Workers at Thomas Swan in Consett have faced attacks on their wages including term's and conditions for a number of years. Thomas Swan employees worked throughout the pandemic placing their loved ones at risk in order to maintain the success of the company. This year with inflation at an all time high and workers struggling to support their families, Thomas Swan have turned their backs! This not only places strain on the workers and their families but the local economy and the future of decent paid jobs in Consett.

Just a few months ago Grant Shapps slammed P&O for replacing experienced workers with agency staff. But now he’s proposing to do the same on railways and other key sectors. Ministers seem determined to reduce workers’ bargaining power and to make it harder for working people to win fair pay and conditions. It would put these workers in an appalling situation, worsen disputes and poison industrial relations. This is about respect, for our work, skill and experience and we can only win that dignity and respect through the power of standing together with other union members. Every time workers go out on strike, we remind them of how important we really are and it terrifies them. Add your name and tell the government to abandon this dangerous plan.

This year’s Queen's Speech included proposals to reform UK data protection law. While the details of such reforms are yet to be published, government rhetoric expresses a clear intent to remove regulation. “Our data regulations will be more proportionate and less burdensome than the EU’s GDPR” the government says. Such a move would not only undermine the privacy of all citizens, it will also weaken workers' ability to question and challenge surveillance technologies and practices implemented by employers. The findings of UTAW’s Employee Surveillance Survey emphasize just how important it is to tackle surveillance in the workplace. With data demonstrating the impact of surveillance on mental health — almost half said monitoring was having a negative effect on their stress levels — it is clear that stronger worker protections are vital if we are to tackle the UK’s mental health crisis. In an increasingly digitised and remote working world, the asymmetry in the relationship between employers and employees has the potential to be socially destructive. It needs to change now. Following the TUC's demands outlined in its Dignity at work and the AI revolution manifesto, we call on the government to: • Ensure UK data protection legislation includes a universal right to explainability when high-risk AI or ADM (automated decision making) systems are used. The rationale for using such systems should be clear and readily available to employees, alongside the right to request personalised explanation when necessary. • Amend The Employment Rights Act 1996 to defend workers from detrimental treatment and dismissal as a result of the processing of inaccurate data. This must be enforceable in an employment tribunal. • Make Equality Impact Audits in the workplace mandatory. They should be made a part of the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) process and readily accessible to workers, employees and their representatives.

Working people have been through enough in this pandemic, now we’re being hit with a triple threat: 1. Eye-watering food, petrol and energy bills 2. Hikes to National Insurance and cuts to universal credit 3. Wages that don't keep up with soaring prices With energy prices set to sky-rocket to £2,800 a year in autumn, things are only about to get much worse. Britain’s workers have been dealt a bad deal for far too long. We demand good jobs, good wages and good work. Things won’t get better unless we fight to make them better. That’s why we’re calling on the government to deliver change and a new deal for working people. Please sign and share this petition far and wide!

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.

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.

We must stand strong against bad bosses unnecessarily attacking workers and using anti-trade union tactics. Coventry City Council and their Labour Leader, George Duggins have failed the people of Coventry and they have failed the workers. Can you help us by writing an email to him, asking him to reinstate Pete, stop union-busting, stop strike breaking and pay the rate?

Pete is one of the 75 refuse workers in Coventry City who have been on an all-out strike since 31st Jan over a pay dispute. • The Council is reported to have spent in the region of 2.8 million of taxpayers’ money trying to break the strike and using contractor Tom White Waste to break the picket. • It would cost less than £300,000 to resolve the dispute, but it seems Coventry City Council is hell-bent on wasting taxpayers’ money. • Just recently, Coventry Council published an important untrue statement, saying the bin lorry drivers earn up to £52,163 a year. The truth is the hourly pay rate is £11.49-£14.37 meaning the lowest-paid earns a basic wage of just £22,183 a year. • This council has a history of wasting taxpayers’ money, including on fat cat salaries and golden handshakes. • Former deputy chief executive, Martin Yardley, was given more money than any other council staff member in the whole country in 2019/20 pocketing £573,660. • In 2018, the retiring finance chief waltzed off with just shy of £450,000. An attack on one is an attack on all! Please sign the petition

The new Waste to Energy plant planned at Skelton Grange could be a chance to bring hundreds of good, skilled jobs to the Leeds area. The £250m build project will have a huge impact when finished, powering 100,000 local homes. We need to ensure that terms and conditions are protected and enhanced, so we can bring everyone with us as we transition to a greener future – sustainability and development at the same time. We want an end to undercutting on pay and conditions, which harms our communities and creates resentment rather than collaboration. The National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI) is comprehensive set of terms and conditions of employment for hourly-paid engineering construction workers on major projects across the UK. It’s a nationally agreed standard for good work in construction, and it’s a way to make sure that new projects meet their responsibilities. We think the NAECI agreement should be the baseline for everyone working on the build of the Skelton Grange Waste to Energy plant. It’s a commitment to the community that was proposed early on, but we are worried HZI and Leeds City Council will try to quietly drop this important safeguard if we don’t raise the pressure on it now. Join us and demand HZI and Leeds City Council get round the table with the unions Unite and GMB and agree to establishing NAECI standards across the site.

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!