News

Improving industrial relations for 2012 (289 words)

Fair employment standards, training, equality and health and safety are part of the delivery plan for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games in London, ...

Bus workers intensify pay action as airport staff settle dispute (388 words)

As workers from London’s bus companies stepped up their campaign for better pay and conditions across the capital last month, airport workers at Gatwick, ...

Civil servants call for new pay structure (233 words)

Morale in the civil service is being undermined by a lack of pay progression which determines how much individuals can earn once they settle ...

Government continues to face union anger over pay (256 words)

Union anger over the government’s 2% public sector pay limit seems certain to be in evidence at this year’s Labour Party conference and is ...

Successful services hit by privatisation (288 words)

Ofsted, the school and childrens’ service inspection body, and Tyne and Wear Metro are the two latest public services to face the threat of ...

Harman announces equality panel (233 words)

Harriet Harman, minister for equalities, announced a new initiative to probe deeper into the causes of inequality at last month’s TUC Congress. ...

Economy lurches towards recession (221 words)

Interest rates were held at 5% for the fifth consecutive month, following the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting in early September. ...

House price figures keep on falling (63 words)

UK house prices fell by 10.9% in August compared to the previous year, according to mortgage lender the Halifax. The cost of an average ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (188 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings (1)% rise in LRD pay deals (2)Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorJune 2007 (r)3.33.93.43.33.23.5July 3.84.33.84.22.54.0August 4.22.84.64.43.23.7September 4.22.24.54.43.23.5October 3.72.54.03.83.23.2November 4.23.54.24.33.43.5December3.74.23.63.83.33.6January ...

Union news

Unions wary of Tory envoy pledging support for workers (291 words)

The Conservatives have no plans for anti-union legislation if elected, according to the party’s envoy to the unions. But unions themselves are sceptical of ...

Trades Councils win (62 words)

Delegates rejected the advice of the platform and voted decisively for trades union councils to be given the right to submit a motion to ...

Nautilus pay claim (91 words)

Nautilus UK, the British merchant navy officers union and Nautilus NL, its Dutch counterpart, will this month submit their first joint pay claim — ...

Union initiatives target migrant workers (339 words)

Unions are developing new structures to support migrant workers in the UK, including those facing deportation because of their legal status. But they fear ...

European news

Italian unions negotiate over job prospects of Alitalia staff (400 words)

An agreement with Italian unions on restructuring the airline Alitalia seemed close as Labour Research went to press. After days of negotiation, a framework ...

Metal workers demand pay rise to reflect Germany’s strong growth (278 words)

IG Metall, Germany’s largest union with 2.3 million members, looks certain to call for a pay increase of around 8% for workers in the ...

EU plans to extend maternity leave (235 words)

Vladimír Špidla, the EU social affairs commissioner, is putting forward a proposal to extend the minimum level of maternity leave from the current 14 ...

Features

Fighting for acceptable work hours (1859 words)

Our typical negotiated working week is among the shortest in Europe but our working hours are among the longest, despite the implementation 10 years ...

Assessing the enforcers (1476 words)

Last month, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published Sex and power, exposing the snail’s pace progress in equality for women across a ...

Why the future needs organising (1855 words)

In 1998 trade union membership in Britain fell to its lowest point in half a century — 1979 marked the beginning of two decades ...

Ending the UK’s “brain waste” (1645 words)

In August, Home Office figures showed that work-related migration to the UK from the eight central and Eastern European countries (the so-called A8 or ...

Law Matters

A person cannot work for two employers under TUPE (349 words)

An Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has overturned a decision on whether employees working for a single company can subsequently be contracted to work for ...

Wider discrimination rights bring the chance of clashes (289 words)

In a judgment described as “catastrophic” by the National Secular Society, a London registrar has had her tribunal claim for religious discrimination upheld. ...

Caution is urged on transfer of employee data (216 words)

A good practice note on Disclosure of employee information under TUPE has been issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office, the independent public body set ...

Law Queries

Period of notice (124 words)

Q: How much notice do employees have to give if they want to resign? ...

Time limits on warnings (286 words)

Q: I am looking for examples of cases where the “final warning without limit of time” was ruled out. At present, I’m involved with ...

Age discrimination (286 words)

Q: A number of departments in the company have been reorganised, and staff with long service, for example 30 years, have not been offered ...

Law Back-up

Law only sees people as one-dimensional (840 words)

On the second day in his new job, Ahmed was praying in a quiet corridor at his workplace. One of his colleagues at the ...

Health & Safety Matters

Unions want action from Straw on pleural plaques (288 words)

Unions are targeting justice secretary Jack Straw and environment secretary Hilary Benn in the campaign to get justice for workers suffering from the asbestos-related ...

TUC calls for anti-bullying policy (255 words)

One in seven workers in the UK suffers bullying at work, according to a new survey for the TUC. ...

Jail threat for drivers (117 words)

Employers should be looking at their driving safety policies in the light of new laws, warns a top barrister. ...

TUC points to risks of poor foootwear (133 words)

Inadequate footwear at work carries risks and can cause a wide range of problems, according to the TUC. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Campaign spotlight is on risk assessments (820 words)

Identifying hazards and workers at risk and then taking action to solve any problems is an important part of moving towards a safer, healthier ...

Equality news

Strategy aims to help BME women start a social firm (341 words)

A government initiative aims to help black and minority ethnic (BME) women start up their own social enterprises — businesses whose main objectives are ...

Young people are not given work back-up (230 words)

Neither employers nor schools are properly preparing young people for the world of work, a new survey indicates. ...

Women have hit reverse gear and gone missing in top jobs (246 words)

For the first time in five years women’s representation at the top of politics, business and the public sector has either stalled or gone ...

Workplace Back-up

Workers tell of their hopes and the reality (779 words)

Around seven million workers lack opportunities for training and progression, says a new TUC survey. ...

Reviews

Stop global warming (229 words)

Change the world ...

Solidarity divided (241 words)

The crisis in organized labour and a new path towards social justice ...

E-views

e-views (363 words)

There is an increasing tendency among trade unions to “outsource” certain parts of our websites — but unfortunately recent events show that this is ...