News

Royal Mail agreement bolsters union role (226 words)

The CWU communications union has secured its position "at the heart" of the Royal Mail's business, following a stand-off earlier this year over management's ...

UNISON plans strike action over future of NHS Logistics (325 words)

The government has ignored the unions' case for keeping health service supplier NHS Logistics in the public sector and signed a 10-year contract awarding ...

Workers win working time advances (348 words)

Two separate announcements last month signal future improvements in the regulation of working time that unions have been pushing for. A ruling by the ...

TUC launches campaign to protect vulnerable workers (247 words)

The TUC has launched the "One-in- Five" campaign at this year's Congress to protect millions of workers who face exploitation from unscrupulous employers. ...

Hopes rise for end to DWP dispute (289 words)

A long-running dispute at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) may be drawing to a close, dependent on final clarifications between the PCS ...

Pickers submit 200 grievances (98 words)

The T&G general union has called for a meeting with Sainsbury's, Tesco and strawberry grower S&A Produce to resolve a range of outstanding issues ...

Aviva job cuts are "brutal" (94 words)

Finance union Amicus has denounced plans by Aviva, the UK's biggest insurer, to cut 4,000 jobs at its Norwich Union business by 2008 in ...

Inflation rises to 3.4% (64 words)

An increase in both furniture and computer games prices has pushed inflation higher. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI) it rose to 3.4% in ...

Blair wrong to claim cut in jobless (213 words)

Tony Blair, in his last speech to the TUC conference, was happy to break protocol and announce a drop in unemployment before the official ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (345 words)

June 2005 (r) 3.6% 2.8% 3.9% 3.5% 4.5% 3.3% ...

Union news

Bob Crow is re-elected to the Council after two years away (352 words)

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT transport union, was re-elected to the General Council at last month's TUC after two years of ...

Unions bid for project money (301 words)

There is to be a second round of projects where unions can obtain finance from the government's Union Modernisation Fund, to make changes in ...

Blair gets frosty reception (170 words)

The prime minister Tony Blair got a less than enthusiastic reception from the majority of delegates at his final TUC Congress last month, where ...

European news

Positive results for Spanish temp deal (216 words)

Temporary workers in Spain are now finding it easier to gain permanent status thanks to an agreement reached earlier this year by unions, employers ...

Board-level representation faces changes in Germany (443 words)

The results of an enquiry into the future of Germany's system of employee board-level representation are expected after months of investigation. Draft recommendations were ...

Belgian government cuts training (237 words)

The Belgian government last month cut employees' rights to paid time-off for training as part of an overall cost cutting plan. The measure, which ...

Features

The unions take stock of Warwick (2047 words)

At the second Labour Party conference since the general election, unions will be assessing just how much progress has been made on the Warwick ...

Will ageism be relegated to the past? (1825 words)

There are mixed feelings about the age equality regulations due to come into force on 1 October. The principle behind them has been welcomed ...

Who pays the parties' bills? (1464 words)

A Labour Research study of donations to the three main political parties shows that the financial link between the unions and Labour remains strong ...

Unions divided over nuclear safety (1350 words)

In July this year, the government published an energy report outlining the options available for dealing with the twin challenges of climate change and ...

Why younger workers need more protection (896 words)

On his fourth day at work at Wembley National Stadium, 18-year old construction worker Robert Haywood was emptying a bag of cement into a ...

Law Matters

Disciplinary letters don't need to go into details (486 words)

A disciplinary letter needs only to set out the broad terms of the alleged misconduct in order to comply with the statutory procedures, the ...

Claimants don't need to issue new forms for new claims (200 words)

If a claimant issues a tribunal claim and the grounds for a new claim later come to light, the tribunal can allow him/her to ...

Time limits on claims against individuals (177 words)

The EAT has held that a tribunal can extend the time limit for bringing a claim against an employer - but not against an ...

Minimum wage rates (86 words)

The standard main hourly rate of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for workers aged 22 and over is increasing from £5.05 to £5.35 as ...

Law Queries

Alternative job (212 words)

Q: When does the right to a trial period in an alternative job apply if an employee is to be made redundant? ...

Qualifying for DDA coverage (187 words)

Q: One of our members has a degenerative eye condition and has been told that he will be dismissed if he can no longer ...

Disciplinary procedures (315 words)

Q: Does our employer still have to follow the statutory disciplinary procedures in cases of gross misconduct? They dismissed an employee without holding a ...

Law Back-up

New mums gain legal right to more leave (978 words)

The Maternity and Parental Leave etc and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 come into force this month, implementing some provisions of ...

Health & Safety Matters

Legionnaires' council chief should go (87 words)

Safety campaigners and victims' families are seeking justice after an outbreak of legionnaires' disease killed seven people. ...

RMT seeks in-house rail maintenance (81 words)

Track repair work on Britain's railways should be brought back in-house for safety and efficiency's sake, according to the RMT rail union. ...

FBU highlights cuts in fire service (65 words)

As the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 comes into effect this month (see last month's Labour Research), the FBU firefighters' union is highlighting ...

Aggressive tactics to cut sickness absence don't pay (284 words)

Over-zealous management of sickness absence may be counterproductive and cost as much time and money as the absences it is designed to reduce, new ...

Causes of NHS assaults must be addressed, demand unions (230 words)

Unions have welcomed a promise to crack down on violence against health workers, while warning that further action is needed. ...

Equality news

Sexist bullies are on the increase (171 words)

Workplace bullying affects almost three-quarters of female employees in the UK, according to a new survey by employment law consultancy Peninsula. ...

Campaigners slam choice of chair for equality body (569 words)

Trevor Phillips has been appointed chair of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), provoking a negative response from equality campaigners. ...

Anti-ageist pension reforms are delayed (175 words)

The government has delayed the introduction of pension provisions in the new Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. ...

Workplace Back-up

Old dogs can learn new tricks after all (761 words)

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 have their critics (see feature in this issue), but they offer union reps the opportunity to examine their ...

Reviews

International migration (159 words)

Jonathon Moses, Zed Books, 253 pages, paperback, £9.99 ...

New Labour's attack on public services (113 words)

Dexter Whitfield, Spokesman, paperback, 176 pages, £11.99 ...

No sweat (150 words)

DVD, free. For copies contact [email protected] or phone 07904 431959 ...

E-views

e-views (413 words)

In 2003, I wrote an article for this magazine about a new online encyclopaedia called Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). At the time, Wikipedia had 180,000 articles ...