Support staff at Manchester Metropolitan University have ended a three-day strike over what they described as an "insulting" 1.4 per cent pay offer.
The walkout, which ran from February 10 to February 12, saw library assistants, administrators, and IT workers picket outside All Saints Park on Oxford Road.
The working from home debate has never really been about whether people are more productive at their kitchen tables. According to those who study the data, it’s about something else entirely: who gets to do it, who doesn’t, and what that says about the country we live in.
This week, Nigel Farage added his voice to the chorus of working from home sceptics, pledging that Reform UK would bring the practice to an end. Britain, he argued, needs an “attitudinal change to hard work, rather than work-life balance”. Working from home, he claimed, simply isn’t as productive as being in the office.
In the early 20th century, Frederick Winslow Taylor offered industry a beguiling promise: maximum efficiency through the total control of work. With stopwatch in hand, he dissected tasks into their smallest, simplest components, prescribing every motion and minute. Taylorism, or “Scientific Management,” was born.
A century later, its ghost doesn’t just haunt the factory floor—it lives on in the algorithmically managed warehouse, the scripted call centre, and the productivity-tracked open-plan office. Lauded as a leap forward, Taylor’s system was, in truth, a profound step backward for human dignity at work, and its continued application is a direct assault on staff wellbeing and innovation.
For decades, the balance of power in UK workplaces has tilted decisively away from the collective voice of employees. Union membership has declined, and for a generation of workers in newer industries, the concept of organised bargaining has been an abstract idea, not a tangible right. The landmark Employment Rights Act represents a historic correction—a deliberate and necessary effort to revitalise the trade union movement and re-embed the principles of fairness and collective negotiation into the modern economy.
This isn't just a change in policy; it’s a restoration of fundamental workplace democracy. The Act’s comprehensive reforms are designed to dismantle the barriers that have stifled worker organisation and to answer a simple, powerful question: Will it work? The evidence suggests that by empowering workers and their chosen representatives, it can.
Is reporting a workplace safety hazard a frustrating maze of paperwork and dead-end contacts? For too many employees and managers, the answer is yes. Identifying the correct authority—be it the HSE, a local council, or a specific industry regulator—can cost valuable time while risks remain.
That’s why the launch of Safety Enforcer, a revolutionary web app, is set to transform health and safety reporting across UK industries.