Labour Research September 2023

Coordinating solidarity for the movement Labour Research examines the work of the TUC Solidarity Hub which aims to provide practical support for unions in struggle Hungry for change: free school meals Unions and others argue that free school meals provision must be extended to help overcome the crisis of child hunger Race and American universities A recent US Supreme Court ruling is likely to have an adverse impact when it comes to the ethnic intake of university admissions there

News

Schools’ performance (122 words)

Schools that remain in their local authority perform better in Ofsted inspections than those that have converted to academies, according to new ...
Open access

Ticket office campaign (112 words)

The Aslef train drivers’, MU musicians’ and NUJ journalists’ unions, as well as the NPC pensioners’ organisation, have backed the RMT and ...
Open access

Precarious and low-paid jobs ‘widespead’ across UK, says TUC (378 words)

New TUC analysis shows the UK is becoming a nation of insecure jobs, with precarious and low-paid jobs widespread across the UK. ...
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Tory asylum approach condemned (258 words)

The PCS public and commercial services union said the deaths of at least six people as they tried to cross the Channel in a small boat last month was ...
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Real-terms pay falls fuel highest number of strike days since 1980s (350 words)

A new analysis of industrial action by the Resolution Foundation shows 3.9 million working days have been lost to strikes over the past year, more ...
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Energy security claims decried (192 words)

The Efra group of the PCS civil service union, which represents workers including those in the Defra environment department, says the government’s ...
Open access

Sick pay campaign (156 words)

A coalition of health experts, charities and organisations, including the PDA pharmacists’ union, has called on the government to fix the UK’s ...
Open access

UK support for US actors’ strike (91 words)

Up to 500 people, including actors Brian Cox, David Oyelowo, Hayley Atwell and Imelda Staunton, took part in the Equity trade union’s central ...
Open access

Inflation rate slows (78 words)

The rate at which prices are rising slowed in July, allowing earnings growth to make more of an impact on household budgets (see this page, right). ...
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Labour market indicators (206 words)

Rising unemployment, and rising earnings growth for those in work, were the two standout trends in last month’s labour market data, according to ...
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Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (422 words)

Inflation +9.0%, Average earnings +8.5% ...
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Union news

Election poll gets under way for new leader of transport union (323 words)

Voting is under way for the post of general secretary of the TSSA transport union. ...
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TUC Congress (101 words)

This month sees the TUC’s 155th annual Congress, which will be held in Liverpool on 10-13 September. ...
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European news

Attack on union subs (75 words)

Unions in Hungary are protesting against a government plan under which public sector employers will no longer be required to collect union ...
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Pension changes (73 words)

The French government has started to publish detailed regulations implementing the controversial changes to the pension system, adopted — despite ...
Open access

Firefighters cut (74 words)

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has found that 10 EU states cut the number of firefighters between 2021 and 2022, with the largest 30% ...
Open access

Minimum wage a step closer (283 words)

The prospect that Italy, the largest EU state without a minimum wage, might introduce one has moved a step closer. This follows a decision by the ...
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Strengthened labour rights have ‘positive’ effect on economy (352 words)

Changes to labour law in Spain — which have reduced the extent of precarious employment and strengthened collective bargaining — have had a ...
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Features

TUC Solidarity Hub helps boost support for unions (2,095 words)

In his speech to Congress last year, incoming TUC general secretary Paul Nowak made clear that his big priority would be a growing trade union ...
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Government dishes up misery (2,054 words)

This month, hundreds of thousands of school children across London are set to benefit from an emergency £135 million funding package from London ...
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America’s universities: schooling for inequality? (2,320 words)

In the late 1970’s a disgruntled white man brought a race discrimination case before the US Supreme Court. ...
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Law Matters

Appeal upheld over LGBT Facebook comments (326 words)

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld an appeal against the decision of an Employment Tribunal (ET) that a Christian school ...
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Flexible working rights (302 words)

The government has been consulting on changes to employees’ rights to request flexible working and the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2 ...
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Dismissal without a meeting was fair (234 words)

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that a dismissal was fair, despite the dismissing manager not meeting directly with the employee. ...
Open access

Law Queries

Q&A (893 words)

Pay disparities ...
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Law Back-up

How should holiday pay entitlement be calculated? (926 words)

In British Airways plc v Williams [2011] IRLR 948, the European Court of Justice confirmed that “workers must receive their normal remuneration” ...
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Health & Safety Matters

Prison violence must end, says union (305 words)

The Community trade union has called for meaningful steps from the UK and Scottish governments to address an “endemic of violence” in prisons. ...
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Workers are working harder and longer (258 words)

Workers are working harder and longer, according to a new TUC poll showing “gruelling” work intensity is a growing problem in “burnt out ...
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Lack of bus fires reports (266 words)

A study to investigate bus fires, reported to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) between 2020 and 2022, has found that some operators are ...
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Health & Safety Back-up

Women’s health: the hidden workplace crisis (900 words)

The August 2023 report, Uncovering the UK’s hidden crisis in women’s workplace health, says headline statistics from the HSE health and safety ...
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Equality news

Black, Asian and minoritised mums hardest hit by pay penalties (552 words)

Black, Asian and other minoritised working mothers are penalised twice — once by the gender pay gap and then by the ethnicity pay gap — says a ...
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Women continue to encounter forms of pregnancy discrimination (280 words)

Over half of all mothers have encountered some form of discrimination when pregnant, on maternity leave or when returning to work, according to a ...
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Workplace Back-up

Employment support versus 'any job will do' (902 words)

“Getting people back to work” is one of those policy virtues that no politician, from whatever party, is likely to be heard disagreeing with. ...
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