News

Teachers slam inspection regime (317 words)

Teaching unions have attacked proposed reforms to the school inspection system. Proposals put out for a three-month consultation last month by the Ofsted schools ...

Dismissal database described as “a lynch mob register” (316 words)

An online database listing details of retail employees who have been sacked for dishonesty — regardless of whether or not they have been convicted ...

Vulnerable workers’ rights need to be enforced (218 words)

A new “Fair Employment Commission”, which could co-ordinate enforcement agencies’ work, is needed to help halt the exploitative treatment meted out to hundreds of ...

Campaign for agency workers finally achieves breakthrough (384 words)

The landmark deal to place temporary and agency workers on an equal footing with their permanent colleagues represents “a big step forward”, say UK ...

Museum workers reject pay offer (228 words)

Hundreds of members of the PCS civil service union working for the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI) were being balloted on strike ...

Hospital sterilisation goes private (145 words)

The UNISON public services union says that the drive to outsource hospital sterilisation services must come to an end and be brought back under ...

Alcohol duties push up inflation (70 words)

Inflation was driven up by higher fuel and food costs. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI), it rose to 4.2% in April from 3.8% ...

Credit crunch fallout starts to show (223 words)

In contrast to the downward trend of previous months, unemployment has gone up. ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (185 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings (1)% rise in LRD pay deals (2)Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorMar 2007 (r)3.53.43.13.83.23.7April 3.43.23.63.23.23.5May 3.64.43.53.83.03.5June3.23.93.23.23.13.5July 3.84.33.84.22.54.0August 4.22.84.64.43.23.9September 4.22.24.54.43.23.5October ...

Union news

Unite unveils its priorities for the future of the union (233 words)

The Unite general union has agreed rules for the new union, created by the merger of the T&G and Amicus general unions last November. ...

TSSA executive broke union rules by supporting Brown (171 words)

Leaders of the TSSA rail staffs union admit breaching union rules by supporting Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership last year, but insist they ...

Labour links (50 words)

Delegates at the annual conferences of broadcasting union BECTU and construction union UCATT voted down proposals to break their unions’ links with the Labour ...

Welsh resignation (73 words)

The head of the Wales TUC, Felicity Williams, has resigned after four years in the job for reasons which have not been made public. ...

Union TV (50 words)

A new weekly TV programme for and about trade unions began transmitting last month as a result of a link-up between the Unite general ...

European news

More French workers have union representation but few join up (428 words)

New figures show that more and more employees in France have union representation at work, despite levels of union density which are the lowest ...

Italian unions call for a better negotiating framework with fairer inflation forecasts (380 words)

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Features

Bringing the community together (1833 words)

Remember trades councils? Did you think they were dead? Well think again, because these forums of trades unionists working in local communities are seeing ...

Flying into the unknown (1553 words)

In certain parts of the world, to be openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, or to be suspected of being an LGBT person, remains ...

Giving value to women’s work (1601 words)

Forty years ago this month a group of women responsible for sewing seat covers at Ford UK brought the company’s car production to a ...

Defending our welfare provision (1629 words)

The global “business” of securing work for unemployed people is worth billions of pounds and the UK is on track to becoming one of ...

Law Matters

Supervisor trips up over pay comparators in claim (262 words)

An employee has fallen foul of the statutory grievance procedures after her equal pay claim was barred because she had not named the same ...

Polish workers fail to get appeal court's backing (209 words)

The Court of Appeal has overturned a ruling that a group of Polish workers recruited by an employment agency were “employees”. ...

Parents get better flexi deal (144 words)

The government plans to extend the right to request flexible working to parents of children under 16 — the current age limit is for ...

No-strike law is back (147 words)

The government has introduced new legislation banning prison officers in England and Wales from taking industrial action. ...

New code of practice is issued (97 words)

Acas has issued a new Code of practice on disciplinary and grievance for consultation. ...

Law Queries

Redundancy pay (307 words)

Q: An employer has relocated to premises 12 miles away. One member cannot relocate because he does not drive and there is no public ...

Conduct outside work (143 words)

Q: What right does the employer have to discipline workers for conduct outside of work? ...

Holiday pay (232 words)

Q: Does an employer have to include overtime in holiday pay? Although overtime is not part of our contracts, we are rostered to work ...

Law Back-up

Agreeing leave for a sudden family crisis (940 words)

Parents and carers are entitled to unpaid time off work to deal with family emergencies, such as a child being injured at school. In ...

Health & Safety Matters

Safety reps survey (72 words)

Fill in the 2008 TUC safety representatives survey! That was the message as the biennial survey went out last month. ...

Profit ‘not safety’ is the priority for employers (303 words)

Many bosses put making money, meeting deadlines and pleasing customers ahead of worker safety, new research for professional body the Institution of Occupational Safety ...

TUC guide targets safety reps (274 words)

Newly trained safety reps will be pushing employers for better occupational health assistance to deal with the millions of workers who become ill every ...

Union’s campaign to make bookies safer (69 words)

Bookies should tackle the rising level of violence and abuse in their betting shops, Community union has argued as it launched a new poster ...

Semiconductors pose cancer risk (81 words)

Workers in the semiconductor industry face a higher risk of getting cancer because of their work, according to the Unite union. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Display your talents on a screen safely (905 words)

Millions of workers are potentially at risk by using display screen equipment as part of their job, unless their employer follows the law and ...

Equality news

Employees fear flexible working may harm career (302 words)

Flexible working has a positive impact on employee performance and helps reduce stress, yet many workers are not formally requesting it as they fear ...

More women break council glass ceiling (247 words)

More women in local government are becoming top earners, according to the GMB general union. ...

Disabled firefighter support network is set to go national (309 words)

A West Country-based group supporting disabled firefighters is set to go national thanks to a £10,000 government grant. ...

Workplace Back-up

Overcoming the stigma of a hidden disability (859 words)

Mental health problems affect hundreds of thousands of people at some point in their lives, often as a result of situations such as relationship ...

Reviews

Tolley’s Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide (226 words)

A guide to compliance ...

The Palestinians (264 words)

From peasants to revolutionaries ...

E-views

e-views (374 words)

One of Canada’s largest unions, the 340,000 strong National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), is campaigning to defend net neutrality. ...