Fact Service December 2020

Issue 50 (17/12/2020) - Redundancies at record high, unemployment creeping up; Inflation drops, but fares to rise; Outsourced cleaners win return to NHS; Survey charts Covid's impact on BAME communities; Employer organisations praise union learning; Report reveals role of "super managers" in creating inequality; Union launches workers' guide to Covid

Issue 49 (10/12/2020) - UK jobs confidence the lowest in Europe; Covid driving wages down worldwide; Top pay still driven by shareholder results; Taxi industry on verge of collapse, union warns; 'Don’t repeat Test and Trace’s mistakes in vaccination programme'; BA cargo workers vote overwhelmingly for action; Testing and full pay for Covid-hit factory; Union's bus ads seek to shame BT; 'Wagon Wheels shortage' looms as DHL Liverpool strike gets go ahead

Issue 48 (03/12/2020) - Public workers £1,000 worse off before freeze; Debenhams and Arcadia woes show need for immediate action; First of four strikes held at Heathrow; Taskforce launched over tech fears; Who's policing mask use on buses, union asks; Xmas food factories could be 'super spreaders'; UK's net worth falls; ITUC: 'break up Amazon'

Issue 50

Redundancies at record high, unemployment creeping up (606 words)

Eight hundred and nineteen thousand workers disappeared from UK company payrolls between February and November this year, the latest official figures ...
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Inflation drops, but fares to rise (301 words)

The UK's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate fell to 0.3% last month, down from 0.7% in October, according to the ONS. Clothing prices were a ...
Subscribers only

Outsourced cleaners win return to NHS (188 words)

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children has announced it will bring outsourced cleaners in-house following a campaign by the United Voices of the ...
Open access

Survey charts Covid’s impact on BAME communities (341 words)

The ONS has examined the social impacts of Covid-19 on different ethnic groups in the UK, including its effects on mental health. ...
Subscribers only

Employer organisations praise union learning (257 words)

National manufacturers’ organisation Make UK has spoken out in defence of the £12 million union learning fund, which faces the axe next year (see ...
Subscribers only

Report reveals role of “super managers” in creating inequality (455 words)

A report by the High Pay Centre think tank has thrown a light on the pay gaps that help make the UK one of the most unequal of the leading economies. ...
Subscribers only

Union launches workers' guide to Covid (98 words)

The Unite general union has launched a guide to keeping construction workers safe during the pandemic which, it says, can be used by all workers. ...
Open access

Issue 49

UK jobs confidence the lowest in Europe (466 words)

The outlook for jobs in 2021 is improving but employer confidence is the lowest in Europe, according to the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook ...
Subscribers only

Covid driving wages down worldwide (291 words)

The Covid crisis is likely to inflict massive downward pressure on wages, the ILO (International Labour Organization) has stated. Its Global Wage ...
Subscribers only

Top pay still driven by shareholder results (288 words)

An analysis by charity the High Pay Centre and chartered institute the CIPD has shown that performance-related pay for FTSE 100 CEOs is still mostly ...
Subscribers only

Taxi industry on verge of collapse, union warns (129 words)

The UK’s taxi and minicab industry is at the point of collapse if it doesn’t receive aid, general union the GMB has warned. ...
Open access

‘Don’t repeat Test and Trace’s mistakes in vaccination programme’ (257 words)

The TUC has warned the government not to outsource the Covid-19 vaccination programme and risk repeating the mistakes seen during Test and Trace and ...
Subscribers only

BA cargo workers vote overwhelmingly for action (188 words)

Cargo workers at British Airways (BA) have voted almost unanimously in favour of industrial action in the continuing dispute over the company’s ...
Open access

Testing and full pay for Covid-hit factory (152 words)

The GMB is claiming victory after food supplier Bakkavor agreed to full pay for staff off work, a deep clean, and a rollout of mass testing at its ...
Open access

Union’s bus ads seek to shame BT (203 words)

Communications workers’ union the CWU has set out to shame BT over planned compulsory redundancies (see issue 42). ...
Open access

‘Wagon Wheels shortage’ looms as DHL Liverpool strike gets go ahead (282 words)

Unite has said that the public should be prepared for shortages of Wagon Wheels and Jammie Dodgers biscuits after DHL Supply Chain workers voted for ...
Subscribers only

Issue 48

Public workers £1,000 worse off before freeze (431 words)

With unions continuing to condemn the chancellor’s pay freeze for many public sector staff (see last issue) a new analysis shows these workers are ...
Subscribers only

Debenhams and Arcadia woes show need for immediate action (465 words)

The liquidation of retail giant Debenhams and its 124 department stores – with the possible loss of 12,000 jobs – has dramatically signalled the ...
Subscribers only

First of four strikes held at Heathrow (85 words)

Unite has reported that the first of four one-day strikes at Heathrow Airport (see last issue) went off well. ...
Open access

Taskforce launched over tech fears (333 words)

The TUC has launched a taskforce to look at the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in managing people at work. ...
Subscribers only

Who's policing mask use on buses, union asks (100 words)

Transport union the RMT is seeking to clarify who is policing the wearing of facemasks on buses, and to what extent it is actually happening. ...
Open access

Xmas food factories could be ‘super spreaders’ (342 words)

The TUC has warned that, with Christmas approaching, food processing factories could become coronavirus “super spreaders”. ...
Subscribers only

UK's net worth falls (164 words)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its estimates of the national balance sheet for 2020 – essentially a measure of the UK’s ...
Open access

ITUC: ‘break up Amazon' (188 words)

International union confederation the ITUC has called for retail giant Amazon to be broken up. ...
Open access