses around AI use, usage rights, or future exploitation — without proper remuneration or consent. Such contracts can create confusion among performers and agents, who may mistakenly believe they are protected under Equity terms.  Ultimately, accepting or promoting these “equivalent” agreements undermines the union’s ability to secure fair, enforceable collective terms and weakens the long-term health of our industry.

Background In 2018 Airedale NHS Foundation Trust created a wholly owned subsidiary, AGH Solutions (AGHS). Since AGHS was set-up all new starters were set on lower NHS pay, terms and conditions.  In 2021, GMB members successfully campaigned to end the race to the bottom, securing alignment with NHS pay bands, significant improvements in NHS annual leave, the introduction and alignment of weekend and night enhancements and more.  The success in 2021 came on the back of industrial action announcements and intervention from the Airedale NHS Trust Board directing AGHS to reach a meaningful agreement with GMB.  Today Now GMB members are back demanding full alignment on all the remaining terms and conditions, including standard NHS pensions, sick pay, annual leave entitlements and enhanced Sunday pay rates. Again, AGHS is refusing to meet GMB demands. Only the Trust can help settle this by intervening to end the dispute. Tell 'Foluke Ajayi that AGHS is the responsibility of the Airedale NHS Trust and that NHS workers deserve NHS terms and conditions. 

Tees Valley Combined Authority has invested £138 million into the airport since purchasing it in 2019 including acquisition costs, equity investment, loans and grants.  Tees Valley Combined Authority owns 75% of the Airport.   Public investment should lead to public benefit for the people of Teesside, starting with their pay! GMB has negotiated in good faith. Management has stalled, dismissed, and disrespected the very people who keep Teesside Airport alive. Stand with Teesside Airport Workers and Sign Our Petition. Let’s send a message: Fair pay is not optional. It’s a right. Our Airport Our Pay

I’ve had enough of Nigel Farage pretending he speaks for industrial workers like me. He doesn’t speak for me. And I know he doesn’t speak for you either. If you work in industry—cars, steel, ceramics, logistics, construction, energy, whatever—add your name. If we hit our signature target, we’ll publish an open letter in the media with one clear message: “Farage doesn’t speak for us. We’re industrial workers. We’re proud of Britain and we’re proud of our industries. We don’t need culture wars—we need investment. We need modern car plants, world-class potteries, and future-proofed steelworks. Reform UK isn’t offering that. They want to drag us backwards. Farage’s friendship with Trump and the corporate elite says it all: He’s not on our side. He’s an enemy of the working class.” Stand up for real workers. Sign the petition.

In 2024-25, the Musicians’ Union and Council of Music Makers took part in Government-convened negotiations with major labels for fair pay and contract terms.   Despite intense Government pressure, the major labels refused to pay a greater share of streaming revenue to creators.    We urge MPs to change the law to introduce fair payments for music makers from music streaming, and other measures to finally fix streaming.

This will make a real difference to millions of women and shows what can be done when pension schemes take this issue seriously.  We are calling on all other public sector pension schemes- covering 2.5 million more women- to take the same positive steps.  The government says it wants to close the Gender Pension Gap- this is a chance to prove it by acting to help public sector workers and setting an example to the private sector. Government should be encouraging all schemes to adopt these changes.  Add your voice to put pressure on the public sector pension schemes to act. 

SUPPORT STAFF AT AIREDALE HOSPITAL DEMAND EQUAL TERMS FOR EQUAL WORK Porters, domestics, catering and security staff who work for AGH Solutions (AGHS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, are calling for parity across the workforce. AGHS uses its subsidiary status to not honour the NHS Agenda for Change terms and conditions, despite using the same status to avoid VAT on procurement and other purchasing rules. Frontline workers are missing out on NHS pensions, sick pay rates, annual leave and Sunday working enhancements. GMB are calling for NHS terms for everyone working across AGH Solutions. Joe Wheatley GMB Organiser said: 'These workers are essential to the smooth running of the Airedale hospital. Without them patients would not be safe or seen. It cannot be right that they are being treated as second class workers.  'The last thing our members want to do is strike and disrupt patients lives, but we've been left with no choice' 'Its time Airedale and AGHS recognise the skills of these vital staff and get back to serious pay negotiations.'