News

LEAN madness (88 words)

Revenue and customs workers in North Wales, members of the PCS civil service union, are up in arms over instructions that they should only ...

Drivers' wages (86 words)

A spring offensive to improve wages in road transport sectors is planned by the T&G general union. The campaign will affect public transport, haulage, ...

NHS advertising (71 words)

Plans to allow NHS hospitals to advertise have been given the thumbs down in a poll for the NHS Together campaign. ...

Single status remains paralysed (418 words)

Local government employers have accused unions of being "paralysed" by the actions of no-win no-fee lawyers, making it "virtually impossible" to negotiate equal pay ...

Local government workers back final salary pension schemes (285 words)

Union members staked their colours to the 'final salary' pensions mast, as negotiations over the future of the local government scheme drew to a ...

Unions campaign for Farepak victims and contribute to fund (433 words)

The shock collapse of the Farepak Christmas savings scheme in October hit up to 100,000 people, many of whom were low paid and many ...

Supermarket workers vote for GMB (164 words)

Workers in two Asda Wal-Mart distribution depots have voted in favour of union recognition in a key development in the GMB general union's dealings ...

JJB Sport agencies under fire (239 words)

The GMB general union is pressing ahead with its call for criminal charges against three employment agencies in Wigan over the alleged supply of ...

Inflation keeps rising (70 words)

Higher food prices and university tuition fees pushed inflation to an eight-year high. In October, the Retail Prices Index rose by 3.7% from 3.6% ...

Unemployment hits seven-year high (218 words)

Unemployment is at its highest level since 1999. Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count it was up by 27,000 to 1.7 million in ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (348 words)

August 2005 (r) 4.1 4.3 4.2 4.1 4.3 3.0 ...

Union news

Equality reps are included in Union Modernisation Fund (390 words)

The development of an army of trade union equality reps is to be supported by the government through Union Modernisation Fund grants, it has ...

Roger Bolton (68 words)

Roger Bolton, general secretary of broadcasting workers' union BECTU, has died at the age of 59 after a long battle with cancer. Roger was ...

Mergers result in new global confederation (164 words)

Last month saw the foundation of a new world union body formed by the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), ...

RMT disaffiliates from Scottish Socialist Party (121 words)

The RMT transport union has cut links with the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) following its highly public schism with co-founder Tommy Sheridan. Sheridan has ...

European news

Belgians blame Germany for Golf job losses (201 words)

Volkswagen, the German carmaker, plans to shift Golf production from its Brussels factory to plants in Germany, and cut employment in the Belgian capital ...

Working time directive stalls (454 words)

There was no progress on the Working Time Directive at a meeting of the EU council of ministers last month. And with the German ...

Czech unions call off protest (276 words)

The main Czech trade union confederation CMKOS called off a national demonstration planned for 25 November after it became clear that the legislation on ...

Features

I'll be home for Christmas... (2036 words)

We're looking to ensure our members have two guaranteed days off," said David Williams, acting political officer for shopworkers' union USDAW, talking about his ...

City elite enjoy bonus bonanza (1457 words)

December is definitely the season of good cheer for workers in the City of London and the champagne corks will be popping with news ...

Preparations begin for EU membership (1817 words)

At the start of next month two new countries, Bulgaria and Romania will join the 25 existing members of the European Union (EU). ...

Disabled staff gain a voice (1430 words)

From 5 December new legislation means that Britain's 45,000 public bodies, including health trusts, government departments, local authorities and colleges and universities, have a ...

Rules on procedural failings are unclear (839 words)

When GP practice manager Mrs Kelly-Madden was found to have been taking unauthorised pay for overtime, she was dismissed for dishonesty. ...

Law Matters

Employee fails to overcome service requirement for bringing a claim (301 words)

An employer's failure to provide a new employee with a "statement of particulars", or to provide access to the statutory grievance and disciplinary procedures, ...

Lords refer question of sick leave and holiday to the ECJ (189 words)

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is to decide whether holiday continues to accrue while a worker is on long-term sick leave. ...

DTI defines "carers" for flexible working requests (191 words)

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued a definition of "carers" for the purposes of requesting flexible working. ...

Union loses protective awards case (159 words)

If an employer fails to consult over redundancies, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled, a trade union can claim protective awards only for ...

Law Queries

Non-members and strikes (160 words)

Q: Staff at our workplace are a mixture of union members and non-members. Members were recently balloted on industrial action, and voted in favour. ...

Withdrawing a dismissal (209 words)

Q: Following negotiations on job cuts, one of our members was issued with a written notice that their employment would be terminated. The employer ...

Collective grievances (127 words)

Q: We are in dispute with our employer about whether a pay rise applies to additional payments. We know that, if the case goes ...

"Paying back" holiday (236 words)

Q: Our employer wants to change our leave year from July-June to January-December, and all staff have been told that from 1 January they ...

Health & Safety Matters

Amicus launches silica dust campaign (80 words)

Amicus professional union has launched a campaign to protect workers from the health hazards associated with breathing in silica dust. ...

Breast cancer is linked to farms (86 words)

Women who have worked or grown up on farms have a higher risk of breast cancer, according to new research. ...

Stress in education (78 words)

The UCU lecturers' union has launched a campaign on stress after a survey found that half of its members say their job makes them ...

Amendments to corporate killing bill are not enough (349 words)

As the government inches towards a new corporate manslaughter law, unions and safety campaigners at the Centre for Corporate Accountability conference last month criticised ...

Damaging safety myths must be debunked, demands TUC (324 words)

The constant media barrage that trivialises health and safety must be challenged whenever possible. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Unions must campaign for migrants' safety (899 words)

Migrant workers are working long hours in risky jobs without the training and equipment they need to do the job safely, according to new ...

Equality news

New equality commission is savaged again (251 words)

The chair of the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has added his voice to the chorus of discontent over the Commission for Equality and Human ...

Employers' attitudes deny deaf people access to work (505 words)

A new report from RNID, the charity supporting deaf and hard-of-hearing people, claims that they "are being denied the opportunity to work that hearing ...

E-campaign encourages fathers to apply for flexible working (177 words)

An "e-dads" advice service has been launched by the charity Working Families. ...

Workplace Back-up

Minimum wage focus is now on enforcement (811 words)

Since its introduction in April 1999, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) has increased far faster than inflation and average earnings, benefiting the UK's lowest-paid ...

News from LRD

Executive Committee (69 words)

We are inviting LRD affiliates to nominate candidates for the LRD Executive Committee for the year April 2007 to March 2008. ...

Reviews

Maternity and parental rights: a guide to parents' legal rights at work (164 words)

This book isn't called "the bible of working parents' rights" for nothing. It is produced by the Legal Action Group and is a comprehensive ...

Deadly dust (131 words)

This report is the first in a series by the China Labour Bulletin (CLB), the best English language source of information on conditions faced ...

100 years of permanent revolution: results and prospects (115 words)

One hundred years after the publication of Leon Trotsky's Results and Prospects, the authors of this book discuss the contemporary relevance of the Marxist ...

E-views

e-views (398 words)

Every union in Britain can start saving money today by abandoning Microsoft Office and switching over to use OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org). ...