Labour Research September 2016

Unions on Brexit - The EU referendum result means unions have to face up to possible threats to working rights. The unions, therefore, want a place at the Brexit negotiating table; Labour Party leadershipLabour Research asked the two challengers for the Labour Party leadership - Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith - seven questions on a wide range of issues; Education - September heralds the start of the new school year. There is also increasing pressure on school staff in England as they face up to academisation and funding shortfalls.

News

Steps to manage migration for benefit of everyone
 (361 words)

The government should take steps now to manage migration better, and not leave it until the UK is outside the European Union. 
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UNISON lays bare crisis in care
 (307 words)

Evidence of the crisis in funding for adult social care — with drastic consequences for care workers as well as service users — has been ...
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Industrial news (286 words)

Members of the CWU communication workers’ union at the Post Office have voted for strike action in a dispute over the company’s plans for ...
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Hidden agenda to break union over dispute, says RMT
 (287 words)

The Department for Transport has been accused of sabotaging efforts by the RMT rail workers’ union to settle the long-running dispute over the role ...
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Strikes at low point in 2015
 (252 words)

The number of working days taken in strikes last year, 170,000, was the second lowest since records began in 1891, official figures show. The number ...
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Successes against big employers
 (236 words)

Unions have recently clocked up some notable wins against big employers.
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Open access

Unemployment falls by 52,000
 (201 words)

Unemployment is at its lowest for eight years, according to official figures.
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Fuel fuels inflation (74 words)

Inflation is on the move upwards, the latest official figures show.
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Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (408 words)

Inflation +1.9%, Average earnings +2.2% ...
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Union news

Watchdog bites back in parting shot on new union legislation
 (495 words)

Concern about the 2016 Trade Union Act has been made in an uncharacteristically forthright fashion by the outgoing certification officer in his last ...
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Unions set out preferences on Labour leadership
 (347 words)

Twelve of the 14 unions affiliated to the Labour Party have made recommendations to their members as to who to vote for in the party’s leadership ...
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European news

New family-friendly leave rights up for negotiation
 (402 words)

Unions and employers at European level have until the end of this month to decide whether they want to negotiate new arrangements covering ...
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Greek unions and employers agree position on labour law
 (249 words)

The main Greek private sector union confederation, GSEE, and four employers’ associations have agreed a joint position on possible changes to the ...
Open access

EU fines cancelled
 (118 words)

European finance ministers have decided to cancel fines that were due to be imposed on Spain and Portugal for exceeding the budget deficit limits set ...
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Status of Bulgarian unions confirmed
 (63 words)

Bulgaria’s two main union confederations — KNSB and KT Podkrepa — have maintained their status as nationally representative union ...
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Opposition to Tata merger
 (57 words)

IG Metall, Germany’s largest union, is opposing a possible merger between the German steelmaker Thyssen-Krupp and Tata Steel, which owns the ...
Open access

Features

Unions want say in Brexit
 (2,414 words)

The vote to leave the EU on 23 June poses serious questions for the labour movement, both in terms of ensuring that working people and their rights ...
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Leadership candidates set out their stalls 
 (2,461 words)

Labour Research puts seven questions on a range of issues of concern to unions and their members to the two candidates for the leadership of the ...
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School staff will continue to oppose academies
 (2,786 words)

As the new school year begins, Labour Research asks unions about the pressures on the schools’ workforce as a result of academisation and funding ...
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Law Matters

Minimum wage offenders named and shamed
 (311 words)

The failure of employers to pay some of their workers the statutory National Minimum Wage has led to their naming and shaming.
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EU courts to rule on headscarf ban
 (289 words)

The European courts continue to wrangle with the question of whether it is discriminatory to ban the wearing of an Islamic headscarf at work.
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Public sector language requirement
 (235 words)

The government has produced a draft code of practice on the new legal requirement for public sector, customer-facing workers to be fluent English ...
Open access

Law Queries

Flexible working (188 words)

Q. Is the right to request flexible working only available to parents? ...
Open access

Subject access request (263 words)

Q. How do I go about making a data subject access request to an employer on behalf of a member? ...
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Cyberbullying (240 words)

Q. How can employers help prevent cyberbullying by co-workers? ...
Open access

Law Back-up

Whistleblowing claimants win but law needs reform 
 (894 words)

There have been some recent legal decisions which are helpful to whistleblowing employees and their representatives. Back-up takes a look at these ...
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Health & Safety Matters

Sexual harassment of women still rife in 2016
 (268 words)

Sexual harassment is undermining, humiliating and can have a huge effect on mental health, says Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC.
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Labour Party pledges on health and safety
 (226 words)

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell pledged to trade unionists and safety campaigners at the annual Hazards conference at Keele University that the ...
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Unions rally round victimised safety rep 
 (116 words)

The college lecturers’ union UCU held a national demonstration in July as part of its campaign against job cuts and union victimisation at London ...
Open access

Daily exercise cuts sedentary work risk
 (112 words)

A study examining the association between sedentary behaviour and physical activity has found that the increased risks of early death associated with ...
Open access

Health & Safety Back-up

Free trade treaties a ‘toxic alphabet soup’
 (885 words)

‘Toxic’ trade agreements are bad for workers’ rights, including health and safety protections, Back-up reports.
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Equality news

Muslims face barriers in getting work
 (310 words)

The economic disadvantages faced by Muslims, who experience the highest levels of unemployment out of all religious and ethnic groups, are ...
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Millenials could lose out
 (340 words)

Millenials are at risk of being the first generation to earn less than their predecessors over the course of their working lives, revealed the ...
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Terms of equality
 (110 words)

Earlier this year, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) produced a glossary and thesaurus of gender and gender equality terms.
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Open access

LGBT+ not free
 (123 words)

Three-quarters of LGBT+ people still feel the need to lie about their sexuality or gender identity, according to research by campaigning group Pride ...
Open access

Workplace Back-up

Manifesto sets out stall on new workers’ rights
 (857 words)

Britain’s largest unions are backing comprehensive policy proposals for a framework of collective bargaining, underpinned by strong trade union ...
Open access

Reviews

The radium girls
 (242 words)

Kate Moore, Simon and Schuster, £16.99, 480 pages, hardback
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Open access

Promised you a miracle
 (260 words)

Why 1980-82 made modern Britain
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E-views

e-views (374 words)

A recent project I’ve been working on has just gone live. It’s called Use-IT and it’s a new tool for union education teams and Union Learning ...
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