News

GMB wins appeal ruling in Middlesbrough equal pay case (429 words)

The GMB general union, one of the three unions representing local government services workers in England and Wales, says it has been vindicated at ...

Offshore workers secure paid time off (256 words)

Efforts to ensure offshore workers benefit from their right to paid holiday under amendments made to the Working Time Regulations in 2003 are about ...

Rail unions call for major policy rethink as strike action looms (336 words)

Maintenance workers from the collapsed London Underground maintenance company Metronet are to mount a series of strikes after unions failed to reach agreement with ...

Remploy crusade begins its journey (223 words)

The campaign to stop the closure of 43 of the 83 Remploy factories and redundancies of up to 5,000 disabled workers has not abated ...

Lecturers say no (80 words)

A long-running dispute in Northern Ireland’s further education sector looked set to escalate last month following the rejection of a “derisory” pay offer by ...

Pension action (73 words)

Another group of workers, this time at the AugustaWestland helicopter factory in Yeovil, has taken industrial action to defend their pension entitlements. ...

Sainsbury’s bid (76 words)

Unite has appealed to the Sainsbury’s board to block a possible takeover by Delta Two, a Qatari government-backed fund. Brian Revell, national organiser for ...

Proper toilets (63 words)

London bus workers are threatening to hold a strike ballot if Transport for London and London’s local authorities don’t speed up action to provide ...

NHS pay (81 words)

Improvements in the details of the pay package on offer to NHS staff in England are being considered by the unions. The staging of ...

Redwood warning (88 words)

The TUC has issued a warning about proposals put forward by MP John Redwood and the Conservative Party’s Economic Competitiveness Review. ...

Price drop pushes down inflation (73 words)

Cheaper food and furniture in the summer sales produced a sharp cut in inflation. In July, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rose by 3.8% ...

Drop in unemployment continues (211 words)

Unemployment has fallen on both official counts. Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count it was down by 45,000 to 1.65 million in the ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (190 words)

Annual riseAverage rise in LRD pay deals*Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorJune 2006 (r)4.9%5.9%4.8%5.0%3.6%3.0%July 3.9%4.8%3.8%3.8%4.1%3.1%August 3.8%5.3%3.7%3.9%3.2%3.0%September 4.1%5.4%4.2%4.3%3.4%3.0%October 4.2%5.1%4.4%4.4%3.3%3.0%November 4.0%4.7%4.1%4.1%3.1%3.4%December 3.9%3.9%4.2%4.1%3.3%3.5%January 20074.6%3.5%5.0%5.0%3.3%3.5%February 5.2%3.5%5.7%5.7%2.8%3.5%March3.6%3.5%3.4%3.7%3.1%3.5%April (r)3.4%3.1%3.6%3.4%3.3%3.7%May (r)3.5%4.4%3.4%3.7%2.9%3.8%June (p)3.1%3.9%3.0%3.0%3.0%3.8%Headline rate ...

Union news

TUC membership shows a small increase thanks to largest unions (238 words)

Membership of TUC-affiliated unions just managed to continue a gentle upward trend for the third year in a row in 2006. Total membership at ...

Vodafone staff finally win recognition battle (264 words)

Some 450 staff at communications giant Vodafone have won the first ever UK-based union recognition deal with the company after a tough battle and ...

Union busters (69 words)

The CWU communication workers' union has expressed outrage that communications giant Cable & Wireless, which is fighting a statutory recognition bid from the union, ...

Rail co-operation (58 words)

Train drivers union ASLEF and general union Unite have signed a memorandum of understanding about working together for agreed objectives in the rail industry. ...

Re-recognition (76 words)

Staff at the Alliance & Leicester have regained union recognition at the bank after switching to the larger CWU union. The 2,500 members of ...

European news

Sarkozy imposes new restrictions on public transport workers’ right to strike (480 words)

Last month the French National Assembly voted through a new law that will impose new duties on workers taking and organising strike action on ...

German rail union calls strike despite settlement (433 words)

Germany faced the threat of further rail strikes as Labour Research went to press, with mediators working on a possible settlement between the union ...

Features

Are things looking up for Acas? (1758 words)

The Acas advisory, conciliation and arbitration service has been on something of a rollercoaster in recent years. It has undergone significant growth followed by ...

