Pay and prices

Pay still below CPI inflation (266 words)

The latest figures from LRD’s Payline database of collective agreements shows a median (mid-point) increase of 2.1% across all sectors in the three months ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (75 words)

Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered). ...

Full-time weekly average earnings (16 words)

All workers£587.60All male£645.60All female£503.20Managers£866.50Professionals£787.00Associate professional£609.00Admin & secretarial£413.30Skilled/craft£486.40Services£350.60Sales£325.80Operatives£445.80Other manual£348.10 ...

Annual increase in average weekly earnings including bonuses (41 words)

MonthWhole economyPrivate sectorPublic sectorManufact- uringServicesFeb (2009)-3.9-7.93.3-0.3-7.3March (r)-3.3-2.72.01.1-2.4April (r)2.11.12.81.42.0May (r)0.60.42.9-0.11.1June1.20.43.91.11.4July0.6-0.53.3-0.60.5August0.7-0.33.51.70.5September0.80.03.81.61.1October0.5-0.43.81.60.5November0.80.33.82.01.1December0.70.33.43.20.8Jan 2010 1.2-1.04.14.4-0.5February 5.76.13.85.45.9March6.27.45.68.66.8April (r)0.70.03.12.80.6May (p)1.31.21.03.11.3Headline rate*2.72.83.24.92.8 ...

Other pay analysts (21 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end June 2010)1.0%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end May 2010)2.0% ...

Inflation forecasts (19 words)

RPIRPI excluding mortgagesAverage3.7%3.7%Oxford Economic Forecasting3.5%3.6%ITEM Club3.6%2.4% ...

Prices (12 words)

Retail prices index (RPI), Jan ’87=100% annual increasesRPIRPI excl. mortgagesMay 2009212.8-1.11.6June213.4-1.61.0July213.4-1.41.2August214.4-1.31.4September215.3-1.41.3October216.0-0.81.9November216.60.32.7December218.02.43.8Jan 2010217.93.74.6February219.23.74.2March220.74.44.8April222.85.35.4May223.65.15.1June224.15.05.0 ...

Bargaining news

Anger at government plans for civil service (853 words)

Civil service unions have responded with fury to the announcement on 6 July of emergency legislation to cap redundancy pay and plans to slash ...

NHS reforms reshape pay, conditions and training (430 words)

The government White Paper published this month setting out radical reform of the NHS outlines a new pay structure for NHS staff that rips ...

National bargaining talks begin at Coca Cola (328 words)

The threat of a strike ballot at Coca Cola has resulted in an offer from the soft drinks multinational that could see the start ...

Pay news from Payline (322 words)

The LRD Payline database of collective agreements shows that the median (mid-point) for pay increases in the three months to June was 2.1% for ...

Three-year pay deal at BT (474 words)

After cancelling its strike ballot, the CWU communication workers’ union has secured a consolidated pay offer for members at telecoms giant BT. The deal ...

CWU members reject 2% pay offer (59 words)

CWU members at O2 have voted by nine to one to reject a pay offer of 2%. The ballot result means the union will ...

BBC pay and pensions (374 words)

BBC staff have been hit with a below-inflation pay offer that amounts to a freeze for more than one-third of BBC workers. The broadcaster ...

Tesco retail pay deal (102 words)

Tesco retail staff will receive a minimum of 2.3% in the first part of a two-stage deal. The agreement also sees increases in premia, ...

BA improves cabin crew offer again (92 words)

A new offer to British Airways cabin crew tabled at the last minute before a second strike ballot was due to take place is ...

Firefighter pay freeze (66 words)

The FBU firefighters’ union has been offered no increase in pay for 2010-11 by employers despite Retail Prices Index inflation of 5.1% and a ...

Nestlé strike off (35 words)

Unite general union members at Nestlé and General Mills’ Cereal Partners UK plant have called off a planned strike over a pay freeze after ...

Equality news

Rights for grandparents (531 words)

The UK is lagging behind other countries in recognising the crucial role of grandparents, according to a report that has looked at grandparent’s rights ...

Retirement age change (286 words)

The TUC has criticised plans by work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith to raise the state pension age, saying this will hit the ...

London Living Wage (63 words)

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has announced a 25p increase in the London Living Wage bringing to £7.85 the hourly rate that Londoners ...

Disability harassment (53 words)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently collecting information on disability-related harassment. They would like to hear from people who have been harassed ...

Equality Act (49 words)

The government has confirmed that the Equality Act will come into force in October although it remains unclear whether it will include mandatory gender ...

