Yesterday Phoenix Theatre management confirmed they will be ending fixed-term contracts for some dancers and ‘laying off’ their permanently employed dancers for seven months. Lay offs would allow Phoenix to keep dancers in employment but pay them only £100 a month until they are needed at work again, whilst severely limiting their chances of taking on other work. After Equity objected to this decision, Phoenix management wrote to all employees demanding that any Equity members identify themselves, in a clear breach of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act. Phoenix Dance Theatre has recently been in receipt of millions of pounds of public funding from the Arts Council and Leeds City Council, among others. They have the money to treat their creative team with the respect they deserve.

Millions of us across the country rely on train services every day to get to work, go to school, and as a greener option for travelling across the country. But the UK government is cutting Network Rail’s annual expenditure by £100 million. More than 2,600 dedicated railway workers will lose their jobs, their livelihoods and careers. That means fewer staff to undertake vital maintenance work, fewer inspectors on board trains, fewer route controllers to keep services safe and functional. It’s impossible to make those cuts without cutting corners on safety. We don’t want to see commuters packed like sardines into unsafe trains. We don’t want cuts that could make accidents more likely and increase the possibility of trains flying off the tracks. We deserve safe, reliable and affordable and well maintained trains for all. The UK government must recognise the world's most successful railways are in public ownership, and backed by sustainable government funding. We demand a better vision for the future of Britain’s rail. We want the UK government to put safety and livelihoods first. Sign the petition to stop this jobs disaster and the largest cuts to public rail services in a generation.

Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it will reward its shareholders with a £1.4 billion pay-out and a £2 billion buy-back scheme after making astronomic profits of £5.9 billion after tax in 2021. But in spite of these incomprehensible numbers, the bank has abandoned its workers to the cost of living crisis by implementing a pay rise which is well below inflation levels. For years, many of us have served the bank on low salaries of around £22,000 - answering phone-calls night and day, protecting customers from fraud, & inputting information. We and our families now stand to be pummelled by the cost of living crisis - which will see the biggest drop in living standards since the 1950s - while the bank stands back & willingly lets it happen. How can it be fair to pay shareholders billions, while we can barely keep our heads above water? Instead of being the CEO who prioritised already-wealthy shareholders and abandoned workers in the middle of a catastrophic living-standards crisis, we demand that Charlie Nunn do the right thing and meet our demand for an inflation-matching pay-rise. While this would be a drop in the ocean for the bank - it would make a world of difference to us.

NHS workers (e.g. Porters, Cleaners, Catering, Security) who are employed by ISS, a private company that is contracted by Calderdale & Huddersfield Foundation Trust to run non-clinical services, want an end to their minimum wage rates, terms and conditions. As NHS workers they are demanding alignment with the NHS “Agenda for Change” contract that would see their pay, terms and conditions significantly improved. Every day since March 2020, our members have put themselves at risk; at risk of getting infected and at risk of infecting their family. We clapped for them, we labelled them heroes and yet these local NHS heroes face the indignity of being treated less than; to be employed as NHS workers, but not paid as NHS workers. The Trust outsourced their responsibility to ISS and in return ISS have raced to the bottom to set these workers on minimum pay. We are simply demanding that this be corrected, that the Trust recognise its responsibility to these NHS heroes and take action to end poverty pay at Calderdale Royal Hospital.

Yesterday, 800 workers at P&O Ferries were sacked via Zoom call. This shameful act is devastating for these workers, their families and communities. This is a national scandal – it can’t ever be allowed to happen again. This must be turning point for workers’ rights in the UK. The government can stop this, but they will not act unless thousands of us speak up. If callous acts like this are allowed at P&O, they can happen anywhere.

CHEP UK is a hugely profitable company, yet it is refusing to give its workers a pay rise that reflects the true value of their work & takes into account the UK's soaring living costs. While the Retail Price Index is currently over 7.5%, CHEP UK, which made profits of £60 million last year, has offered its workers a below inflation pay rise. This means a pay cut for CHEP workers in real terms. Rather than look after its workforce, CHEP appears to be more interested in boosting profits and rewarding its shareholders - who received a £50 million pay-out just last year. This has left the company's workers with no choice but to take a stand through strike action. We are asking you to support our campaign and demand that CHEP give their workers a fair pay rise and bring this dispute to an end. Simply put: workers should not be facing an attack on their living standards while company shareholders are raking in millions of pounds. Deliver Fair Pay for CHEP workers NOW!