Responding to a new workforce (1720 words)

Has positive action for women trade unionists had its day? That is probably putting it a bit too strongly, but there are indications that ...

A Europe of contrasts (2111 words)

There is a tendency at TUC Congresses for the coffee bars to fill up when foreign visitors take to the rostrum. But perhaps, when ...

Who are the new union recruits? (1554 words)

The trade union movement “is in a strong position” and continued future strength may well be tied to the growth of its professional and ...

Law Matters

First employer is fined for breach of duty to consult (367 words)

The Amicus section of general union Unite has been awarded £55,000 as compensation for an employer’s breach of its duties relating to the information ...

Cadbury fails to sweet-talk arbiter in recognition dispute (317 words)

The Unite union has won the right to collective bargaining at Cadbury Trevor Bassett after defeating a novel argument deployed by the confectionery firm. ...

Gangmaster is stripped of its licence (246 words)

A gangmaster company in Cornwall has lost its licence over a failure to pay its workers for more than a month. ...

Law Queries

Holiday pay (306 words)

Q: When I left my last job I had 3 1/2 days’ untaken holiday, but my employer only paid me for three days, saying ...

Maternity pay (187 words)

Q: Our employer pays contractual maternity pay at full pay for 26 weeks. Now that statutory maternity pay is paid for 39 weeks, is ...

Incapacity dismissal (236 words)

Q: One of our members has been dismissed on grounds of incapability after being on long-term sick leave, but his absence was caused by ...

Law Back-up

New ruling will help in unfair dismissal cases (986 words)

As a matter of public policy, an employee cannot bring a claim for unfair dismissal if his/her underlying contract of employment is illegal. And ...

Health & Safety Matters

Campaigners seek changes as workplace deaths soar (217 words)

With deaths at work currently at a five-year high, unions have warned that the situation will not improve unless the Health and Safety Executive ...

Cancers and reps’ rights top Hazards conference agenda (299 words)

More than 500 delegates from 28 national unions joined safety campaigners in July for the 18th national Hazards conference, aiming to set the campaigning ...

Nurses and cleaners face asthma danger (90 words)

Nurses are more than twice as likely as people in other jobs to develop asthma, and cleaners more than one-and-a-half times as likely, a ...

Stressed workers become depressed (165 words)

Working in a high-pressure job doubles the risk of depression and anxiety for young people, according to research by academics from King’s College London. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Gangmaster licensing must be extended now (897 words)

The latest statistics covering fatalities in the construction industry make grim reading. Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in July showed ...

Equality news

Pay equality is decades away (327 words)

An all-party committee of MPs says it may take 78 years to close the gender pay gap, and has urged the government to press ...

Vulnerable claimants lose out in reform of benefits (376 words)

Disabled people and other “disadvantaged and vulnerable” claimants have lost out in the reorganisation of Jobcentre Plus, the government agency providing welfare benefits to ...

Diversity shortfall (68 words)

Employers are still failing to recruit diverse workforces despite decades of equality legislation and a supposed culture of diversity at work. ...

Equalities Office (107 words)

Prime minister Gordon Brown is setting up a Government Equalities Office (GEO) “to strengthen the government’s ability to deliver across the entire equalities agenda”. ...

Tell your story (81 words)

The TUC and the TUC Library at London Metropolitan University have created a website documenting the struggle for equal pay. It will contain digitised ...

Workplace Back-up

Counting the cost of civil service cutbacks (786 words)

It’s now three years since Sir Peter Gershon published his review of public sector efficiency, recommending a range of reforms to reduce bureaucracy and ...

Reviews

Labour and the environment: a natural synergy (179 words)

John Smith (ed), United Nations Environment Programme, 138 pages, paperback. Download from www.unep.org/PDF/UNEP-Labour_and_TheEnvironment.pdf ...

Occupational cancer: the Cinderella disease (192 words)

Marie-Anne Mengeot, ETUI-REHS, 52 pages, paperback, 10 euros. Available from http://hesa.etui-rehs.org/uk ...

E-views

e-views (438 words)

"Tigmoo" is one of those expressions that newcomers to the British labour movement will be unfamiliar with. It's an acronym for "this great movement ...