AIDS discrimination (84 words)

A TUC initiative aimed at combating HIV/AIDS through workplaces in Nigeria is now supporting workers in the country’s health and education sectors to fight ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Private sector organising (264 words)

Trade union activists at a TUC conference earlier this month were urged to rebuild in the private sector to offset the tough challenges facing ...

NUJ targets journalists at DC Thomson (80 words)

The National Union of Journalists is targeting journalists at DC Thomson, publishers of the Sunday Post. ...

RMT wins for cleaners (129 words)

The RMT transport union has won recognition for cleaners working for Lightbridge Support Services (LSS) on Arriva Trains Wales. The union has been building ...

Learning and training news

UNISON condemns scrapping of teaching assistant training fund (307 words)

Public services union UNISON has accused the government of “breathtaking short-term thinking that could damage children’s education” following the scrapping of the higher level ...

Call for interns to be paid (116 words)

Personnel professionals’ body the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has called for a £2.50 an hour “training wage” to be introduced for ...

European news

Lufthansa freezes pay (688 words)

Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, has reached agreement on pay for the next two years with its pilots and ground staff. Both settlements involve pay ...

European metalworkers’ deal guarantees jobs until 2013 (385 words)

The European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) has signed an agreement with two major electrical engineering companies that guarantees employment across much of their operations for ...

Law - Discrimination

Discrimination – the basic legal rules (359 words)

It is unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of sex, race, disability, gender reassignment, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. For the purposes ...

Discrimination – the key developments (372 words)

• The reverse burden of proof applies to victimisation cases under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. For most victimisation cases, the guidance in Nagarajan ...

Victimisation (757 words)

Ms Bullimore was originally employed as a solicitor and salaried partner by Pothecary Witham Weld (“the firm”). She worked in a department managed by ...

Harassment (498 words)

The claimants were four waitresses working for Munchkins. They successfully claimed sexual harassment against the restaurant and its boss, Mr Moss (jointly, “the respondents”), ...

Indirect age discrimination (365 words)

Mr Homer was a legal adviser for the Police National Legal Database. He did not have a law degree, but he was appointed in ...

Injury to feelings compensation (426 words)

Mr Taylor was employed by a company providing broadband services. He was dismissed, ostensibly for poor performance, after alleging race discrimination in a grievance. ...

Depression (348 words)

The claimant was a barrister. She was offered a job with a large solicitors’ firm, which was withdrawn ostensibly because of a recruitment freeze. ...

Religious discrimination (335 words)

Mr McFarlane is a Christian who believes same-sex sexual activity is sinful. He worked as a counsellor for Relate Avon Ltd, which is part ...

Discrimination by agency workers (576 words)

The claimant was employed as a pharmacy inspector by the company. She made various claims of direct race discrimination, harassment, victimisation and unfair dismissal ...

Health & safety news

Unions critical of Young safety law review (388 words)

Unions and safety campaigners are warning that the government’s review of health and safety regulation, led by Lord Young of Graffham, is an attempt ...

Lack of breaks causing strains, say physios (292 words)

A quarter of workers regularly work all day without taking a break, according to research from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). It says ...

Zero tolerance for ambulance staff attacks (128 words)

Three ambulance staff are assaulted every single day according to a new analysis by the general GMB union. It is calling for ambulance service ...

Temperature law (141 words)

As we head into what should be the hottest time of the year, shopworkers’ union Usdaw is reminding its reps that employers have a ...

Green economy (43 words)

A report setting out how a green investment bank could operate has been welcomed by the TUC as a major step towards transforming the ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Sentencing over Buncefield explosion (208 words)

Five companies have pleaded or been found guilty of health and safety failings that led to the explosion at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot ...

UNISON questions HSE work deaths figure (191 words)

Provisional figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last month show that the number of people killed at work in Britain fell ...

Teach health and safety at university, says EU-OSHA (207 words)

Occupational safety and health training should be an integral part of university education and not something that young people only encounter when they enter ...

HSE enforcement (114 words)

A review of HSE enforcement by the Field Operations Directorate (FOD) presented to the HSE board last month shows that the number of prosecutions ...

HSE semiconductor report response (149 words)

The general union Unite has given a qualified welcome to an HSE report on hazardous substances in the semiconductor industry. Unite national officer for ...

Features

Health and safety round-up (3517 words)

The year to 1 July 2010 saw little in the way of significant new health and safety legislation and only a small number of ...

A “Living Wage” – next step on the minimum wage agenda? (2242 words)

Cleaners on London Underground were celebrating the end of a long struggle against low pay last month as they secured a minimum of £7.85 ...