TUC Video

This short video explains what is wrong with the government’s Benefit Cap – the limit to how much benefit families can get, however much they need. Children will be harder hit than anyone else, thousands of families will be made homeless and the numbers in poverty will be forced up. Unions are saying NO to this change and they want you to say NO too.

Apprentices talk about the value of their union membership.

The Bedroom Tax is unfair because it will force children and disabled people into poverty. It will make it harder for unemployed people to get work and, as this short video shows, it is impossible for everyone to obey it. The Bedroom Tax will make Britain a harsher, more unequal place and unions want you to join us in saying NO to it.

April’s employment figures were bad: the number of people unemployed went up and the number in employment went down. But as Richard Exell explains in this month’s employment trends vLog, this isn’t the only worrying trend. Average earnings have hardly risen for a year, and if you take inflation into account, they are actually falling. This is bad news for hopes of recovery.

Listen to Frances O'Grady's speech at the Northern Region TUC AGM on 13-14 April 2013

Highlights from the, "A Future For Families: TUC Pre-Budget Rally 2013", which took place on Wednesday 13 March 2013 in Westminster. The rally, a week before the Government's Spring budget, called on George Osborne to provide a break with austerity in this year’s budget.

Unionlearn are campaigning to ensure that all apprentices are properly valued. Called ‘I’m an apprentice – value me!’, the campaign will be aimed at ensuring that apprentices know what they are entitled to, that employers are aware of what they should be paying and that government is properly enforcing the apprentice minimum wage.

This debate, part of the After Austerity series of events, considered the need for an active industrial policy; discussed what we can learn from more successful economies and considered the practical measures Government could take now and in the medium term to support key sectors for future sustainable growth. 

The latest labour market statistics once again had good headline figures with unemployment falling and employment growing but some worrying details. There is still a long way to go before the labour market recovers and real wages continue to fall, adding to the squeeze in living standards.