On 31st October 2016, the Tory Home Secretary, Amber Rudd announced in Parliament there would be no Orgreave inquiry of any kind. The unacceptable reasons she gave were that it was too long ago, nobody died, there were no miscarriages of justice, policing had improved since 1984 so the police had nothing new to learn and that it wasn’t in the public interest to hold any kind of inquiry. We believe she did not examine relevant evidence and prevented an inquiry to protect the legacy of the 1984/5 Tory Government. Today’s Tory Government is still preventing an Orgreave Inquiry. Government involvement in the 1984/5 Miners’ Strike, police brutality against strikers, wrongful arrests of miners, falsified police statements, police lying under oath in court and media smears which deliberately created a false narrative against strikers, are some of the reasons why it is in the public interest to hold an inquiry. Add your name and demand an independant public inquiry.

The £20 a week uplift has been a lifeline to many people throughout the pandemic, predominantly going towards topping up low wages in the city; further that despite York having one of the highest employment rates in the country, wages are unjustifiably low and people are struggling; and further that, at a time where the cost of living is shooting up and upcoming tax increases are being implemented by the Government, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to pay their bills, buy food, or heat their homes.

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]

South Yorkshire's bus services are broken. But they could be world-class. Right now, private bus companies do what they like, dictating prices, routes, and timetables. You’ve seen the results: catastrophic cuts, skyrocketing fares, and buses that never turn up. It’s not just a bad deal for passengers — drivers are overworked and underpaid, leaving the bus companies struggling to run a reliable service as staff shortages bite. No wonder drivers are forced to strike! The new mayor of South Yorkshire, and your South Yorkshire council leaders, have the power to bring your buses into public control. Public control would mean affordable fares and more frequent buses. All with a smart ticket where daily spending is capped. And why not? It’s what they have in London! It would also put staff pay and conditions in public control, delivering a better deal for drivers and more reliable buses for you. South Yorkshire’s politicians are there to represent YOU! Let them know you think buses should be in public control.

Unite the Union is calling on all members to join our campaign to defend the TfL & LUL pension fund. We are calling on the TfL Pension review body to recommend "no action". Our pension must not be used to pay for the Covid-19 pandemic, TfL & LUL workers were heralded as hero's for keeping the transport system moving during lockdown. They must not now be asked to pay for the pandemic with a reduction in pension benefits.

Cutting funding will have a devastating impact on these subjects, resulting in course closures, job losses and severely affecting efforts to widen participation. Universities in areas with a higher number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds would be particularly vulnerable to the proposed cuts. We cannot allow these cuts to strip away their access to arts subjects. The UK is a world-leader in the creative and performing arts. These subjects should not be the preserve of a privileged few. We need to mount a quick and effective fightback against this government’s attacks on the creative and performing arts. Join us and tell Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the arts should be for everyone - and that the cuts should not go ahead. This campaign is supported by University and College Union (UCU), Equity UK, BECTU, Writers Guild of Great Britain, Musicians’ Union, Unison and Unite https://mcusercontent.com/ebd004a8047907dc47d269fd1/images/c695fc2c-48f6-c2c8-3057-e9aabe03bdfb.png

Equity member Ace Ruele, established actor and motion capture specialist, faces the threat of deportation from the UK to Jamaica, a country where he no right of residency or citizenship. His case has all the hallmarks of yet another grossly unfair, racist decision dramatically affecting the life of Windrush era family. Ace was born in the UK and raised here, but despite having indefinite leave to remain this was revoked following a difficult, short period in Ace’s life when he was engaged in criminal activity. Since this, he has built a successful film career and strong family life and works with a number of organisations, including the Metropolitan Police, advising and guiding young people away from the risk of offending. Ace could be deported at any minute, tearing his family apart and ruining a career he has forged following his unstable early life. His current residency status of limited leave to remain in the UK is temporary and requires renewal every 30 months at a cost of £2,389. It is, quite simply, a gross injustice to leave Ace in this situation, and we call on the Home Office to: 1. Reverse its decision, and provide Ace with the status of indefinite leave to remain the UK. This will allow him to continue his significant, positive contribution to the UK’s cultural and creative life and raise his family, confident that his future is secure. 2. Abandon its cruel, racist policy of threatening to make UK citizens stateless, including through deportation to countries they have no right of residency or citizenship to. 3. Significantly speed-up the process of providing compensation to those eligible for payment under the Windrush Compensation Scheme. The Home Office is currently aggravating the experience of Windrush-era UK citizens by unfairly and unnecessarily delaying their lawful compensation. You can read more about the background of Ace’s case here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ace-reule-home-office-deportation-b1841799.html

With over 34,000 employees in 821 hotels and 411 pubs and restaurants Whitbread (owners of Premier Inn and familiar Brands such as Beefeater and Brewers Fayre) are one of the largest employers in the U.K. hospitality sector. As such they have a moral obligation to build back better after the Covid crisis by setting benchmark standards for decent pay and progressive employee relations.

