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Labour Research April 2024
Ethnicity pay gap: what can be done? As the TUC Black Workers’ Conference gets under way later this month, we look at what can be done to tackle the ethnicity pay gap Drilling down into the NHS dentistry crisis Horrific reports of people obliged to do ‘DIY dentistry’ reveal the nature and level of the crisis in this part of the National Health Service Women increasingly policed over abortion Unions and others have been voicing serious concerns over increased police investigations of women and unwanted pregnancies
News
Unions reject attack on PSC (151 words)
Nine unions have responded jointly to reports that the government is considering banning MPs and councillors from engaging with groups such as the ...
Open access
Delegation marks Battle of Jarama (74 words)
A Scottish trade union delegation travelled to Spain to commemorate the February 1937 Battle of Jarama, which took place during the Spanish Civil ... Open access
UK suffers third worst fall in household spending since Covid (440 words)
A new TUC analysis shows the UK has suffered the third worst fall in household spending among the 37 OECD advanced economies since Covid struck. ...
Subscribers only
Care Service Bill ‘not fit for purpose’ (263 words)
Trade unions in Scotland branded the Scottish government’s National Care Service (Scotland) Bill “not fit for purpose” as MSPs were set to ... Subscribers only
Senior doctors set to walk out over pay dispute with Welsh government (338 words)
Thousands of senior doctors in Wales are set to walk out this month as part of a pay dispute with the Welsh government. ... Subscribers only
Demand over civil service conflict (193 words)
The FDA senior civil servants’ union says the government must resolve the conflict between civil servants’ professional and legal obligations and ... Open access
Schools face staff crisis (239 words)
Almost one in five teaching assistant (TA) posts are unfilled, according to new figures obtained by the GMB general union through Freedom of ... Open access
Inflation slows (66 words)
Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation slowed to 4.5% over the 12 months to February, down from 4.9% (12 months earlier in February 2023 RPI was running ... Open access
Labour market indicators (200 words)
The Office for National Statistics continues to be cautious about its traditional measure of employment, blaming increased volatility of Labour Force ... Open access
Key economic indicators
Key economic indicators (424 words)
Inflation +4.5%, Average earnings +5.5% ... Subscribers only
Union news
Northern Ireland Assembly urged to advance social dialogue policy (376 words)
The Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (NIC-ICTU) is urging the Northern Ireland Assembly to introduce a “social ... Subscribers only
Amazon recognition bid under way (322 words)
The GMB general union has launched a second bid to gain statutory union recognition at Amazon’s Coventry fulfilment centre, nine months after the ... Subscribers only
Grady re-elected (98 words)
Jo Grady has won a second term as general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU) after narrowly winning the four-horse race. The other ... Open access
Bullying allegations (139 words)
The Unite general union, which represents staff in the GMB general union’s North East, Yorkshire and Humberside (NEYH) region, has raised ... Open access
European news
Finnish unions continue protest (103 words)
Trade unions in SAK, Finland’s largest union confederation, are continuing their political strikes against the government’s plan to weaken unions. ... Open access
Journalists’ strike (81 words)
Portuguese journalists came out on general strike last month for the first time since 1982. The strike began on 14 March and continued for 24 hours, ... Open access
Strike during Paris Olympics? (47 words)
The CGT, one of the two main union confederations in France, has said it cannot rule out the possibility that there will be strike action over the ... Open access
Platform Work Directive finally approved by member states (460 words)
After appearing doomed earlier this year, the Platform Work Directive was approved last month by enough EU member states to enable it to go through. ... Subscribers only
Call for ban on flexible contracts (176 words)
The main Dutch union, the FNV, has called for a ban on flexible contracts following a new report highlighting the problems migrant workers face in ... Open access
Features
Taking action on closing the ethnicity pay gap (2,179 words)
Delegates at this month’s TUC Black Workers’ Conference will call for action to close the ethnicity pay gap. ... Subscribers only
NHS dentistry in state of decay (2,214 words)
The crisis in NHS dentistry has been building for well over a decade. But horrific accounts of “DIY dentistry”, reports that Ukrainian refugees ... Subscribers only
Women at mercy of arcane laws (2,080 words)
In the early weeks of the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Carla Foster procured the abortion-inducing medication Mifepristone under the British ... Subscribers only
Law Matters
Discrimination was not a factor in recruitment (343 words)
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) rejected a job applicant’s appeal against the dismissal of his claims for discrimination arising from ... Subscribers only
Amendments to National Minimum Wage take effect (284 words)
A number of amendments to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) are coming into force from 1 April 2024. ... Subscribers only
Family-related law rights (238 words)
Changes to various family-related rights are being introduced, all with effect from 6 April 2024. ... Open access
Law Queries
Q&A (745 words)
Dismissal or resignation? ... Subscribers only
Law Back-up
Agency workers: what rights do they have? (942 words)
Typically, an agency worker has a contract with the agency. The agency supplies the worker to work for an end-user. Agency workers are usually not ... Subscribers only
Health & Safety Matters
‘Rail cuts cost lives’ says transport union (224 words)
RMT rail union members have rallied outside the Scottish and Westminster parliaments as part of their Rail Cuts Cost Lives campaign. ... Open access
Health unions call for action on harassment (324 words)
Unions representing health and emergency service workers have called for action to protect them against abuse, assault and ill treatment following ... Subscribers only
'Women and children last' (224 words)
The UK does not have a strategy for dealing with substances harmful to human reproduction — or reprotoxins — according to the British ... Open access
Health & Safety Back-up
Millions work unpaid overtime, TUC reveals (915 words)
The study, published to mark the 20th Work Your Proper Hours Day on 23 February, found 3.8 million people did unpaid overtime hours in 2023 — with ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Union survey reveals sexual harassment (225 words)
An internal survey undertaken by the Aslef train drivers’ union and handed to its executive committee in 2022 has revealed sexual harassment within ... Open access
People with autism held back in employment (289 words)
Only around three in 10 working age disabled people with autism are in employment compared with around five in 10 for all disabled people and eight ... Subscribers only
More workers are now in severely insecure work (300 words)
New data published by the Work Foundation think tank reveals that more than half a million additional people moved into severely insecure work in the ... Subscribers only
Workplace Back-up
How to determine our cost-of-living trends (903 words)
It wouldn’t be surprising if you are thinking more about the cost of living these days. ... Subscribers only