News

Tube cleaners protest over wait for London living wage (379 words)

Conservative London mayor Boris Johnson has agreed to continue the London Living Wage policy developed under the previous mayor, Ken Livingstone. The move has ...

Minimum income needs to go up (309 words)

A single person in Britain today needs to earn at least £13,400 a year before tax to afford a basic but decent standard of ...

Structural problems (124 words)

The UK construction industry has been hit hard by the credit crunch (see page 9) but also has more deep seated structural problems, according ...

Argos pay ballot (123 words)

Following “intensive negotiations” distribution workers for retail chain Argos have been made a revised pay offer by management. Staff were due to be balloted ...

Public sector is set for further action if no deal is reached (294 words)

Following pay strikes by local government workers and civil servants last month, there were warnings of further action if the government and employers maintain ...

BT agency staff protest over pay (278 words)

BT, already hit by industrial action by its managerial and professional staff (Labour Research, July 2008, page 5), has now been attacked by the ...

Access to skills (97 words)

The government has reached a partnership agreement with the TUC, employer body the CBI, and other organisations to promote access to skills, trade unions ...

Positive on pensions (127 words)

Pension schemes got the thumbs up from the TUC and CBI last month, but for different reasons: the TUC cheered on the growing involvement ...

Food price rise is at a 26-year high (251 words)

Food prices have been rising at their fastest rate for some 26 years and have pushed inflation higher. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI), ...

Jobless figures keep going up (66 words)

Unemployment rose on both official counts. Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count it rose by 12,000 to 1.62 million in the three months ...

Key economic indicators

Union news

CWU blames weak legislation for losing unfair practice claim (272 words)

Union recognition legislation is not protecting unions from unfair practices by anti-union employers, according to the CWU communication workers’ union. It made the comments ...

NUJ finally wins rightful bid for recognition at Racing Post (323 words)

The NUJ journalists’ union has finally signed a recognition deal with the Racing Post, after being blocked for five years. ...

Unite signs deal with US steelworkers’ union (280 words)

The UK’s largest union, 1.9 million-member Unite, has now formally signed an agreement with the United Steelworkers, the largest private sector union in the ...

NUT and MU win top union award (177 words)

Union journals The Teacher and Musician have won joint top spot in the annual Union Communications Awards organised by the TUC. ...

European news

Unions hope the revised Works Council directive is now on track to becoming law (532 words)

Now that the European Commission has published its long-awaited proposals for a revised European Works Council directive, unions are hopeful that legislation could be ...

Poland plans to withdraw the union right to choose members of employee works councils (371 words)

Poland’s highest court has accepted the arguments presented by the employers’ association KPP and ruled that legislation which gives priority to unions rather than ...

Features

Which jobs are under threat? (2010 words)

All eyes will be on the jobs statistics over the next couple of months to see if the job-munching tendrils of the credit crunch ...

Why bread alone is not enough (1630 words)

“Adult learning makes a big contribution to our health and well-being as a society,” declares the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) in ...

Why childcare must be shared (1631 words)

Working parents have seen massive improvements since Labour came to power in 1997. A new raft of measures have improved statutory maternity pay and ...

Welcome to Union Island (1609 words)

Virtual worlds are no longer the domain of IT geeks but are actually attracting all sorts of people along with businesses, universities, religious groups ...

Law Matters

GMB rep wins his job back after victimisation claim (358 words)

A victimised union rep has succeeded in his claim for interim relief at Reading Employment Tribunal. ...

UK parents and carers of the disabled benefit from ruling (289 words)

Disability laws must protect those who are treated less favourably because of their association with a disabled person as well as those who themselves ...

Secondment can mean loss of status in old job (234 words)

An employee who had chosen to be seconded on an “open ended” basis no longer worked for the local authority she had been seconded ...

Law Queries

Training (222 words)

Q: We have a new member who has a contract of employment for 10 hours a week. The contract states that compulsory training is ...

Temporary contracts (109 words)

Q: We have a member who has been on successive temporary contracts for two years. Does he get any employment protection if it is ...

Sickness absence (130 words)

Q: One of our members went on sick leave directly from maternity leave, suffering from post-natal depression.She returned to work but was off sick ...

TUPE (202 words)

Q: The department that I work for is going to be contracted out to another company and I have been told that TUPE applies. ...

Law Back-up

Appeal court muddies the water in pay case (925 words)

The Court of Appeal has found that the GMB general union indirectly discriminated against some of its women members by negotiating a pay deal ...

Health & Safety Matters

Unions show red card to bullying of staff at work (291 words)

Two unions have stepped up their campaigns against bullying in the workplace. ...

Insurers may get harder to trace (257 words)

Workers who develop diseases long after exposure could miss out on compensation as a result of government plans, prompting an angry response from unions. ...

Scotland acts on asbestos payouts (83 words)

A bill to compensate workers affected by past exposure to asbestos has been published by the Scottish government. ...

Long hours can cause depression (162 words)

Low paid manual workers doing overtime are at increased risk of anxiety and depression, according to new research. ...

Jail may be an option for safety offences (162 words)

A bill to impose tougher fines on employers for safety offences has been sent to the House of Lords and may become law later ...

Health & Safety Back-up

A breath of fresh air sweeps through work (770 words)

Last month was the first anniversary of the introduction of smoking restrictions in workplaces and public places in England, and unions and government agree ...

Equality news

Child poverty is strongly linked to women’s low pay (402 words)

The key to ending child poverty is tackling women’s low pay, says a TUC report. ...

Mental health is focus for union guidance (228 words)

People with mental health problems “experience some of the most severe disability discrimination in the workplace” according to new TUC guidance for union reps. ...

Social firms are favoured by women and BME communities (243 words)

Women and those from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities are more likely than men or those from white communities to be “social entrepreneurs”, ...

Workplace Back-up

Pay up is the message in union’s tips charter (851 words)

A Fair Tips campaign run by the Unite general union has exposed how many employers in the hospitality industry, some of them well-known, have ...

Reviews

Why is there no Labor party in the United States? (224 words)

Robin Archer, Princeton University Press, hardback, 348 pages, £19.95 ...

The Flying Pickets (243 words)

Dave Ayre, Reuben Barker, Jim French, Jimmy Graham and Dave Harker, The Des Warren Trust Fund, paperback, 393 pages, £12.99 ...

E-views

e-views (379 words)

Unions are increasingly looking for ways to get beyond the traditional email-based online protest campaign. ...