News

Journalists fight off derecognition (95 words)

Strike action by members of the NUJ journalists' union won a significant victory at Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers (North) - part of the Guardian ...

Town hall unions set to ballot for action on pay (329 words)

Around a million local government workers are set to be balloted for industrial action this month after their 6% pay claim was met by ...

TV companies slash over 2,000 jobs (400 words)

Telewest, the UK's second largest cable TV operator, has said it plans to cut 1,500 jobs in an effort to save £40 to £50 ...

Firefighters aim for £30,000 (338 words)

At the end of last month the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) launched a campaign for an annual salary of £30,000 for qualified firefighters and ...

Vulnerable workers less aware of rights (186 words)

A recent survey of around 1,000 people of working age found many unaware of key employment rights with the most vulnerable likely to be ...

BT targets pay gap (245 words)

British Telecom has agreed to put an extra half a million pounds into this year's pay deal for managerial and professional staff, as a ...

RPI rises for second month (46 words)

Inflation edged up for a second month in succession to 1.5% in April from 1.3% in March. ...

London jobless figure plummets (194 words)

Unemployment fell by 19,000 to 1.54 million - an unemployment rate of 5.1% of the workforce - in the three months to March compared ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (313 words)

Full-time average weekly earnings ...

Union news

Union recruitment gets sophisticated (288 words)

Unions are increasingly employing specialist organisers to work on recruitment and organising activity, and there is some evidence that this is boosting recruitment. ...

Kwik recognition (130 words)

The Transport and General Workers' Union has won union recognition at Kwik-Fit, the high street car exhaust, tyres and brakes company. ...

Labour funding (114 words)

Sixteen unions gave a total of £806,698 in donations and affiliation fees to the Labour Party centrally in the first quarter of this year. ...

Boxers' union (64 words)

The GMB general union has established a "union for boxers" under its sports section, which already houses the Rugby League Players' Association. ...

UNISON support (22 words)

Dave Prentis, general secretary of public services union UNISON, has called for unions to retain links with the Labour Party. ...

T&G to elect new number two (62 words)

A new deputy general secretary at Britain's third largest union - the T&G general union - will be elected this month. There are two ...

European news

Harassment directive approved (173 words)

The Council of Ministers and European Parliament have finally agreed the text of a new directive on the equal treatment of women and men, ...

Strikes lead to German settlement (238 words)

German metalworkers reached a pay deal well above inflation last month, but only after the first full-scale strike in the industry since 1995. ...

Spain faces strike over Labour plans (396 words)

Spanish unions are planning a general strike later this month over government plans to make changes in the rules governing unemployment benefit and dismissal. ...

Features

Who influences whom (1484 words)

Accusations of sleaze have now forced Labour into establishing a procedure to vet political donations. But the issue is also putting state funding of ...

Costing life in the capital (1234 words)

The Greater London Authority inquiry into London weighting payments will have to decide whether all staff should be compensated for higher costs in the ...

No-one to look after the kids (2036 words)

There is still a huge shortfall in the provision of childcare needed by working parents. Unions and campaigners want the government to put more ...

Unions can be trusted (1656 words)

Employers' concern about informing and consulting with staff reps over business issues is unfounded, say unions. ...

Law queries (187 words)

What rights do temporary workers have to sick pay and holidays? Does it depend on how long they have worked for the employer? Can ...

Law queries (110 words)

We have just signed a recognition deal with our employers. This was brokered by the advisory and conciliation service ACAS. Does this mean that ...

Law queries (188 words)

A couple of months ago our employer announced redundancies among the sheet metal workers who are employed in different sections of the workplace. Three ...

Law queries (214 words)

Two of our members have just received a letter from their manager warning them for speaking to one another in Gujarati. The letter says ...

Building union wins key asbestos case (364 words)

Three people affected by asbestos cancer have won a groundbreaking case for compensation in the House of Lords. ...

HSE report indicates points failure at Potters Bar (165 words)

The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) interim report on its investigation into the Potters Bar train derailment indicates that faulty points caused the disaster. ...

Top firms fail on safety reporting (128 words)

Four out of 10 top British companies are still failing to report on their health and safety performance, a year after the Health and ...

"Mend it like Beckham" (131 words)

The TUC wants everyone who is injured at work to receive the same sort of rehabilitation as footballer David Beckham following the highly publicised ...

Working out the costs of accidents at work (862 words)

Health and safety failures currently cost British employers up to £6.5 billion every year. The Health and Safety Commission has launched an interactive website ...

Some employers prove flexible for football (736 words)

Many football fans will be wondering how they can get time off work this month to watch key World Cup matches live. Some employers, ...

Law Matters

Unions wait for details of two-tier workforce code (342 words)

Local government unions have given a mixed reception to government proposals to improve the rights of workers employed by private contractors. ...

Government faces legal challenge (139 words)

The European Commission is prepared to take action against the UK government over its failure to implement core aspects of the working time directive. ...

Case exposes limits of Transfer regulations (289 words)

A recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) makes it clear that workers need to be careful about agreeing to new contractual terms. ...

Law Back-up

Dangers lie in detail of employment bill (883 words)

The government's Employment Bill 2001 has been described by leading academic and member of the House of Lords Bill McCarthy as "not so much ...

Equality news

Survey highlights discrimination at work (303 words)

A survey for the BBC has found that 34% of black respondents and 29% of Asians believe they have faced race discrimination at work. ...

Women with two jobs (146 words)

The number of women doing a second job has more than doubled since 1984, rising to 670,000 in autumn 2001, according to figures from ...

Childcare back-up on offer (91 words)

Help for working parents when childcare arrangements break down is being promoted by childcare charity Daycare Trust. ...

Government consults on single equality body (240 words)

The government favours the introduction of a single equality body to replace the existing commissions covering gender, race and disability, according to Cabinet Office ...

Reviews

Works councils for the UK? (179 words)

Assessing the impact of the EU employee consultation directive ...

Who owns Britain (268 words)

Kevin Cahill, Canongate Books, 440 pages, hardback, £25.00. The book can be purchased for £18.75 on the Canongate website at www.canongate.net ...

The rise of New Labour (187 words)

Robin Ramsay, Pocket Essentials, 96 pages, paperback, £3.99 ...

Reviving democracy (180 words)

Citizens at the heart of governance ...