News

Report uncovers reality of informal economy (213 words)

Low benefit rates, high rents, childcare costs and debt are among the reasons obliging people to engage in low-paid, informal work, a new study ...

Campaigners warn of surge in support for far-right BNP (339 words)

The trend in support for the far-right British National Party (BNP) has “accelerated dramatically”, according to an analysis of the 2006 local election results ...

Study exposes myths about deregulation and flexibility (250 words)

The notion that deregulation and weak unions are essential for job creation and low unemployment is a myth, says a new study from The ...

Two million workers to get extra eight days' paid leave (202 words)

The government has finally set out its long-awaited plans to ensure that millions of workers will get paid leave for bank holidays in addition ...

Union warns of risks from outsourcing medical records (233 words)

Patients’ lives are being put at risk by the outsourcing of medical records by hospital trusts, delegates to the UNISON health service union’s annual ...

Pilots vote for strike action (230 words)

Pilots working for KLCuk, a subsidiary of the KLM airline, have voted by 128 to nil to take strike action. ...

Inflation jumps to 3.0% (62 words)

Higher gas and electricity bills and dearer fuel have helped to push inflation higher. Inflation under the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rose to 3.0% ...

Unemployment tops 1.6 million (218 words)

Unemployment has now risen in eight out of the last ninth months. Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, it rose by 77,000 to ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (333 words)

April 2005 (r) 4.2% 3.0% 4.5% 4.0% 5.0% 3.3% ...

Union news

GMB pulls out of merger talks (382 words)

Delegates at last month's GMB general union conference voted overwhelmingly to end merger talks with the T&G general union and Amicus technical and professional ...

Brady fails to get ASLEF job back (165 words)

Sean Brady, the sacked general secretary of ASLEF rail union, will not be reinstated to the post, as his expulsion from membership of the ...

Labour re-affirms importance of unions' values as well as their cash (274 words)

The Labour Party has defended its relationship with unions in a consultation document proposing changes in party political funding. ...

European news

French dismissal law has limited jobs impact (237 words)

The new arrangements in France, permitting small employers to dismiss new staff (with less than two years’ service) without giving a reason, have had ...

Financial crisis engulfs Austrian union federation (513 words)

A growing financial crisis in the ÖGB Austrian trade union confederation is forcing it to dispose of the bulk of its assets. The crisis ...

Public sector strikes end in Germany (165 words)

Two major, long-running disputes in the German public sector have been settled. ...

Features

Pension plans need to shape up, say unions (2197 words)

The cosy consensus on pensions between the state and employers was blown apart last month with the publication of the pensions white paper, Security ...

Activism reaches the trading floor (2007 words)

In May 2005, shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM) of news and magazine company United Business Media created a ruckus by voting against ...

Access denied (1574 words)

Government plans to withdraw funding for a scheme which helps keep its own disabled employees in work have been described as “disastrous” and “devastating” ...

Bolivia grows bolder (1440 words)

“The time has come, the awaited day, a historic day in which Bolivia retakes absolute control of our natural resources.” ...

Law Matters

BNP dismissal was not race discrimination, says court (346 words)

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a company did not commit an act of race discrimination when it dismissed an employee who was ...

Content, not categorisation, matters in appeal hearings (324 words)

An appeal hearing does not have to be classed as a rehearing in order to correct procedural errors in a disciplinary hearing, the Court ...

Male nurse "was victim of stereotyping" (249 words)

A hospital trust discriminated against a male nurse by requiring him to have a female chaperone when providing intimate care to a female patient, ...

Law Queries

Confidential information (208 words)

Q: One of our members has been dismissed because her husband just got a job with a competitor and the company is concerned that ...

Flexible working requests (249 words)

Q: I have asked to return to work part-time instead of full-time after my maternity leave, but my employer says this is not possible. ...

Time off for training (182 words)

Q: How much time off are shop stewards entitled to for training? ...

Law Back-up

Ruling clarifies law on discrimination liability (936 words)

In 1997, Janine Gilbank joined hairdressing firm QH, and over the next few years she was promoted from trainee stylist to senior hair designer ...

Health & Safety Matters

Level of workplace safety inspections hits a new low (281 words)

Safety inspections in the UK have plummeted to a new low, increasing the chances of workers being killed, made ill or injured by their ...

NHS reveals "shocking" extent of violence against its staff (254 words)

Unions have stepped up the campaign to secure more legal protection for public sector workers, in the wake of new figures revealing the extent ...

No juries for work-related deaths? (89 words)

A government review of the coroners’ service is planning to remove the need for juries in many cases of work-related death. The proposal is ...

Asbestos judgment will be overturned (69 words)

Tony Blair has promised to try to overturn a recent judgment by the House of Lords (see last month’s Labour Research) which could drastically ...

Dockers win right to sue over asbestos (92 words)

Former dock workers have won the right to sue the government for asbestos-related illnesses. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Roving reps improve agricultural safety (887 words)

Agriculture has one of the worst health and safety records of any UK industry: on average, one worker is killed and ten suffer a ...

Equality news

Help employers with disability duty, says TUC (174 words)

The TUC has issued a guide to help unions challenge disability discrimination and negotiate workplace policies. ...

EOC guidance aims to end sexual harassment at last (404 words)

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has published new guidelines to help employers combat sexual harassment in the workplace. ...

Study finds that agency staff do equal work for less money (264 words)

Agency workers are being paid less than directly employed staff in nine out of 10 workplaces, according to new research by the TUC. ...

Workplace Back-up

Thirty years of hurt in fight for equal pay (954 words)

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has just released its annual statistical comparison Facts about women and men in Great Britain, drawing on the latest ...

News from LRD

Alan Sapper (1931-2006) (177 words)

The Labour Research Department (LRD) is very sad to report the death of Alan Sapper at the age of 75. Alan was a member ...

Reviews

The global economy in the 1990s: a long-run perspective (188 words)

Paul W Rhode (ed), Cambridge, paperback, 334 pages, £19.99 ...

Wal-Mart: the face of twenty-first-century capitalism (161 words)

Nelson Lichtenstein (ed), The New Press, 349 pages, paperback, £12.99 ...

The origins of the Cuban Revolution reconsidered (146 words)

Samuel Farber, University of North Carolina Press, 240 pages, hardback, £34.95 ...

E-views

e-views (345 words)

At the recent May Day march and rally in London, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber made a strong call for “a trade union freedom ...