News

Voluntary sector expansion is “due to social care transfers” (349 words)

The UK’s voluntary sector workforce continues to expand and now stands at 611,000 employees — a dramatic 26% increase on 10 years ago. But ...

New private equity code falls short (295 words)

The final report of the Walker review into private equity, published last month, has attracted a sharp union response. Its approach to information disclosure, ...

Bitter divisions emerge in the battle to keep the Remploy factories open (339 words)

Unions representing the Remploy workforce are keeping up their campaign to protect all 83 factories from closure following the submission of new proposals from ...

Report slams “unsustainable jobs” (193 words)

While the government’s emphasis on getting people into work “has been instrumental in helping people move into employment from unemployment”, many of the jobs ...

Religious holidays (120 words)

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) will be the first government department to allow employees to swap statutory bank holidays for the ...

Northern Rock staff (116 words)

The Unite general union, which represents staff at Northern Rock, is demanding recognition as a stakeholder in the future of the bank, which has ...

Metronet takeover (116 words)

The Unite general union has described the takeover of the London Underground maintenance contract by Transport for London (TfL) as “great news”. ...

Scottish budget (126 words)

The Scottish TUC (STUC) gave a cautious welcome to the Budget Spending Review put forward by the SNP government in Scotland last month. Grahame ...

Petrol price pushes up inflation (70 words)

Inflation is on the increase again, on the back of higher petrol prices at the pumps. In October, the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rose ...

Unemployment figures inch up (211 words)

Unemployment rose on the preferred official count, according to the latest figures. Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count it was marginally up by ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (187 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings (1)% rise in LRD pay deals (2)Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorSeptember 2006 (r)4.05.64.14.23.33.0October 4.35.14.54.53.23.0November 4.04.74.14.23.13.4December 3.94.04.24.13.33.5January 20074.93.55.35.23.33.6February 4.93.65.45.42.83.6March ...

Union news

Union officers give even more time than before to organising (235 words)

Full-time union officers are spending more time responding to the organising agenda than they were two years ago, even though it was already high ...

Reps will benefit from “beefed up” code (275 words)

The TUC has welcomed the outcome of a government review of workplace reps’ facilities and facility time which will mean that the Acas code ...

Polish website (73 words)

The TUC has launched a website to support the increasing number of Polish workers in the UK (see "e-views" elsewhere in this issue). Run ...

Expelling members (100 words)

The TUC has welcome the government’s “swift action” in proposing new laws giving unions the right to expel members for belonging to a political ...

Facebook unions (79 words)

The forward march of trade union social networking continues apace. First the UK’s largest union, Unite, has launched a Facebook group so members can ...

European news

Negotiations start in France after more than a week of strike action (451 words)

Negotiations on the new pensions arrangements, proposed for parts of the French public sector, were underway as Labour Research went to press. But strikes, ...

German company sets up Europe-wide rep structure to reflect its new status (193 words)

The German-based chemicals company BASF reached an agreement last month on a new structure of employee participation, for when it becomes a European Company ...

EU plans new talks on agency workers (240 words)

This month’s meeting of the EU’s council of ministers will discuss the proposed directive on temporary agency workers which has been blocked since 2002. ...

Features

Politics enters the multiplex (1817 words)

In November, health service staff and their trade unions took to the streets of London to celebrate the NHS and defend it against government ...

Will there be trouble ahead? (1783 words)

As the Christmas party season looms, the press will yet again be full of advice on how staff should behave at the annual, festive ...

Standing united from afar (1460 words)

Unions are increasingly cooperating across borders in a reflection of the greater economic and cultural connections between countries. Many argue that if capital becomes ...

What does the future hold? (1483 words)

According to ukinvest, the government website providing information on UK trade and investment, “manufacturing performance is at an eight-year high, car sales are accelerating ...

Law Matters

Tribunal claim is rejected over nine-second delay (175 words)

In the latest example of an employment tribunal claim submitted too close to the wire, a claimant has missed the deadline by nine seconds. ...

Beneficial changes following a transfer can be enforced (250 words)

A change to an employee’s terms and conditions of employment resulting from a TUPE transfer can be enforced if it is to the employee’s ...

New legislative proposals (164 words)

The government’s draft legislative programme set out in the Queen’s Speech last month includes the repeal of the problematic statutory dispute resolution procedures, and ...

Job changes decide equal pay time limits (269 words)

Two former university employees have had mixed fortunes in their bids to be compensated for their exclusion from their employer’s pension scheme. ...

Law Queries

Redundancy and pregnancy (199 words)

Q: Our employer is consulting over redundancies. One of the affected employees is pregnant. If she is made redundant, does she still get statutory ...

Union consultation (189 words)

Q: I understood that collective bargaining is dealt with under section 178 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA), but ...

Redundancy selection (201 words)

Q: I have been told I am at risk of redundancy following a selection exercise, but my employer refuses to discuss the results. Am ...

Fair pay (98 words)

Q: We have people doing the same jobs in the same workplace but on different rates of pay. There is no sex discrimination as ...

Law Back-up

Ruling backs forced relocation of workers (1003 words)

An employee’s place of work is part of his/her contractual terms, and in general s/he cannot be forced to transfer to a new work ...

Health & Safety Matters

Voluntary approach to safety has been a failure (376 words)

Unions have praised new voluntary guidance on health and safety for directors, while warning that legal duties on directors are urgently needed. ...

Pleural plaques victims lose their right to compensation (191 words)

Unions and safety campaigners have reacted with anger and dismay to a Law Lords ruling that bars thousands of workers with an asbestos-related illness ...

New guides to law on corporate killing (129 words)

A new offence of corporate manslaughter in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and corporate homicide in Scotland, will come into effect on 6 April ...

Mobile phones are linked to cancer (123 words)

Using mobile phones for more than 10 years increases the risk of brain cancer, according to new research, and the international standard meant to ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Unions push for more environmental action (897 words)

Global warming is a colossal environmental challenge requiring urgent action from everyone. The latest evidence from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ...

Equality news

Private sector lags behind on disability equality (482 words)

Public-sector employers are outdoing their counterparts in the private sector when it comes to delivering disability equality, according to new research from the 400-member ...

Implement gender duty properly, says PCS (285 words)

Civil service union PCS has requested a judicial review of the implementation of the new public-sector gender duty by the Department for Transport (DfT). ...

Male workers win equal pay compensation (156 words)

Edinburgh City Council has agreed that about 50 of its male manual workers can receive compensation for previous pay inequalities. ...

Workplace Back-up

Employers must offer more apprenticeships (870 words)

When Lord Sandy Leitch published the final report of his government-commissioned review of skills a year ago this month, he recommended that the number ...

News from LRD

Log on to LRD Payline (114 words)

Many Labour Research readers have access to the LRD Payline database of collective agreements through their union subscription. ...

Reviews

Changing Venezuela by taking power (233 words)

The history and policies of the Chávez government ...

US labor in trouble and transition (178 words)

The failure of reform from above, the promise of revival from below ...

E-views

e-views (388 words)

The decision by the TUC to launch a slick, new website in Polish, www.pracawbrytanii.eu/, represents a huge step forward. ...