News

COSLA in internal dispute (115 words)

As Scottish local government workers voted heavily in favour of an inflation-proofed four year pay deal, the employers' side, represented by Convention of Scottish ...

Strikers step up action (240 words)

The 600 members of UNISON at the Dudley Group of Hospitals who have been fighting private finance initiative (PFI) plans since August 2000, started ...

Unions mixed on minimum wage (286 words)

Last month's announcement that the national minimum wage would rise by 40p an hour received mixed reactions from the union movement. ...

Prison officers to get own pay review body (254 words)

The role of pay review bodies in the public sector pay system is about to be formally extended for the first time in several ...

Foot and mouth crisis hits industrial workers (358 words)

The foot and mouth crisis has hit workers in the whole food production industry, not just farming, according to the unions. Agricultural pay negotiations ...

Vet service "was neglected" (156 words)

The foot and mouth crisis has shown that cuts in scientific support to agriculture are a "false economy", says the IPMS union which represents ...

Pru to end doorstep sales (94 words)

Insurance giant the Prudential has signalled the end of its door-step sales operation, slashing 2,335 jobs by the end of this year. The announcement ...

London bus charter (44 words)

The T&G transport union presented London mayor Ken Livingstone with a charter for minimum standards across the capital's bus operating companies last month. ...

NATS sell-off delayed (46 words)

The government has said it will have to delay its planned privatisation of the National Air Traffic Control Service until after the general election, ...

Passport vote (40 words)

Staff at the Passport Agency are balloting on a revised pay offer of 6% over nine months without strings after overwhelmingly rejecting an earlier ...

Unemployment below one million (207 words)

The government claimed the UK is on the road to full employment after the number of people claiming benefit in February dipped below one ...

Inflation stays steady (62 words)

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics for February show the headline rate of inflation remaining at 2.7%, unchanged since January. ...

Features

Key Economic Indicators (323 words)

FULL-TIME AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS ...

Relief at last for pensioners (1782 words)

The government has learned something from its mistake of sticking rigidly to the uprating formula for benefits. It has not repeated last year's episode ...

Counting black union members (1428 words)

The ninth TUC Black Workers Conference will be held later this month, with one fundamental question still unanswered. What proportion of Britain's union members ...

Stopping the carnage on our building sites (2079 words)

Building workers are six times more likely than other workers to die at work, and the fatality figures are rising. Bogus self employment and ...

Labour will review recognition ballots (357 words)

The Labour government will review the balloting provisions of the union recognition legislation if re-elected for a second term, according to employment minister Alan ...

Unions are "necessary" says poll (143 words)

Unions are seen as very important by the general population if a recent local survey of 172 shoppers by the T&G general union is ...

Membership rise (100 words)

An improved bargaining climate and effective workplace organisation helped increase the membership of civil service union IPMS to 74,785 by the end of 2000. ...

Investor in people (63 words)

The AEEU engineering and electrical union has been awarded Investors in People (IiP) accreditation. IiP is a national quality standard of good practice by ...

TUC education service (49 words)

The TUC education service was relaunched last month with new opportunities to learn online at work or at home. ...

Scotland puts unions on the map (1363 words)

Devolution has hugely increased the political influence of trade unions in Scotland. But with manufacturing in crisis, there is much to do. ...

April events (157 words)

* Monday 23: Asbestos Still Kills. Joint TUC/Hazards Campaign conference, London. Details: London Hazards Centre, 0207 7794 5999, or [email protected] ...

May events (74 words)

* Saturday 12: Unions and the Internet. Conference organised by the TUC and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. ...

Crisis in agency worker talks (229 words)

Negotiations at European level on new rules for temporary agency workers looked close to collapse as Labour Research went to press. ...

Works council reforms to benefit unions (385 words)

German works-council-law reforms that would bring a range of benefits to unions are to be debated in the German parliament next month. Employers have ...

Spain cuts dismissal protection (207 words)

The centre-right Spanish government led by Jose Maria Aznar has made it cheaper for employers to dismiss permanent workers. ...

Domestic violence (100 words)

The GMB general union has launched a training manual and information pack on domestic violence. The pack was developed in the GMB's Birmingham and ...

Equal pay (135 words)

The Equal Pay Task Force has published a report, Just pay, calling for more action to close the gender pay gap. ...

"Stand firm on hours cuts", TUC urges (336 words)

The TUC has urged the government to stand firm in the face of employer opposition to giving parents a legal right to change their ...

Government widens scope of disability law (219 words)

The government has proposed changes to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) that include a re-definition of the meaning of disability and an end to ...

Law Matters

Discriminatory retirement policies (82 words)

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has allowed a claim over discriminatory retirement ages to be heard at an employment tribunal even though the women ...

References (56 words)

Employers are free to seek out additional references beyond those supplied by the employee unless the employment contract expressly states that the only referees ...

Arbitration scheme criticised (66 words)

The Industrial Society has expressed concern about the government's proposals for alternative dispute resolution (ADR), a form of binding arbitration that would be an ...

RJB MINING FORCED TO RECOGNISE THE NUM (250 words)

Mining company RJB Mining has been forced to recognise the NUM mineworkers' union for collective bargaining after a significant declaration by the Central Arbitration ...

TEMPORARY WORKERS HAVE RIGHT TO HOLIDAYS, SAYS ECJ ADVISER (235 words)

The denial of annual leave to temporary workers on contracts of less than 13 weeks by the UK working time laws is in breach ...

Law Queries

Law Queries (757 words)

* One of my members, a shift worker, has been called to a disciplinary hearing. ...

Law Back-up

Selecting the right bargaining unit (805 words)

Winning a claim for statutory recognition depends on selecting the bargaining unit most likely to deliver a favourable result. Too wide and it could ...

Health & Safety Matters

Partnerships improve safety at work (274 words)

Delegates at a joint conference held by the TUC and CBI in February heard how safety partnerships could have an impact on health and ...

Young workers at greater risk of RSI (227 words)

The dangers of repetitive strain injuries (RSI) for young workers were highlighted as part of the UK's contribution to International RSI Awareness Day on ...

Asbestos theme for Workers' Memorial Day (230 words)

Asbestos has been chosen as the theme for this year's Workers' Memorial Day on April 28. Each year asbestos kills over 4,000 people in ...

Health & Safety Back-up

The hazards of call-centre work (803 words)

Bullying, impossible targets, lack of breaks, and hostility to unions were some of the many complaints from call-centre workers who rang a TUC hotline ...

Workplace Back-up

Making work possible for lone parents (708 words)

Removing barriers to employment for working parents has been a priority for the government. The success of schemes like the New Deal for Lone ...

News from LRD

Finding out about your pension (128 words)

LRD's latest booklet is a complete guide to pensions. It includes information on the state scheme as well as on occupational pensions and on ...

Workplace learning (83 words)

New developments in workplace learning and training opportunities, and how they affect unions, are the main topic in the latest issue of LRD's negotiators' ...