Pay and prices

Pay increases remain lower than inflation (217 words)

Among settlements reached in the three months to July and recorded on LRD’s Payline database, the median pay increase was 3.0% across all sectors ...

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 July 2006) 3.0% ...

Average earnings indices (including bonuses) (158 words)

Apr 2005 (r) 120.7 4.2% 2.8% 4.6% 4.1% 5.1% ...

Full-time weekly average earnings (28 words)

All workers £543.50 ...

Prices (58 words)

June 2005 192.2 2.9% 2.2% ...

Inflation forecasts (26 words)

Fourth quarter 2006 ...

Bargaining news

NHS proposals retain final-salary pensions (437 words)

Final-salary pensions for both new and existing staff are to be retained under new proposals for the NHS pension scheme in England and Wales. ...

University staff will get 15.5% over three years (172 words)

Non-academic staff in higher education are to get pay rises of up to 15.5% under a three-year deal negotiated by public services union UNISON. ...

Contracted-out hospital staff clean up at last (279 words)

Hospital cleaners and domestic staff working at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Trust are finally to receive a pay rise worth 16.4%. ...

Trains and planes are kept running by new pay deals (521 words)

While a number of disputes on the UK’s railways rumble on, the summer months have seen some positive developments for unions trying to reach ...

Bank-holiday deal is an offer binmen can't refuse (207 words)

Refuse collectors at Preston Council have accepted a £500 one-off payment to compensate them for a move to compulsory working on bank holidays. ...

CWU and Royal Mail reach "landmark" agreement (402 words)

A national strike at Royal Mail has been narrowly averted after the company agreed to scrap an imposed pay settlement and involve the CWU ...

NUJ forces Johnston Press to address low pay rates (261 words)

Members of the NUJ journalists’ union at South Yorkshire Newspapers (SYN) have agreed to end a long-running pay dispute after their employer agreed to ...

Double victory for T&G at First Group (285 words)

Drivers on south London’s Tramlink called off industrial action on the eve of a 24-hour strike last month, following an improved two-year pay offer. ...

Equality news

Study shows that gay men face pay gap (271 words)

More than two years after discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation was banned, a study by the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) has found ...

Disability definition is too narrow, says Commission (239 words)

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has called for the legal definition of disability to be altered so that anyone experiencing discrimination on grounds of ...

More sexism in the City (234 words)

New research last month has revealed the extent of discrimination on grounds of sex, age and sexual orientation in the City of London. ...

TUC tells employers to value their older workers (181 words)

More than a third of the UK’s 2.6 million unemployed or economically inactive 50- to 65-year-olds want a job, according to a new TUC ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Unions urge Congress to raise organising support (159 words)

Delegates to this month’s Trades Union Congress will hear calls to maintain recruitment and organising as a priority for unions, and for the TUC ...

RMT and BECTU secure recognition victories (177 words)

The RMT rail union has won recognition for 250 members at rail infrastructure firm GrantRail following a lengthy dispute. ...

Student nurse recruitment pack is a hit (131 words)

Public services union UNISON’s Student nurse/midwives pack won the award for best recruitment material in the Trade Union Press and PR Awards 2006 in ...

Learning and training news

CBI slams school-leavers' skills (371 words)

The publication of this year’s A-Level and GCSE results last month prompted the annual debate about the value of these qualifications and the abilities ...

European news

Equality is a clause for celebration (186 words)

An examination of new Spanish collective agreements shows that they are increasingly including equal opportunity clauses. ...

Germany's cleaners will all get a minimum wage (380 words)

All workers employed to clean buildings in Germany are to be given the legal right to be paid a minimum wage at a level ...

Belgians prepare to negotiate national pay deal (160 words)

The first steps towards Belgium’s next two-year pay deal will be taken later this month when unions and employers meet for the first time ...

Dutch working time stands still (188 words)

Figures published last month have confirmed that working time in the Netherlands has stabilised after years of reductions in hours. ...

Health & safety news

Report exposes myths about sickness absence (205 words)

Employers should stop peddling the myth about high rates of public-sector sick leave, new official research has shown. ...

USDAW and Community tackle high-street abuse (254 words)

Unions representing workers on the UK’s high streets are demanding an end to abuse – both physical and verbal – of their members. ...

Right to use harassment legislation is upheld (144 words)

The House of Lords has upheld a legal ruling which allows bullied workers to make use of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. ...

