News

Trade union donations to Labour are threatened by party funding report (918 words)

Trade unions have responded with great concern to the findings of a review into party funding, which was set up in the wake of ...

Public sector workers face lowest pay rise in 10 years (284 words)

Last month's Budget is likely to increase tensions over public sector pay with the cost of living (RPI) rising more quickly than at any ...

Napo wins concessions on Bill (264 words)

As Labour Research went to press the controversial Offender Management Bill had gone to the House of Lords - after winning only a narrow ...

Academy schools (89 words)

Teaching unions scorned a recent National Audit Office report on the government's school academy programme. Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said that nothing in ...

BBC nurseries (67 words)

Members of the NUJ and BECTU broadcasting unions are fighting to save the BBC's crche facilities, after the corporation announced a decision to close ...

35-hour week (82 words)

Strike action by 400 signallers at Network Rail in Scotland was suspended last month as the company undertook to implement a 35-hour week agreement. ...

Inflation jumps up (67 words)

Dearer mortgage interest payments after the January rise in interest rates pushed inflation higher. In February the Retail Prices Index rose by 4.6% - ...

Manufacturing jobs fall at a faster rate (211 words)

The number of jobs in manufacturing has plunged below the three million mark, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). And it happened ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (196 words)

Annual increaseWhole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorLRD pay deals*January 2006 (r)2.65.12.22.34.23.0February 5.05.25.15.34.13.0March 4.44.84.44.44.33.0April 3.55.93.23.72.93.0May 4.45.74.24.73.73.0June 4.95.94.85.33.73.0July 3.94.83.83.84.13.0August 3.85.33.73.93.23.0September 4.15.44.24.33.43.0October 4.25.14.44.43.33.0November (r)4.04.74.14.13.13.5December (r)3.93.94.24.03.33.5January 2007 (p)4.73.05.35.23.33.5Headline rate for ...

Union news

T&G and Amicus members vote yes to a merged union (325 words)

It's official - the T&G general union and Amicus manufacturing and services union will be as one in a matter of weeks - just ...

Sally Hunt is elected to top post in first UCU general secretary election (225 words)

The 116,500 members of the UCU lecturers' union have elected Sally Hunt (pictured right) as their first sole general secretary in a three-way contest. ...

ALGUS joins CWU (125 words)

Another, smaller union merger was agreed last month, when members of the 2,500-strong Alliance & Leicester Group Union of Staff (ALGUS) voted to join ...

PCS sets up political fund (92 words)

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is establishing a political fund from this month after members voted by 79% last November in favour ...

European news

Radical new equality law in Spain will give women a boost in the workplace (427 words)

Last month the Spanish parliament approved a new law on equality, which in the view of the UGT, one of Spain's major union confederations, ...

Woman president for ETUC (114 words)

Wanja Lundby-Wedin, the head of LO - Sweden's largest union confederation, is to be elected the next president of the European Trade Union Confederation, ...

Airbus workers strike across Europe in a bid to save jobs (314 words)

Up to 35,000 workers demonstrated across Europe last month to protest against the restructuring plans of the plane maker Airbus, which will involve a ...

Features

How long to wait for race equality? (1677 words)

Trade union action to combat race discrimination is still essential nearly 40 years since the 1968 Race Relations Act outlawed direct discrimination in employment. ...

Did they die for nothing? (1695 words)

The government has done nothing," says Christian Dufour of French trade union institute IRES speaking 18 months after race riots shook the country. Neither ...

Saving the NHS for the future (1698 words)

At the beginning of last month, thousands of health workers joined demonstrations all over the country in support of the NHS. The trade union ...

Victims' families unite for justice (1370 words)

April will always be the month to remember the dead for the Wright family. Two years this April, Mark Wright was killed at work. ...

Law Matters

Government must change law on sex discrimination (377 words)

The UK's sex discrimination laws do not comply with European law, the High Court has said in a case brought by the Equal Opportunities ...

Agency workers need better rights (300 words)

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has said new laws are needed to protect long-term agency workers, after workers in two recent cases were left ...

Statutory procedures are to be axed (153 words)

The government is to repeal its statutory resolution procedures after an independent review concluded that they cost too much time and money. ...

New legislation (64 words)

From 6 April, the right to request flexible working is being extended to carers under the Flexible Working (Eligibility, Complaints and Remedies) (Amendment) Regulations ...

Law Queries

Part-time workers (405 words)

Q: If someone works two days a week but bank holidays never fall on those days, can they receive bank holiday leave or pay ...

Redundancy policy (111 words)

Q: Our employer has come up with new redundancy terms but says they are not contractual and won't apply again in the future. When ...

Protective award (223 words)

Q: How do we calculate a day's pay for the purpose of a protective award? ...

Law Back-up

Union's BNP expulsion is ruled to be lawful (906 words)

Unions have finally won the right to determine their own membership, after a five-year legal fight over the expulsion of a member who was ...

Health & Safety Matters

Petition calls for sprinklers in schools (252 words)

Unions are getting behind a campaign to install sprinkers in schools - vital for the safety of children and education workers. ...

Employers charge for eye tests - and it's not illegal (327 words)

Employers are obliged by law to provide computer users with a free eye test and spectacles for their work - but are still allowed ...

Tories seek to undermine new law on construction safety (221 words)

New health and safety regulations designed to protect construction workers have been placed in jeopardy by Conservative leader David Cameron. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Give environment reps full statutory rights (719 words)

When the government-commissioned Stern review was published last October, it left no room for doubt about the devatating impact that climate change will have ...

Equality news

White woman's racism claim can proceed (250 words)

A white British woman has been allowed to bring an employment tribunal claim against her former employer over distress caused to her by racist ...

Sexual orientation comes under discrimination law (417 words)

From the end of this month, it will be unlawful to discriminate against someone on grounds of his/her sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation ...

Equal pay claim could benefit thousands of civil servants (241 words)

The PCS public services union has launched equal pay claims on behalf of female civilian staff at the Ministry of Defence (MoD). ...

Workplace Back-up

Minister's backtrack on ESOL is not enough (878 words)

An outcry by unions and others has provoked a partial government climbdown on plans to withdraw free English classes for asylum seekers and migrant ...

Reviews

Ecosocialism or barbarism (148 words)

Jane Kelly and Sheila Malone eds, Socialist Resistance books, paperback, 140 pages, £10 ...

Reclaiming Marx's 'Capital' (161 words)

Andrew Kliman, Lexington Books, paperback, 231 pages, £17.99 ...

Your right to know (158 words)

Heather Brooke, Pluto Press, paperback, 309 pages, £13.99 ...

E-views

e-views (351 words)

The issue of private equity has suddenly burst onto the trade union scene. In the last few weeks, the GMB and other unions have ...