Fact Service May 2020

Issue 21 (28/05/2020) - Union membership up for third year running; Latest figures paint stable pre-Covid employment picture; AWEs were outstripping inflation up to lockdown; 'No putting profit before safety' as workplaces reopen; Action needed to protect BAME workers; Call for snap HSE inspections

Issue 20 (21/05/2020) - Benefit claims soar, unemployment creeps up, jobs and pay fall; Inflation drops to four year low; NHS workers' coalition sets plan for return; Third of all employed are key workers; Union support for mental health week; TSSA wants action after concourse incident death; Deaths disparity inquiry call; CIPD: one fifth plan redundancies

issue 19 (14/05/2020) - Unions call halt to premature return to work; Relief as furlough scheme extended; Teachers say 'no'; Transport unions warn of walkouts; Reps reveal mental health concerns, but hope for future; PPE provision is employers’ duty in law; Neal Moister

Issue 18 (07/05/2020) - Unions: lockdown easing mustn't be rushed; Happiness drops, anxiety soars in Covid-hit GB; Call for bus worker temperature checks; TUC proposes new plan for jobs; Visa extensions welcomed; Anger over BA redundancies threat

Issue 21

Union membership up for third year running (155 words)

As this issue of Fact Service went to press the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released the annual figures for union membership in the UK. These ...
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Latest figures paint stable pre-Covid employment picture (716 words)

The latest UK employment and unemployment figures show a similar picture to previous months: employment continuing to grow to a record high, with ...
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AWEs were outstripping inflation up to lockdown (457 words)

Figures on average weekly earnings (AWE) released last week by the ONS showed continuing growth. However, the organisation notes that estimates are ...
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'No putting profit before safety' as workplaces reopen (599 words)

Unions continue to criticise a premature return to work, as surveys show apprehension among the general public, and the government predicts the ...
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Action needed to protect BAME workers (388 words)

UNISON, the GMB, and probation and family courts’ staff union Napo have together urged the National Probation Service and community rehabilitation ...
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Call for snap HSE inspections (72 words)

General union Unite has advised the government to lift restrictions on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities that prevent them ...
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Issue 20

Benefit claims soar, unemployment creeps up, jobs and pay fall (383 words)

Some 856,500 people applied for Universal Credit in April, increasing the UK overall claimant count by 69% in one month alone, and driving the total ...
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Inflation drops to four year low (275 words)

Inflation in Britain virtually halved in April, falling to a four year low of 0.8%, according to the latest figures from the Office of National ...
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NHS workers’ coalition sets plan for return (387 words)

A 17-strong coalition of unions representing over a million NHS workers has laid down a blueprint for the health service’s safe return to carrying ...
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Third of all employed are key workers (288 words)

The ONS has provided data that gives a picture of the number of people employed in 2019 in key worker roles, based on the government’s recent (14 ...
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Union support for mental health week (113 words)

Unions have voiced support for Mental Health Awareness Week, saying that it is more relevant than ever in a time of lockdown and worries about job ...
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TSSA wants action after concourse incident death (378 words)

Transport union TSSA has laid out a set of demands to train operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) after consulting workmates of Betty Mujinga, a ...
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Deaths disparity inquiry call (314 words)

The Unite union has called for a public inquiry into why workers in low paid jobs face a greater risk of dying from Covid-19 than those in higher ...
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CIPD: one fifth plan redundancies (132 words)

More than a fifth of employers polled are planning to make redundancies, according to the latest Labour Market Outlook survey from the CIPD ...
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Issue 19

Unions call halt to premature return to work (957 words)

Trade unions reacted with unanimous scepticism to Sunday’s prime ministerial broadcast, which proposed a conditional, staged exit from the ...
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Relief as furlough scheme extended (196 words)

Despite predictions that it might be cut back, the government’s job retention furlough scheme has instead been extended by four months. ...
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Teachers say 'no' (307 words)

Teaching unions are continuing to resist the reopening of schools in the near future, with the NEU announcing that within an hour of Sunday night’s ...
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Transport unions warn of walkouts (257 words)

Transport workers' union the RMT has again advised its members to refuse to work if they feel their safety is compromised by the coronavirus. ...
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Reps reveal mental health concerns, but hope for future (310 words)

A survey by Unite of 1,360 reps nationwide shows the majority of the employers they are dealing with are behaving responsibly during the pandemic, ...
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PPE provision is employers’ duty in law (184 words)

Leading legal figures Jane Deighton and Lord Hendy QC have issued a reminder on the situation in law around the provision of personal protective ...
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Neal Moister (106 words)

The LRD would like to thank retiring Fact Service editor Neal Moister, who produced his last issue of this publication on 26 March. He took over as ...
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Issue 18

Unions: lockdown easing mustn't be rushed (724 words)

Transport and teaching unions have led protests against any premature easing of the coronavirus lockdown and a return to normal service. ...
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Happiness drops, anxiety soars in Covid-hit GB (284 words)

Rates of anxiety in Britain have doubled, with half the population reporting high levels of worry, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has ...
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Call for bus worker temperature checks (154 words)

General union Unite has called for compulsory daily temperature checks to be offered to all London bus workers, before being rolled out nationwide. ...
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TUC proposes new plan for jobs (591 words)

The TUC has released a report backing its call for a new plan for jobs, under which government would provide the funding to provide a new jobs ...
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Visa extensions welcomed (175 words)

Public services union UNISON has responded positively to a government decision that health and care workers from overseas – and their families – ...
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Anger over BA redundancies threat (515 words)

There has been shock and anger at the threat of redundancies at British Airways (BA), which had previously won praise for consulting unions while ...
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