Royal Mail "is ignoring health and safety" (102 words)

A highly critical report on Royal Mail delivery work shows that health and safety concerns are being ignored if they impede productivity, according to ...

Taking action on RSI (52 words)

Trade unionists, health campaigners and local support groups have formed a new charity, RSI Action, aiming to help prevent repetitive strain injury (RSI) and ...

Scaffolding warning (102 words)

Skilled and professional union Amicus has warned that some scaffolding trainers are not properly accredited. ...

Features

Contract law (430 words)

This month’s cases examine the inclusion of bonuses in holiday pay and the incorporation of a collective agreement’s terms into employment contracts. ...

Junior doctors' pay (194 words)

Dr Whitehouse was a junior doctor on “rotation”, working in a range of training posts to gain experience in different medical fields. Each post ...

Employment status (239 words)

Mr Hughes and Mr Beaumont were both full-time branch secretaries – lay officials without written contracts of employment – of the GMB general union. ...

Failure to pay sick pay (182 words)

Despite working for her employer for almost 15 years, Mrs Bellingham had no written contract. She became ill and was signed off work for ...

Incorporated terms (163 words)

Mrs Badger and her colleagues were made redundant three months after their employment transferred under TUPE. They said they were entitled to enhanced redundancy ...

Minimum wage (154 words)

Craig Cotton was employed as an electrical apprentice under an agreement which said his pay would be not less than the minimum wage rate. ...

Repayment clause (164 words)

When he left his job, Michael Zhang entered into a settlement agreement containing a clause which said he would have to repay the full ...

Holiday pay (631 words)

A company’s workers received basic pay plus two types of bonus – one variable (and performance-related), the other fixed. Arguing that these bonuses should ...

Transfer law (302 words)

This month’s rulings look at the difference between a transfer of employment and transfer of liability, and the exclusion of share sale agreements from ...

Date of transfer (263 words)

A large number of civil servants were seconded from the Department of Education (DofE) to a new training and enterprise council (TEC) in early ...

Transfer of liability (224 words)

Ms Beck worked for Allders department store and was dismissed when the store went into administration. The store was bought by Primark, but before ...

Sale of shares (218 words)

Mr Millam was employed as a printer by Fencourt Printers (FP), which was sold to a separate company, McCorquodale Confidential Print Ltd (MCP), under ...

Retirement age and TUPE (184 words)

Pilot Michael Bartlett Cross and cabin services director Carole Gibson had their employment transferred under TUPE from British Caledonian (BCal) to British Airways (BA). ...

TUPE dismissal (167 words)

Mr Urmston, Mrs Downes and Mr Warburton were dismissed when the company they worked for, which provided services for a firm carrying out personal ...

Transfer of work (192 words)

Clare Woodman was employed as a tax specialist to prepare tax returns for clients. When her employer discovered that it was not insured for ...

Time limits on deductions (208 words)

If a worker receives less wages than s/he is due, the time limit for bringing a claim runs from the date the payment is ...

Sleeping at work (160 words)

A hotel worker was working even when he was asleep, because he was required to remain on the hotel premises. ...

Bank holidays and part-timers (154 words)

A failure to allow a part-time worker who did not work on Mondays time off or payment for bank holidays was not discriminatory, because ...

New campaign on noise and vibration (72 words)

The Health and Safety Executive has launched a campaign to prevent permanent damage to workers’ health from excessive noise or vibration. ...

Funding for better backs (95 words)

The TUC is calling on unions to apply for funding under the Health and Safety Executive’s Better Backs campaign, so that safety reps can ...

Time for a shift in health and safety attitudes (103 words)

Long hours and poorly designed working arrangements are putting shift workers at risk of fatigue, accidents, injuries and ill health, a new Health and ...

New asbestos regulations go ahead despite concerns (262 words)

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) is to press ahead with its revised asbestos regulations, in spite of unions’ outstanding concerns. ...

HSE seeks union approval (222 words)

What did the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ever do for trade unions? Plenty, apparently – from creating a “worker involvement programme” and working ...

Implement risk assessment actions, says HSE (166 words)

Employers need to spend less time on paperwork and more on implementing practical actions arising from risk assessments, according to the Health and Safety ...

Negotiating for on-call workers requires reps to be on guard (4044 words)

If an employer needs to call on the services of any of its employees outside their normal working hours, it should offer them a ...

New law presents opportunity to tackle an age-old problem (1508 words)

From 1 October, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 (EEAR) will ban age discrimination in the workplace – or so the theory goes. In ...