We are NHS workers in Lancashire and we urgently need your support. As hospital cleaners and catering staff, we are outsourced to OCS and have worked 24/7 throughout the pandemic to keep staff and patients safe. But while OCS boasts it turned over hundreds of millions during the COVID crisis, it continues to pay us less than our NHS colleagues doing exactly the same jobs. Hospital workers employed by OCS are £2000 worse off than our colleagues working for the NHS. We also have inferior working conditions including 7 days less annual leave and lower sick pay. We submitted a collective grievance about this issue in May 2021, and EIGHT MONTHS on, we finally received a response- which failed to address any of the issues and passed blame to the NHS Trust. We have become increasingly frustrated and have now voted 97.8% in favour of taking strike action to resolve this issue. One OCS worker said: "I work for OCS as a domestic on the hospital wards. When accepted the job I was told the rate of pay was minimum wage, but was not told I would be working alongside work colleagues on a different contract which has a higher rate of hourly pay and full sick pay, they also receive 35 days holidays and we get 28 days including bank holidays. We have all worked through the pandemic, working on Covid 19 wards where some Covid patients have been walking freely around the wards. As a thank you from OCS we received a 2 finger KitKat and told we could also have an extra 10 minute break! We all found this very insulting, we have been fighting our dispute with OCS for 3 years now and we feel that the 2 tier pay system and contracts that OCS have in place are very unfair and causes friction amongst work colleagues, we all do the same job and we should all receive the same rate of pay and terms and conditions." Sadly, OCS still isn’t listening. We think that a great way to get the Chief Executive’s attention is to flood his inbox with emails from all of us. Can you take a few minutes to email Bob Taylor? It’s easy, you just need to add your details and press send. We don’t want to strike if we can avoid it, especially not in the middle of a global pandemic but we will do what it takes to get fair treatment. Health bosses and OCS can still avert a strike by agreeing to pay us the correct rate for the job. Claps don't pay the bills. Key workers demand fair pay. #ONENHS, nobody left behind.

By removing the Trade Union Act 2016, we begin the process to repeal anti-trade union laws that have been placed upon us by the Conservatives. The right to strike is just that; a right. Yet Conservative government after Conservative government has decided that we must jump over unnecessary hurdles to earn what is rightfully ours. We must take a stand against this injustice.

PFI BLEEDS THE NHS DRY, TIME’S UP FOR PFI PROFITEERS! Unison Lanarkshire Health Branch has launched a campaign to bring private contracts within NHS Lanarkshire back in house into public ownership. The campaign aims to end the private Serco and ISS contracts within NHS Lanarkshire; which provides catering, portering, domestic and security services at Hairmyres and Wishaw Hospitals back in house to put an end to a two-tier workforce. Once brought back in-house it will allow all NHS Lanarkshire workers at these sites to be employed on equal terms and conditions. Bringing these contracts back in house will also put an end to profit-motivated contractors providing public services at the public’s expense. Unison has produced a letter which we have directly mailed to all Lanarkshire Councillors, MSPs and MPs asking them to support our campaign to bring the staff back in-house where they belong. Let's be clear, PFI contracts are bleeding NHS Lanarkshire and its time to put a stop to private profiteers draining OUR National Health Service. Support our campaign and sign our petition! You can also get more involved in the campaign by: Phone: 01698 754333 Email: [email protected]

Throughout the pandemic, biomedical scientists have been on the frontline of our NHS, analysing patient blood samples and carrying out covid-19 testing. The workers, who have been on strike since May, are owed staggering amounts of back pay. That starts at several hundred pounds up to as much as £8,000, after managers failed to honour a 2019 agreement to upgrade their pay. Send a message to Interim Chief Executive at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Martin Hodgson, demanding he meet with Unite and settle this unnecessary dispute as soon as possible.

Public transport is the key to decarbonising our region and fighting climate change. But our public transport system won’t be around long if we aren’t willing to fight for it. Privatised bus companies are cutting routes, and ridership is going through the floor. That’s why we’re calling on our local politicians to make bus travel free, for all of us, for the duration of the UN COP26 climate talks in Glasgow this November. The more people use and value our bus network, the harder it is for private interests to take it away from us. Show our buses some love this November, and help us fight for free bus travel during COP26.

Public transport is the key to decarbonising our region and fighting climate change. But our public transport system won’t be around long if we aren’t willing to fight for it. Privatised bus companies are cutting routes, and ridership is going through the floor. That’s why we’re calling on our local politicians to make bus travel free, for all of us, for the duration of the UN COP26 climate talks in Glasgow this November. The more people use and value our bus network, the harder it is for private interests to take it away from us. Show our buses some love this November, and help us fight for free bus travel during COP26.