Fact Service June 2019

Issue 26 (27/06/2019) - An inspiring message for union noticeboard; Old school tie and Oxbridge elites; Working long hours brings risk of stroke; Older workers project gets £2 million funding


; London council signs domestic abuse charter

Issue 25 (20/06/2019) - Nineteen top executives share £49.47 million; Retail inflation rate steady at 3.0% in May


; Singled out over trade union activity?; Blight of low-paid and insecure work; Quarter of fathers miss out on paternity leave

Issue 24 (13/06/2019) - Unemployment falls to 1.3 million


; MPs slam current use of gagging clauses


; Taskforce to develop period poverty policy
; Increase of 3.3% in average earningsIncrease of 3.3% in average earnings

Issue 23 (06/06/2019) - Pay bill for 27 directors comes to £73.5 million; Industrial strategy to 'Save Our Shops'; NHS Trust drops plan to outsource jobs
; Union membership numbers up again; Low pay Britain 2019

Issue 26

An inspiring message for union noticeboard
 (214 words)

“I think the best thing you can ever do is be a union rep … you fight for the person who hasn’t got a voice. You fight for the ‘little’ ...
Open access

Old school tie and Oxbridge elites
 (629 words)

The top professions in the UK are still unduly dominated by people who have gone through private schools and Oxford and Cambridge universities, ...
Subscribers only

Working long hours brings risk of stroke
 (366 words)

Working long hours is linked to an increased risk of stroke, researchers say.
 ...
Subscribers only

Older workers project gets £2 million funding
 (596 words)

More than £2 million of National Lottery funding is being invested in a project to support older people to remain in or return to work in Northern ...
Subscribers only

London council signs domestic abuse charter
 (251 words)

Barking and Dagenham Council has become the first London borough to sign up to the GMB general union’s Work to Stop domestic abuse employer charter. ...
Subscribers only

Issue 25

Nineteen top executives share £49.47 million
 (586 words)

The torrent has turned to a trickle, but 19 top executives, whose latest remuneration package is worth over £1 million a year, feature in the table ...
Subscribers only

Retail inflation rate steady at 3.0% in May
 (530 words)

Dearer energy bills offset by cheaper air fares meant retail price inflation stood still in May, official figures show.
 ...
Subscribers only

Singled out over trade union activity?
 (280 words)

A West Midlands college is facing strike action over its sacking of a union activist. 
 ...
Subscribers only

Blight of low-paid and insecure work
 (360 words)

More than five million workers across Britain are in low-paid and insecure work, leaving families struggling to make ends meet, according to a ...
Subscribers only

Quarter of fathers miss out on paternity leave
 (343 words)

Almost a quarter (23%) of new fathers did not qualify for statutory paid paternity leave last year, either because they had not been in their job ...
Subscribers only

Issue 24

Unemployment falls to 1.3 million
 (621 words)

A fall in the number of unemployed people maintained the unemployment rate at its lowest level for almost 45 years, official figures show.
 ...
Subscribers only

MPs slam current use of gagging clauses 
 (407 words)

A group of MPs says that the government must reset the parameters around the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and address the failure of the ...
Subscribers only

Taskforce to develop period poverty policy
 (385 words)

A government taskforce is to work together with charities and businesses across a range of sectors to develop a comprehensive and sustainable ...
Subscribers only

Increase of 3.3% in average earnings
 (589 words)

The latest average weekly earnings data show an increase in growth.
 ...
Subscribers only

Issue 23

Pay bill for 27 directors comes to £73.5 million
 (795 words)

Twenty seven top executives, whose latest remuneration package is worth over £1 million a year, feature in the table on page 90. There’s a strong ...
Subscribers only

Industrial strategy to 'Save Our Shops'
 (426 words)

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has launched its industrial strategy for retail at the Houses of Parliament.
 ...
Subscribers only

NHS Trust drops plan to outsource jobs
 (218 words)

Domestics at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow have called off six days of planned strikes after their employer dropped plans to outsource their ...
Open access

Union membership numbers up again
 (418 words)

The number of employees who were trade union members rose by 103,000 on the year to 6.35 million in 2018, according to the latest official ...
Subscribers only

Low pay Britain 2019
 (399 words)

The proportion of low-paid workers across Britain has fallen to its lowest level since 1980, and low pay could be eliminated altogether by the middle ...
Subscribers only