As 2025 draws to a close, head of Unite, Sharon Graham, has renewed her call for public ownership, while exposing the extortionate profits Energy giants generate through bills:
This year, Unite’s energy report with some stark findings: Energy companies made £30 billion profit in 2024. £500 of the average household energy bill goes on pure profit, roughly a third. Bring energy back into #PublicOwnership. pic.twitter.com/wYg5lHhpfU
— Sharon Graham (@UniteSharon) December 27, 2025
In September, our own James Wright exposed the scale of ‘corporate robbery’ caused by privatisation. Since the 1990’s, corporate shareholders have pocketed £200bn from the UK public across energy, water, rail and mail. Wright also points out that a staggering 45 percent of national income is greedily extracted by the super-rich through monopolistic practices.
What is the priority: fair pay or extortionate profits?
Graham also criticised the Labour government of failing to prioritise the country’s work force. Workers are said to have lost £11k in real wages since the banks crashed the economy.
Since the banks crashed the economy real wages are down by £11k. And yet Labour’s Budget chose to tax workers. Instead of a wealth tax, the Budget’s taxes on dividends & expensive properties will raise a fraction of the amount being taken from workers.…
— Sharon Graham (@UniteSharon) December 27, 2025
Exposing Labour’s broken promises
In a recent Sky News interview with Sky News about the Employment Rights Bill passed in mid-December, Graham criticised Labour for not honouring its manifesto pledge. She added that workers had been duped with the government backtracking on its promise to ban zero-hour contracts and exploitative fire-and-rehire practices.
The Sky News presenter asked Graham:
Do you feel sold down the river by the government?
Graham didn’t hold back in her response.
Well, I think what is happening here is that workers are now going to feel a bit duped because it’s not just day one rights. I mean, there has been a catalogue of watering down of the employment rights bill. Fire and rehire is not banned. Zero hour contracts no longer banned. And now we have this move on day one rights. This was a manifesto promise. And so the issue here is one of trust.
Sky News inadvertently pointed out the conflict of interest at play, likely influencing Labour’s decision to water down the bill:
Yeah, but it is a complex sort of triangulation of a negotiation, isn’t it? I mean, with with the unions, with the business community. And if the number one priority of the government is to kickstart growth, they need confidence from the business community.
Not happy with that long-standing priority of government policy, Graham reminded audiences of promised that were made but not delivered.
I mean, the bigger point here is that in the Labour manifesto, they said that they were going to implement these rights in full. There had already been a negotiation. This is like having a deal done and then somebody unravelling it halfway through. And so therefore, the bigger picture here, it’s not about each of the individual things. But when workers look at this later on and think that they can’t be fired and rehired, think that they don’t have to accept zero-hour contracts, think that there are day-one rights, they’re going to find that those things don’t exist. And so the issue here is one of trust, and I think that’s what workers will be feeling this morning.
UK workers drawing the short straw
Graham went on to highlight our footing on employment rights compared to European countries:
We’ve got actually some of the worst employment rights in Europe. The pendulum has swung way too far… And so the whole point of Labour coming in was to fight for workers, fight for communities. People have just seen the same thing happen in the budget. Instead of taxing extreme wealth, we’ve now got a stealth tax coming in, that really working people are paying yet again for the crisis.
Finally, Graham pointed out that this is seemingly a continuation of the same old story:
I think workers will feel that Labour is not on their side. They wanted some redress for what is happening to workers up and down the country. And I think the budget yesterday, unfortunately, where there was an opportunity to tax the richest in our society, the billionaires in our society. They chose to agree and continue with a stealth tax, which means everyday people pay the price. That is what the problem is. This is an addition to that characterisation, and I think Labour will pay for that at the ballot box.
Graham’s New Year wishes
As 2025 draws to an end, Sharon Graham’s vision for 2026 is clear — a renewed fight for public ownership and fair rights for workers. With growing public support for wealth taxes and public ownership, coupled with the election of a socialist leader in Unison, there is real momentum building behind her cause. But the question remains: will Labour pay the price at the ballot box?
Featured image via the Youtube channel of Keir Starmer
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