News

TUC calls on government to rethink Jobcentre surveillance (431 words)

Public sector workers could be asked to use monitoring and surveillance techniques on clients and the public if government proposals go ahead. ...

Agency workers win landmark tribunal (210 words)

The Unite general union, formed following the merger of Amicus and the T&G last month, was claiming a major victory for the rights of ...

Campaign grows for migrant amnesty (245 words)

Two-thirds of people believe asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers should be allowed to have jobs and pay taxes, according to a survey by ...

Unions threaten strike action if Remploy factories are closed (329 words)

Disabled workers employed in Britain's network of Remploy factories were considering strike action as Labour Research went to press following the announcement of the ...

Tesco lorry drivers take strike action (194 words)

Retail giant Tesco was facing calls for a ballot for national strike action among drivers at its distribution depots as Labour Research went to ...

Post office closures are called "illogical" (233 words)

The CWU communication workers' union has described plans to close 2,500 UK post offices - around a fifth of the post office network - ...

Cheaper energy bills cut inflation (71 words)

Cheaper gas and electricity prices this year have helped cut inflation. In April, the Retail Prices Index rose by 4.5% - down from 4.8% ...

Unemployment hits under-25s (205 words)

Unemployment has edged up again. Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count it was up by 13,000 to 1.7 million in the three months ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (177 words)

% annual riseLRD average pay deals*Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorMarch 2006 (r)4.74.94.94.84.43.0April 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 4.04.74.14.13.13.3December 3.93.94.24.13.33.5January 2007 (r)4.63.55.05.03.33.6February (r) 5.23.55.75.82.93.6March ...

Union news

TUC hails small drop in union numbers as a "success story" (289 words)

The proportion of employees who are union members ("union density") dipped slightly in 2006 after two years of small increases. ...

RMT triggers controversy with merger plans (279 words)

The TUC is convening a meeting this month with union officials who have an interest in the controversial proposed merger of the RMT rail ...

BECTU is in uproar over election pledge (242 words)

As unions consider who to support in the Labour Party deputy leadership election, delegates at broadcasting union BECTU's annual conference reconfirmed their union's links ...

European news

Calm before the storm as Sarkozy meets with unions (462 words)

Nicholas Sarkozy, the newly elected French president, has moved rapidly to assure unions in France that he does not want to confront them. He ...

Pensioner group plans to affiliate to Dutch trade union confederation (154 words)

The FNV, the largest union confederation in the Netherlands is in discussion with the pensioners' group ANBO on the possibility of ANBO affiliating to ...

Germany debates minimum wage (250 words)

A meeting later this month may be the last chance for several years to introduce a minimum wage in Germany. The two parties in ...

Features

Offshoring fears won't disappear (1880 words)

In March 2003, Brian Donohue, the Labour MP for Central Ayrshire, predicted that there would not be a call centre left in Scotland in ...

Bidding for the trade union vote (2091 words)

The six candidates in the Labour Party's deputy leadership election have until 24 June to convince the voters. Their views on a whole range ...

Grievance rules aren't working (1469 words)

In the lead-up to the TUC's annual conference for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers this month, the advisory and conciliation service Acas has ...

Unions seek more green involvement (1426 words)

The main topic under discussion for this June's World Environment Day will inevitably be the long-term impact of global warming and what can be ...

Law Matters

Unreasonable conduct led to constructive dismissal (396 words)

A security officer was unfairly constructively dismissed when his employer refused to pay him "injury on duty" benefit because he had raised health and ...

Threat of dismissal meant that employee did not resign (319 words)

The Court of Appeal has held that an employee's contract did not end by mutual consent when his agreement to leave was prompted by ...

Intimidating letters were victimisation (260 words)

A local council was guilty of victimisation, the House of Lords has held, when it sent intimidating letters to employees to deter them from ...

Law Queries

Redundancy payments (178 words)

Q: Our employer has told four employees that their jobs are to be made redundant, but says there are two jobs still available that ...

Refusal to transfer (175 words)

Q: One of our members has found out that his employer is being taken over by a firm he used to work for, and ...

Medical examination (73 words)

Q: Our employer wants one of our members to attend a medical examination because she has a high level of sickness absence. Does she ...

Disability definition (270 words)

Q: I have a number of medical conditions that have an impact on my work, but my employer refuses to make adjustments because it ...

Law Back-up

Tribunal clarifies the meaning of "same job" (941 words)

Mrs Blundell, who taught a reception class at a primary school, went on maternity leave in late 2003. On her return, she was assigned ...

Health & Safety Matters

New research confirms the union safety effect (342 words)

Twelve years after the "union safety effect" was first demonstrated, researchers have confirmed that union health and safety committees and safety reps are effective ...

"Give smokers time off to quit" (233 words)

Leading health promotion bodies have called on employers to offer workers help - including paid time off - to give up smoking. ...

Union campaigns to beat mesothelioma (97 words)

A campaign to help the victims and families of work-related cancer in the South West of England has been set up with union backing. ...

Roving reps work (67 words)

Sweden's system of regional roving safety reps has been effective in bringing about workplace improvements, according to a survey by the LO trade union ...

HSE fails to convict construction killers (60 words)

Prosecutions of companies responsible for construction workers' deaths have fallen from 42% to just 11%, a new report for the construction union USATT has ...

Health & Safety Back-up

New chemical safety rules come into force (874 words)

For decades, there has been little obligation on the manufacturers or suppliers of chemicals to show that their products are safe, despite a growing ...

Equality news

Government is urged to raise ex-offenders' skills (365 words)

Ex-offenders are a "largely unused pool of talent", and three-quarters of employers would consider offering them jobs - but only if the government equipped ...

Ethnic minorities continue to face discrimination at work (265 words)

Ethnic minority communities face a "triple whammy" of joblessness, low pay and racial abuse at work, the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has claimed. ...

Disabled journalists don't get jobs (244 words)

A membership survey of the NUJ journalists' union has found that a third (31%) of its disabled members are long-term unemployed. ...

Workplace Back-up

Skills pledge faces low employer take-up (897 words)

According to the May 2007 edition of Labour Market Outlook, the quarterly survey report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and ...

News from LRD

Worker participation in Europe (102 words)

The Labour Research Department has carried out research for the European Trade Union Institute on worker participation across Europe. The findings can be found ...

Reviews

Live working or die fighting (161 words)

Paul Mason, Harvill Secker, 304 pages, paperback, £12.99 ...

How to live a low-carbon life (156 words)

Chris Goodall, Earthscan, paperback, 319 pages, £14.99 ...

Mesothelioma (156 words)

Forum of Asbestos Victims Support, DVD, £5.60. Contact Tony Whitston on 0161 636 7555. ...

E-views

e-views (400 words)

Two things are happening to software that should be of interest to trade unionists. First, software that used to cost a great deal of ...