Fact Service November 2020

Issue 47 (26/11/2020) - Spending review: pay frozen, unemployment up, 'economic emergency beginning'; Shock research identifies firefighters' cancer risk; Report warns of stark future for rail; New bus drivers' safety measure arrives ahead of schedule; New figures back case for union learning fund; New guide on confronting racism; Unions speak out on violence against women elimination day; Young generation faces 'scar of unemployment'

Issue 46 (19/11/2020) - Unions defend RPI inflation measure; Union scores victory as right to picket upheld; Health and safety breakthrough won by union; LRD releases 2020 pay survey; Shop staff report abuse worsening during pandemic; Job loss plan paused; Heathrow to 'grind to halt'; TUC: adult education plan will fail without union fund; Three-quarters of NHS midwives think staffing levels unsafe; Trade talks 'must uphold workers’ rights'

Issue 45 (12/11/2020) - Redundancies at record levels, unemployment up, employment down; Real Living Wage goes up this week; Union: mask use welcome at work alongside other prevention methods; NHS union group calls for pre-Xmas pay rise; Government must plan realistically for Covid winter wave; Charity calls for paid bereavement leave;

Issue 44 (05/11/2020) - UK 'couldn't tackle twin emergencies'; Disabled workers earning a fifth less; TUC and FSB plead for payment retention; Coalition launches care funding campaign; One in three worried by workplace Covid risk; Fifth of Covid whistleblowers 'dismissed'; Weekly wages stable but young are hit hard

Issue 47

Spending review: pay frozen, unemployment up, ‘economic emergency beginning’ (700 words)

Wednesday’s spending review announcement by chancellor Rishi Sunak warned that as the end of the health emergency came into view, “the economic ...
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Shock research identifies firefighters’ cancer risk (513 words)

Research released by the FBU has revealed the need for urgent action to protect firefighters from cancer. ...
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Report warns of stark future for rail (232 words)

Rail unions have welcomed a report by City and Guilds and the National Skills Academy for Rail which predicts a “stark” future for the industry. ...
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New bus drivers’ safety measure arrives ahead of schedule (164 words)

General union Unite has claimed a victory for bus drivers – a high-risk group – after London’s buses were adapted to better protect them. ...
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New figures back case for union learning fund (214 words)

The TUC says it has drawn the government’s attention to a new document which underlines the value for money offered by the endangered union ...
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New guide on confronting racism (109 words)

The LRD has released a new guide for trade unionists on tackling racism and inequality. It comes against a background of BAME people suffering ...
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Unions speak out on violence against women elimination day (161 words)

The trade union federations of Britain and Ireland marked 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, by ...
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Young generation faces ‘scar of unemployment’ (135 words)

More young workers aged 16 to 24 were made redundant this summer than in all of 2019, according to the TUC – 59,000 compared to 56,000 in the whole ...
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Issue 46

Unions defend RPI inflation measure (446 words)

As the latest inflation figures arrive, the leaders of some of Britain’s biggest unions have launched a vigorous defence of the RPI (Retail Prices ...
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Union scores victory as right to picket upheld (196 words)

The government has conceded that workers have the right to stage lawful pickets during a Covid-19 lockdown, general union Unite has stated. It had ...
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Health and safety breakthrough won by union (200 words)

In a second major union victory this week the IWGB won a ruling from the High Court that precarious workers deserve the same health and safety ...
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LRD releases 2020 pay survey (132 words)

LRD’s annual report on pay is available now, and is free to view. ...
Open access

Shop staff report abuse worsening during pandemic (194 words)

Three quarters of retail staff say abuse has got even worse during the pandemic, according to shopworkers’ union Usdaw. ...
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Job loss plan paused (99 words)

General union the GMB has praised airline caterer Baxter Storey after it paused consultations on 500 planned redundancies and opted to use the ...
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Heathrow to ‘grind to halt’ (216 words)

Heathrow Airport will “grind to a halt”, the Unite union has promised, as workers plan four days of strikes in December. ...
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TUC: adult education plan will fail without union fund (167 words)

The TUC has stated that the government’s adult education plans will fail if the union learning fund is axed next year (see Fact Service issue 42). ...
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Three-quarters of NHS midwives think staffing levels unsafe (237 words)

NHS maternity services are reaching crisis point, with morale at rock bottom and unsafe staffing levels, according to the Royal College of Midwives ...
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Trade talks ‘must uphold workers’ rights’ (188 words)

The TUC and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO-Norway) have jointly warned against a “race to the bottom” on workers’ rights and ...
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Issue 45

Redundancies at record levels, unemployment up, employment down (731 words)

Redundancies again hit a record high, unemployment rose and employment fell in the three months to September, according to the latest figures from ...
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Real Living Wage goes up this week (522 words)

Over quarter of a million workers are set to receive a pay rise, the Living Wage Foundation has announced, as the real Living Wage increases this ...
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Union: mask use welcome at work alongside other prevention methods (190 words)

Postal workers’ union the CWU has agreed with Royal Mail that the use of masks in indoor workplaces should be mandatory – but that the move must ...
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NHS union group calls for pre-Xmas pay rise (315 words)

Fourteen UK health unions representing more than 1.3 million workers have asked the prime minister for a pay rise for all NHS staff before Christmas. ...
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Government must plan realistically for Covid winter wave (311 words)

The government must make decisions about NHS service provision based on available numbers of nursing staff and what they can safely maintain, ...
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Charity calls for paid bereavement leave (231 words)

The Sue Ryder charity has called for workers who lose a close relative or partner to receive two weeks’ statutory paid bereavement leave. ...
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Issue 44

UK ‘couldn’t tackle twin emergencies’ (430 words)

Cuts to firefighter numbers mean Britain is no longer prepared to take on two national emergencies at once, according to the Fire Brigades Union ...
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Disabled workers earning a fifth less (303 words)

Disabled workers are earning 20% less than non-disabled ones, according to the TUC. ...
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TUC and FSB plead for payment retention (274 words)

The TUC has joined with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) to urge the government to abandon a planned cut in Universal Credit support payments ...
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Coalition launches care funding campaign (216 words)

Public services union UNISON is one of the members of a new cross-party alliance campaigning for a major funding package and fair wages for low-paid ...
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One in three worried by workplace Covid risk (140 words)

Over a third (35 per cent) of UK workers are worried about catching Covid in the workplace according to a poll by the Resolution Foundation. Low-paid ...
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Fifth of Covid whistleblowers 'dismissed' (133 words)

Nearly half of employees with worries about coronavirus have been ignored by employers, and a fifth of whistleblowers dismissed for raising concerns ...
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Weekly wages stable but young are hit hard (796 words)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its measures of employee earnings, using data from Ashe, the Annual Survey for Hours and ...
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