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Unite says bin strike deal closer if council puts public promises in writing

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unite-says-bin-strike-deal-closer-if-council-puts-public-promises-writing

Rubbish bags are taken away on Poplar Road in Birmingham, Aril 16, 2025

THE Unite union called out Birmingham City Council today over the ongoing bin strike negotiations, warning they would be much closer to a deal if the authority “put in writing what it is saying in public.”

More than 350 refuse workers have been on strike since March 11 over plans to cut the vital role of waste recycling collection officer (WRCO).

According to Unite, it will lead to 150 of its members having their pay slashed by up to £8,000 a year.

On Monday, workers rejected the council’s latest offer. Unite said the proposal still involved substantial pay cuts and failed to address other potential wage reductions for 200 drivers.

Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton said that the council made a “fair and reasonable offer that means that no-one has to lose any pay at all, with alternative roles offered within the service, or indeed a promotion to work as a driver.”

He tried again to reassure the public today, telling the BBC “we’re in a position where nobody needs to be losing income.”

But Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said they appeared to be living in a “parallel universe.”

She said: “Yet again, John Cotton is saying one thing in public while his local officers are saying another in the negotiating room and in writing.

“If the council puts in writing what it says in public then we would likely be much closer to a deal.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unite-says-bin-strike-deal-closer-if-council-puts-public-promises-writing

Continue ReadingUnite says bin strike deal closer if council puts public promises in writing

Unite launches legal challenge to overturn winter fuel payment cut

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/h-lead-unite-launches-legal-challenge-overturn-winter-fuel-payment-cut

UNITE has launched judicial review proceedings seeking to overturn government cuts to the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners.

The union submitted a pre-action notice to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall on October 29 after the Budget kept the benefits cut for all but the poorest pensioners.

Unite said it will seek leave of the High Court to mount a full judicial review should the government not respond to the letter and reverse its decision by November 7.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “People do not understand — I do not understand — how a Labour government has taken away the fuel allowance of millions of pensioners just as winter approaches.

“Given the failure to rectify this in the budget, Unite has now commenced judicial review proceedings challenging the legality of the policy.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/h-lead-unite-launches-legal-challenge-overturn-winter-fuel-payment-cut

Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
Continue ReadingUnite launches legal challenge to overturn winter fuel payment cut

Unite calls for 1% wealth tax on super-rich to fund UK public sector pay rises

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/24/unite-calls-for-1-wealth-tax-on-super-rich-to-fund-uk-public-sector-pay-rises

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite trade union, leads steel workers down Whitehall last year to demand more support for the industry. She says the British economy is broken. Photograph: Guy Smallman/Getty Images

The demand from Britain’s second biggest union will test truce with Labour at next month’s TUC conference

Britain’s second biggest trade union is calling on the new Labour government to introduce an emergency 1% wealth tax on the assets of the super-rich to pay for 10% pay rises for public sector workers and fill more than 100,000 NHS vacancies.

The demand from Unite is in one of several motions to the Trades Union Congress, which meets in Brighton next month, that will expose tensions between Keir Starmer’s government and sections of the union movement. It comes as Rachel Reeves is preparing for her first budget as chancellor, on 30 October.

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Other key trade unions are preparing to press for further policy changes from Labour, including abandoning the two-child benefit cap, which Starmer has so far resisted, and the reversal of the recent decision to end winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, which has been causing a serious backlash among Labour backbenchers.

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Unite’s plan is for a tax of 1% to be applied on the assets of those worth more than £4m, which it says would raise £25bn a year to fund investment in public services and avoid a return to austerity. Under the plan, someone with assets worth £6m would face a 1% tax on the £2m above the £4m threshold. These assets would include property, shares and bank accounts but would not include mortgaged property.

Unite points to research showing that the richest 50 families in the UK now have assets worth nearly £500bn.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said: “Unite’s resolution to the TUC on the economy calls things by their real name. The British economy is broken.

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/24/unite-calls-for-1-wealth-tax-on-super-rich-to-fund-uk-public-sector-pay-rises

Continue ReadingUnite calls for 1% wealth tax on super-rich to fund UK public sector pay rises

Unite union refuses to endorse Labour manifesto

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Image of Keir Starmer and a poor child.
Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c722zkj9ly8o

Unite, Labour’s biggest trade union backer, has refused to endorse the party’s general election manifesto, saying it does not go far enough on protecting workers’ rights and jobs in the oil and gas industry.

Union leaders were at a meeting on Friday to finalise the party’s 2024 election platform ahead of its launch next week.

The BBC understands that at the meeting Unite announced they would not endorse Labour’s plans.

There is now a question mark over whether Unite will fund the party at the general election. In 2019, Unite gave £3m to Labour’s campaign.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c722zkj9ly8o

Continue ReadingUnite union refuses to endorse Labour manifesto