Pay and prices

Manufacturing and manual pay falls back (230 words)

New figures from LRD’s Payline database show little change in the level of settlements. The median increase for the three months to April remains ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (219 words)

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

Other pay analysts (23 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end April 2006) 3.0% ...

Average earnings indices (including bonuses) (157 words)

Jan 05 (r) 120.9 4.6% 3.1% 4.5% 4.3% 4.8% ...

Full-time weekly average earnings (28 words)

All workers £538.30 ...

Prices (58 words)

March 06 190.5 3.2% 2.4% ...

Inflation forecasts (26 words)

Fourth quarter 2006 ...

Bargaining news

Lecturers’ rejected pay offer may be imposed (744 words)

Individual universities have threatened to impose pay awards on their academic staff this month, as the national dispute with lecturers’ unions continues despite industrial ...

Manufacturers defer pay settlements (94 words)

The manufacturers’ organisation EEF has revealed that an increasing number of employers in the sector are deferring their pay settlements. ...

Agreement delivers tidy package for bank cleaners (436 words)

Barclays Bank has increased the pay of cleaners in its 2,000 UK branches to almost 20% above the minimum wage, following a campaign by ...

Interim deal is first stage of campaign, says Equity (286 words)

Actors’ union Equity has negotiated a 12-month interim pay award of 2.4% for its members in subsidised repertory theatre, but has pledged to continue ...

Imposed award blights a successful month for CWU (656 words)

Hard-fought negotiations by the CWU communication workers’ union have resulted in pay rises of 2.9% at telecoms giant BT – but the union has ...

Strike preserves bonus payments (164 words)

Strike action by workers at manufacturer Link 51 Pallet Racking Systems in Telford has resulted in a new deal on pay and bonuses. ...

3% for LexisNexis editors (95 words)

The NUJ journalists’ union has negotiated pay increases of at least 3% for 280 editorial staff at research and publishing firm LexisNexis’s UK Editorial ...

Three-year brewery deal delivers RPI-plus (118 words)

More than 500 craft workers at drinks firm Scottish & Newcastle’s Royal Brewery in Manchester have secured a 4.3% pay rise in the first ...

Equality news

Redundancy schemes "may prove illegal" (236 words)

The Cabinet Office is to review civil servants’ redundancy arrangements, following claims that they will fail to comply with the new regulations banning age ...

Fawcett Society demands sex equality law reforms (324 words)

Equalities legislation needs a radical overhaul to ensure equality between the sexes in the workplace, according to a new report from campaign group the ...

Need to network leaves BME students excluded (363 words)

A new report from the Working Lives Research Institute has highlighted the barriers facing young black and minority ethnic (BME) people trying to break ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Industrial action helps to boost union recruitment (331 words)

Unions involved in recent industrial action have reported bumper levels of recruitment. ...

Asda fails to deliver on recognition (104 words)

The GMB general union is pressing ahead with a national strike ballot at supermarket chain Asda Wal-Mart, over union recognition at the company’s 20 ...

Learning and training news

TUC uses book vouchers to encourage adult readers (316 words)

The TUC’s new learning initiative unionlearn is calling on learning reps to help boost adult literacy by distributing discount vouchers for books in the ...

New award scheme for learning reps (100 words)

The TUC Educational Trust is sponsoring the George Guy Award for learning reps who have helped members into learning. ...

European news

Positive reaction to chemicals deal (165 words)

Unions and employers in the Austrian chemical industry have agreed a pay deal which is more than two-and-a-half times the country’s current rate of ...

Strike threat in Germany forges metalworking deal (508 words)

Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, reached agreement with the employers’ organisation Gesamtmetall last month on an inflation-beating deal for 3.4 million employees in the ...

French settlement ends six-year gap (323 words)

A new agreement in the French chemicals industry has increased pay in line with inflation and taken the lowest agreed rate above the national ...

Health & safety news

Workers demand prison terms for killer bosses (265 words)

Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April saw workers around the country taking action to “remember the dead and fight for the living”. ...

Half of UK workers are still exposed to smoke (218 words)

More than ten million people in the UK work in places where smoking is allowed somewhere on the premises, and two million in workplaces ...

Strike threat leads to safety improvements (116 words)

The threat of strike action has forced a train operator to introduce measures that will improve safety for workers and passengers. ...

