News

Strikes called off at BBC TV News (248 words)

Broadcasting unions BECTU and the NUJ agreed on 23 February to suspend industrial action at BBC TV News, following a last-minute offer by the ...

Union challenges private equity firm over job losses (363 words)

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB general union, and Damon Buffini, managing partner of the private equity company Permira, are set to meet ...

Council workers demand decent wage rates with a 5% pay claim (293 words)

The government's 2% pay norm will be put under pressure this month as local authority employers in England and Wales consider the pay claim ...

Burberry faces backlash for overseas factory relocation (306 words)

Burberry's clothing and luxury goods have been achieving some unexpected publicity recently - although not the sort that will help boost sales. The designer ...

Sacked workers occupy factory (236 words)

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has been asked to investigate the circumstances surrounding the abrupt closure of two electronic component plants owned ...

Proper hours (77 words)

Following a national strike and a two week overtime ban, PCS members used 23 February (the TUC's Work Your Proper Hours Day) for a ...

Butlins' back pay (81 words)

Following a Court of Appeal ruling in February, back pay is due to thousands of former live-in holiday camp staff. Leisure Employment Services (which ...

Employee ownership (85 words)

Firms where staff have a big ownership stake and a say in decisions are more productive because employees feel happier at work, according to ...

Inflation is going down (69 words)

Cheaper furniture, petrol prices and food helped push inflation down. In January, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rose by 4.2%, which was a drop ...

Wages drop below the inflation rate (207 words)

Workers' earnings have fallen in real terms, according to the latest official figures. The December inflation rate under the RPI was 4.4% but the ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (188 words)

Annual increaseWhole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorLRD pay deals*December 2005 (r)4.2%4.5%3.8%3.9%4.7%3.0%January 20063.0%5.0%2.8%2.9%4.1%3.0%February 5.0%5.2%5.1%5.3%4.1%3.0%March 4.4%4.8%4.4%4.4%4.3%3.0%April 3.5%5.9%3.2%3.7%2.9%3.0%May 4.4%5.7%4.2%4.7%3.7%3.0%June 4.9%5.9%4.8%5.3%3.7%3.0%July 3.9%4.8%3.8%3.8%4.1%3.0%August 3.8%5.3%3.7%3.9%3.2%3.0%September (r)4.1%5.4%4.2%4.3%3.4%3.0%October (r)4.2%5.1%4.4%4.4%3.3%3.0%November (r)3.9%4.7%4.0%4.1%3.1%3.3%December (p)3.8%3.7%4.1%3.9%3.3%3.4%Headline rate for December**4.0%4.5%4.2%4.1%3.2% ...

Union news

Union reps and HR analyse their volatile relationship (368 words)

New research shows that trade union reps and human resource (HR) professionals feel they have a largely positive working relationship, though the reps are ...

USDAW calls for M&S to play fair (108 words)

The latest stage of retail union USDAW's campaign for union recognition at Marks and Spencer is making the most of the company's commitment to ...

City cleaners win union agreements (139 words)

Nearly half of the cleaners working in the City of London, many of whom are very low paid, are now covered by union agreements, ...

New BECTU general secretary (78 words)

Gerry Morrissey has been elected unopposed as general secretary of broadcasting and entertainment union BECTU. The election took place following the death of his ...

Refs join Prospect (84 words)

Professionals and specialists union Prospect has organised and negotiated for 18 high-profile new members - top football referees. ...

Features

German unions fail to halt drop in members (228 words)

The DGB, the main German union confederation, has produced figures which show that its membership fell from 6.78 million in 2005 to 6.59 million ...

French employees value the work of their representatives (427 words)

There are increasing numbers of employee representatives at workplace level in France but, while workers support them, they have doubts about how much influence ...

Federations call on unions to back public services petition (194 words)

Last month the general secretaries of four European union federations, which represent workers across the public services, called on their affiliates to up their ...