Labour-controlled Ealing council is ‘actively helping’ outsourced service provider Serco ‘hound’ a senior Unite the Union rep on strike over union-busting from his civil enforcement job. A council officer has written to Serco requesting that Patrice, Unite rep, who has performed his job for two decades, be removed from duties for bringing the council into ‘disrepute’. The officer justified the decision because the Unite rep stated on social media that Ealing council would lose revenue from Parking Charge Notices during ongoing strikes by more than 40 Serco civil enforcement officers. Despite the statement being factually accurate and containing no mention of parking policy motivations, the council is wrongly claiming that the union rep ‘conveys the council as a purely revenue generating authority’. LEARN MORE: https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2021/april/serco-civil-enforcement-strikes-set-to-bring-ealing-election-day-parking-chaos/ #IStandWithPatrice

Our key workers risk their lives going to work everyday. The nurses and care workers, the doctors and bus drivers, the supermarket workers and teachers, they put on personal protective equipment and use sanitiser if there is any but for many months there was none and many became ill some died and some are still suffering from long covid. Most are are paid a pittance for their vital work. Many are using food banks and we clapped them and nearly everyone thought the government should give the nurses the 12.5% pay rise they were asking for, all the other public sector workers had their pay frozen. Philip Davies the MP for Shipley voted for giving nurse a 1% payrise. His own pay is £81,932 and he voted himself a pay rise of 3.1% last year. How many MP’s have died from Corona virus?

UCLan has stated its intention to move from a Defined Benefit Pension Scheme (LGPS) to a Defined Contribution (DC) Pension Scheme for new starters in Professional Services, there are no proposals to change the pension arrangements for our academic colleagues. We believe this is wrong because: • The LGPS rules require UCLan to offer LGPS membership to their employees, UCLan intend to get around this rule by employing new starters in a separate company. • The change will lead to a two-tier workforce in pensions, with new starters in Professional Services being offered inferior and less cost-effective pensions. • The contribution rates will be lower than those for LGPS and TPS (the main scheme for our academic colleagues). • DC schemes pay out less than DB schemes such as LGPS and TPS meaning staff doing exactly the same job will come out with much lower pensions in the future. • The change will affect younger, lower-paid and women members of staff disproportionately. • Access to the pension scheme is part of the remuneration package offering an inferior pension scheme to new starters with lower employer contribution rates is potentially discriminatory yet the university has not conducted an equality impact assessment. • In the short term, the cost of setting up inferior pension arrangements could reduce any potential savings to UCLan. At a time of limited recruitment, the savings they make from this change will be negligible. • The number of pensioners living in poverty in the UK is the worst in Europe, for staff to avoid pensioner poverty they need a decent workplace pension to supplement the very low state pension. • If more employers like UCLan close membership of the scheme to new starters this could lead to serious cash flow problems for LGPS funds, with a shortfall in contributions at the same time as the number of pensioners increase. • UCLAN is signed up to the “Preston Model” of Community Wealth Building within Preston and the wider Lancashire area. By withdrawing access to the LGPS the university will be instrumental in increasing pensioner poverty in the area in the years to come, how does this fit with the Preston model? We are calling on UCLAN to withdraw this decision and ensure that all staff who work for them get the decent pension which they rightly deserve. #Fight4FairPensions

Poverty and inequality were already at an unacceptably high level in Scotland well before the Coronavirus pandemic struck, and we have grave concerns that such socio-economic disadvantage has only intensified, especially for children and women. The Scottish Government’s commitment to significantly reduce Child Poverty by 2030, with a view to ultimately eradicating it, and the creation of the new Scottish Child Payment Benefit is welcomed by the STUC Women’s Committee. Similarly, we welcome the Deputy First Minister’s pledge to expand free school meals provision to all Primary school pupils if the SNP retain power at the 2021 Scottish Parliament Elections. However, we strongly believe that further urgent action to mitigate child poverty is required immediately. The Scottish Government have the power and resources to go further in introducing progressive policies that can more strongly mitigate poverty and inequality and make life-changing differences to children and families now. Firm and decisive action on child poverty in Scotland cannot be further delayed. That is why the STUC Women’s Committee is calling on the Scottish Government to expand Universal Free School Meals to all children and young people, including those of Secondary school and Nursery age, with immediate effect. Moreover, we are calling on the Scottish Government to combat holiday hunger by ensuring that there are programmes and provisions in place in all of Scotland’s local authorities so that all children and young people have access to sufficient food during the school holidays. Our most vulnerable children, young people's right and access to a nutritious meal should not be determined by chance of the local authority they live in or based on the goodwill of community volunteers. We know that the roots of the poverty-related attainment gap stretch well beyond the school gates, but the significant role our educational institutions play in tackling poverty, challenging inequality, and helping to build a healthier, more inclusive society cannot be underestimated. We strongly believe that the introduction of Universal Free School Meals will not only help to combat hunger and poverty but will shatter the stigma and shame associated with the provision of meals on a means tested basis and will fuel young people’s ability to learn in the classroom. Neither empty tummies nor low self-esteem make for full days of learning in school. Furthermore, this progressive policy sends a clear and positive message to the rest of the devolved nations and beyond that we are serious about ending poverty in Scotland, and that we are genuinely committed to educational equity and to the wellbeing of our young people. Sign the petition today and email the First Minister showing your support.