CWU issues guidance on new noise regulations (129 words)

The CWU communication workers’ union has issued new guidance aiming to reduce the risk of noise-related injuries in call centres. ...

NUT warns workers to get adequate car insurance (85 words)

Workers who use their own vehicle in their job should be properly insured, according to the NUT teachers’ union. ...

New bulletin for reps (57 words)

SLASH, the new network for safety reps in south London (see March’s Workplace Report), has launched a new bulletin. ...

Features

Employment contracts (424 words)

Rulings this month cover topics including breach of contract and holiday pay in cases of annualised hours. ...

Agency workers (180 words)

Patrick Muscat was dismissed by his employer and then re-engaged as a contractor, in order to reduce staff levels prior to a buyout. He ...

Employment status (300 words)

Mr Williams was engaged to work as a carpenter by Cotswold Developments, which was subcontracted to do maintenance work on the London Underground. He ...

Identity of employer (156 words)

Michael Hemmings accepted a job offer after responding to an advertisement inviting applications to “John Hardman Solicitors, Jupiter Department”. His payslips were marked as ...

Retirement age (158 words)

When Brian Payne started work, his employer operated retirement ages of 65 for men and 60 for women. Following the European Court of Justice’s ...

Continuity of service (165 words)

Home tutor Margaret Prater was employed by a local education authority to teach pupils as and when needed. Although she could choose not to ...

Annualised hours (166 words)

Customer service assistants for a train operator were moved onto an annualised hours contract and brought claims for holiday pay. ...

Breach of contract (367 words)

Architect Jane Thornley worked in a department which was transferred to a separate company. After the transfer and a subsequent restructure, Thornley’s role changed ...

Apprenticeships (197 words)

Liam Flett signed up to an individual learning plan (ILP) to become a qualified electrician. Over the four years of the ILP, his employer ...

Transfer law (260 words)

Reinstatement after a TUPE transfer and time limits for pension claims are among this month’s topics. ...

Vanishing dismissal (148 words)

Mr Anstey and Mr Simpson were custody officers employed by security company GSL under a contract with the Home Office. Following allegations made in ...

Compliance with European law (141 words)

The German government awarded a contract to provide airport security services to a new company. The new contractor used the same equipment as the ...

Pensions after a transfer (155 words)

This long-running case involved part-time employees in the electricity industry who were transferred under TUPE following privatisation. They brought equal pay claims because they ...

Change of contractors (305 words)

When the contracts for an energy distribution company’s street lighting services came up for renewal, the existing contractor made an unsuccessful bid. Instead, the ...

Collective agreements (162 words)

Hans Werhof’s employment was transferred under TUPE. Prior to the transfer, his terms and conditions had been governed by a collective agreement negotiated between ...

Right to be paid on time (261 words)

* A failure to pay wages on time is a breach of a statutory right, and an employee dismissed for asserting that right is ...

Rolled-up holiday pay (157 words)

* It is unlawful to pay rolled-up holiday pay as an additional amount included in the hourly rate. ...

Conciliated settlements (163 words)

* An ACAS officer does not have a duty to advise claimants or to ensure they understand the nature of all claims they are ...

Protection from harassment (179 words)

* A court can issue a restraining order against a former employee under the Prevention from Harassment Act 1997, preventing him/her from going near ...

A chance to put the case for safety reps' rights (251 words)

A new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) consultation is giving trade unionists an opportunity to make the case for extending safety reps’ rights and ...

Campaigners criticise HSE stance on directors' duties (227 words)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is failing to make the case for legal safety duties on directors, according to the Centre for Corporate ...

Warning for scaffolders (122 words)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a safety alert to the construction industry following a major scaffolding collapse in Milton Keynes last ...

Concern at relaxation of offshore safety duty (97 words)

New offshore regulations have come in for union criticism. ...

New law on civil liability (120 words)

A loophole over civil liability in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 was closed last month. ...

Manual handling victory (73 words)

A firm has been forced to comply with an improvement notice on manual handling, after losing its tribunal appeal over the case. ...

Reps are to the fore as TUC aims to boost unions' learning role (2196 words)

“Nothing we do in the next few months and years is more important than extending trade union learning,” said chancellor Gordon Brown this month ...

Should employees keep their distance from teleworking? (3451 words)

This summer marks the fifth anniversary of the European Framework Agreement on Telework – a voluntary agreement between union and employers’ organisations on good ...