Always keep asking questions (2114 words)

You must never forget that if you don't raise the question other people won't think about it - it's not always malevolent," explains Baroness ...

Tackling inequality at source (1644 words)

Any potential employee of Telford and Wrekin Borough Council who logs onto their website will find information about local childcare, schools and family support ...

Marking the end of the slave trade (1478 words)

Deep sorrow" was the expression used by Tony Blair last November when describing Britain's role in the slave trade. Not quite the apology that ...

Can unions represent sex workers? (1914 words)

The murder of five prostitutes by a serial killer in the Suffolk town of Ipswich at the end of last year made headline news. ...

Lords seek improvements to corporate killing law (324 words)

Campaigners won a major victory last month when new corporate killing legislation was broadened to include prisons and police cells. ...

Workers see immediate health benefits from ban on smoking (199 words)

Scotland's smoking ban has substantially improved air quality in pubs and slashed the exposure of bar workers to second-hand smoke by 86%, according to ...

Physios warn factory workers of RSI risks (91 words)

Factory workers are three times more likely than managers to get repetitive strain injury (RSI), says the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). ...

Don't hit the bottle (78 words)

UNISON public services union has launched "Water@Work", a campaign aimed at getting employers to provide accessible, mains-fed water on the shop floor or in ...

Asbestos drug delay (85 words)

A chemotherapy drug for sufferers of the asbestosrelated cancer mesothelioma will not be available nationwide on the NHS until the autumn, if at all. ...

Older women's health must be safeguarded (900 words)

Women now make up nearly half the UK workforce, and there are one-and-a-half million female workers aged 45-64 as well as 113,000 over 65. ...

CBI sees appeal of flexible working (598 words)

Half of the UK's workers want to work flexible hours - and at last employers may be starting to respond. ...

Commission sets out agenda for better disability rights at work and in society (349 words)

Equality watchdog the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) published its Disability Agenda last month, setting out "the chief public policy challenges for the coming decade ...

e-views (386 words)

From the earliest days of the web, browsers had a "home page". This is the default web page that comes up when you connect ...

Law Matters

Disabled employees aren't entitled to full sick pay (407 words)

An employee on long-term sick leave for a disability-related reason is not entitled to enhanced sick pay as a reasonable adjustment, according to the ...

Employers must do more than offer access to counselling (273 words)

An employer cannot avoid liability for a stress-induced illness simply by providing access to counselling services, the Court of Appeal has held. ...

Appeal delays mean dismissal may be unfair (269 words)

An employer's failure to hear an appeal against a dismissal within a reasonable time may make the dismissal automatically unfair, the Employment Appeal Tribunal ...

Law Queries

Suspension without pay (156 words)

Q: A member was involved in a fight at work and has been suspended without pay. Is an employer entitled to do this before ...

Working time (156 words)

Q: A hotel porter who works a 10-hour shift has been told that he will still have to work during his half-hour break if ...

Refusal to transfer (141 words)

Q: Our employer has been bought out and we have been advised that TUPE will apply. One of our members does not want to ...

Fixed-term workers (266 words)

Q: Our employer employs some workers on fixed-term contracts, ending the contracts within the year and then re-employing them after a few weeks so ...

Law Back-up

Employers shouldn't pre-empt the courts (976 words)

When the bus he had been driving caught fire and was damaged beyond repair while it was stationary in the bus station, Nasrudin Ali ...

Workplace Back-up

Who should decide the content of training? (803 words)

All those posters and TV advertisements urging us all to "get rid of our gremlins" have worked: the number of people gaining basic skills ...

News from LRD

LRD annual general meeting (41 words)

The Annual General Meeting of the Labour Research Department will be held on Monday 16 April at the Association of London Government, 591/2 Southwark ...

Reviews

The economics of climate change (169 words)

The Stern Review ...

After Blair (141 words)

Politics after the New Labour decade ...

Falling through the floor (146 words)

Migrant women workers' quest for decent work in Dongguan, China ...