Fact Service March 2021

Issue 12 (25/03/2021) - Unemployment drops slightly, but young workers are suffering; Supreme Court sleep-in decision disappoints; Inflation good news provides pay opportunities, says TUC; Half of workers 'had pay cut last year'; Experts urge adoption of health and safety as fundamental right; Survey finds 89% of shop staff faced abuse; Council shows appreciation with job agreement; Union announces Easter passport strike;

Issue 11 (18/03/2021) - Victory as Uber admits UK drivers are workers; One in eight forced out of work before pension age, says TUC; Union joint statement deplores male violence; Spain takes lead on gig economy workers' rights; New bus strategy disappoints; Post-pandemic recovery shaky, inequalities remain; Unions win Thomas Cook pay out

Issue 10 (11/03/2021) - NHS workers prepare to overturn 1% pay offer; TUC: 1% 'is a pay cut'; Women could face £100,000 pension gap; Unions meet to safeguard steel jobs; Third of women hide menopause symptoms at work; Coalition pushes for aviation support; Two in five businesses furloughing staff; Workers take Yodel to tribunal

Issue 9 (04/03/2021) - Unions help win vital extensions; Budget offers little change on training; Pay more and pay faster, unions say; Three-quarters back sick pay rise; Employer 'bullies staff into lending it money'; Vaccine access made easier for health workers; 750 councillors urge year-round free school meals; UK absence rates drop; Unemployment claims rocket near airports; Manager is paid £940,000 a day'

Issue 12

Unemployment drops slightly, but young workers are suffering (813 words)

UK unemployment has fallen slightly, and the number of workers on payrolls has risen for the third month in a row, according to the Organisation for ...
Subscribers only

Supreme Court sleep-in decision disappoints (447 words)

Care workers on sleep-ins are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for those parts of the shift in which they are not awake and carrying ...
Subscribers only

Inflation good news provides pay opportunities, says TUC (170 words)

UK Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) slowed to 0.4% in the 12 months to February, down from 0.7% the month before, the ONS has announced. ...
Open access

Half of workers ‘had pay cut last year’ (265 words)

The Resolution Foundation has announced that it believes official figures painted a false picture of pay growth last year, and that in fact half of ...
Subscribers only

Experts urge adoption of health and safety as fundamental right (140 words)

Occupational health organisations have called for the ILO (International Labour Organization) to designate workers’ health and safety as a ...
Open access

Survey finds 89% of shop staff faced abuse (164 words)

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has reiterated its call for legislation to protect retail staff following the release of a survey of local shop staff by ...
Open access

Council shows appreciation with job agreement (99 words)

Over 1,000 workers have won extra job security after Chesterfield Borough Council agreed not to make any compulsory redundancies for six months, ...
Open access

Union announces Easter passport strike (95 words)

Civil Service union the PCS has announced that staff working in passport control at Heathrow Airport have served notice for a week of strike action ...
Open access

Issue 11

Victory as Uber admits UK drivers are workers (204 words)

Years of pressure and union-funded court cases appear to have paid off, after taxi giant Uber announced that it will pay its 70,000 UK drivers a ...
Open access

One in eight forced out of work before pension age, says TUC (422 words)

The TUC has warned that ill health is forcing one in eight workers out of paid employment before they reach pension age. ...
Subscribers only

Union joint statement deplores male violence (250 words)

The TUC and affiliated unions have released a joint statement calling for equality and safety from male violence. ...
Subscribers only

Spain takes lead on gig economy workers’ rights (145 words)

The Spanish government has announced that it is putting itself at the forefront of the European Union in legislating to protect workers in the gig ...
Open access

New bus strategy disappoints (307 words)

Unions have reacted with scepticism to the release of Bus Back Better, the government’s new long-term strategy to improve bus services in England, ...
Subscribers only

Post-pandemic recovery shaky, inequalities remain (723 words)

The governor of the Bank of England has cautiously predicted a faster than expected economic recovery for the UK – but warned that new variants of ...
Subscribers only

Unions win pay out (78 words)

Transport union the TSSA and general union Unite have both won at the employment tribunal against Thomas Cook over the failed travel firm's absence ...
Open access

Issue 10

NHS workers prepare to overturn 1% pay offer (530 words)

Unions have opened a new front in the campaign to force government into a U-turn on public sector pay, following its widely-criticised announcement ...
Subscribers only

TUC: 1% ‘is a pay cut’ (319 words)

The TUC has released an analysis it says proves that NHS workers are going to be worse off in real terms in 2021-22 than they were in 2010. It acted ...
Subscribers only

Women could face £100,000 pension gap (312 words)

A woman now in her twenties might retire with £100,000 less than her male equivalent, according to pension provider Scottish Widows. The company ...
Subscribers only

Unions meet to safeguard steel jobs (188 words)

Unions have met to consider how best to protect 5,000 jobs in the steel industry after Greensill Capital, the principal financial backer of one of ...
Open access

Third of women hide menopause symptoms at work (434 words)

Network provider Vodafone has released research that shows a third of women experiencing the menopause hid symptoms at work, and 43% felt too ...
Subscribers only

Coalition pushes for aviation support (174 words)

Aviation unions have joined with the TUC, Heathrow Airport and Swissport in urging the government to work with the industry and its workforce to ...
Open access

Two in five businesses furloughing staff (81 words)

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that the proportion of the workforce on full furlough increased from early December 2020 ...
Open access

Workers take Yodel to tribunal (140 words)

General union the GMB says that logistics giant Yodel could be facing a £250,000 bill for underpayments the union believes date back 20 years. ...
Open access

Issue 9

Unions help win vital extensions (678 words)

The biggest news for workers in this week’s budget was the confirmation by chancellor Rishi Sunak that both the CJRS furlough scheme and the £20 ...
Subscribers only

Budget offers little change on training (211 words)

Hopes of a government rethink on the withdrawal of the Union Learning Fund were dashed by the budget announcement. Instead there were only promises ...
Open access

Pay more and pay faster, unions say (160 words)

The three main unions representing local government workers – the GMB, UNISON and Unite – have called for a larger and faster pay rise. ...
Open access

Three-quarters back sick pay rise (158 words)

Over three-quarters of voters support a large increase in sick pay, according to a survey by the RSA. ...
Open access

Employer 'bullies staff into lending it money' (182 words)

General union the GMB has accused the Tomahawk restaurant chain of bullying furloughed staff into lending it money to pay for their pensions. ...
Open access

Vaccine access made easier for health workers (231 words)

Nurses’ union the RCN is claiming success after all frontline health and social care workers in England were enabled to book their Covid vaccine ...
Open access

750 councillors urge year-round free school meals (126 words)

In an initiative coordinated by education union the NEU, 750 local councillors have written to the prime minister asking that children from low ...
Open access

UK absence rates drop (159 words)

UK rates of absence from work through illness have dropped to their lowest level since 1995 according to the Office for National Statistics. ...
Open access

Unemployment claims rocket near airports (113 words)

Airports and their surrounding areas are logging more than double the unemployment rates of other areas, according to the All-Party Parliamentary ...
Open access

Manager ‘is paid £940,000 a day’ (109 words)

A billionaire hedge fund boss has set a new UK record by paying himself £343 million last year, according to the Guardian newspaper. ...
Open access