News

Voluntary groups seek fairer funding and longer contracts (357 words)

Voluntary sector unions and employers in Scotland have banded together to present a joint petition calling on the Scottish government to ensure fair funding ...

Media is attacked for its portrayal of poverty (201 words)

The TUC’s annual poverty conference last month threw down the gauntlet to the media to stop stereotyping those on low incomes as “benefit cheats” ...

Scrapping of Sats tests is applauded (279 words)

Teaching unions and education campaigners have expressed delight at the government’s decision to abolish Sats exams for 14-year-olds, but are concerned that tests will ...

Calls grow to boost economy by spending on public services (616 words)

Unions have reacted to the dramatic economic developments of recent weeks by demanding a bigger role for the public sector, and urgently seeking finance ...

Protecting pensions from the crisis (216 words)

A lobby of parliament by the National Pensioners Convention last month warned that the pensions’ situation could become much worse in the current economic ...

Jobless men push up unemployment (220 words)

Unemployment rose by the biggest monthly margin since 1991, according to official jobless figures. ...

Inflation continues to shoot up (70 words)

Inflation has risen to its highest level for 27 years in the measure most used in negotiations. Under the Retail Prices Index, it rose ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (189 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings (1)% rise in LRD pay deals (2)Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorAug 2007 (r)4.32.94.74.53.23.7September (r)4.22.34.54.43.23.5October (r)3.72.64.03.83.23.2November (r)4.23.54.24.43.43.5December (r)3.74.23.73.83.33.7Jan 2008 ...

Union news

Unite’s full merger is delayed to resolve “outstanding issues” (411 words)

The two million-member Unite union, formed from the merger of Amicus and the T&G unions, has had to delay its final integration procedure, which ...

Nursing union rethinks strike rule (236 words)

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is consulting its members over changing the union rule that dictates when it can go on strike. ...

Union leaders win re-election (106 words)

Members of the 356,000-strong shopworkers’ union USDAW and of the 102,000-member professionals’ union Prospect have re-elected their incumbent general secretaries. ...

European news

Agency workers are finally entitled to equal treatment as directive is adopted (372 words)

The European Union has adopted the Temporary Agency Workers’ Directive. This will guarantee agency workers equal treatment with other employees in their place of ...

French union confederations are forced to merge to keep their status and influence (455 words)

Two of France’s smaller union confederations have confirmed that they intend to merge “between now and the end of 2009” and a third confederation ...

Features

Glenrothes: facing a tough electorate (1982 words)

From the standpoint of world politics the election taking place in a Scottish town this month will be rather less momentous than the one ...

Acting to keep people in jobs (1802 words)

Job cuts are already hitting the real economy with the International Monetary Fund predicting last month that the British economy would sink into a ...

Obama: the US unions’ saviour? (1599 words)

The US union movement has almost universally backed Barack Obama’s bid to become president in the hope that a Democrat win will help reverse ...

Struggling to live on too little (1635 words)

The minimum wage may give some protection but it’s hard to raise a family on it. That, at least, is what former prime minister ...

Law Matters

New rights come in for maternity and adoption (356 words)

New legislation introduced in October includes changes to maternity and adoption leave, Statutory Sick Pay for agency workers and the National Minimum Wage. ...

Airline support crew staff were discriminated against (280 words)

In yet more long-running equal pay litigation, British Airways has been unable to justify giving support cabin crew inferior terms and conditions to other ...

Age bias case is sent back to a new tribunal (248 words)

Enhanced redundancy schemes are increasingly coming under challenge for age discrimination. ...

Law Queries

Drug and alcohol policies (359 words)

Q: Last month, a colleague attended a disciplinary hearing after testing positive for alcohol over the set limit. They had already been through the ...

Sexual harassment (209 words)

Q: One of my members works in a small office, mainly with men. Three of her male colleagues keep downloading pornography onto their computer ...

Jury service (83 words)

Q: Can an employee be dismissed because they have gone on jury service? A manager is putting a lot of pressure on one employee ...

Law Back-up

Test is biased against workers in dismissals (936 words)

After 15 years’ employment with Van den Bergh Foods, Mr Haddon was invited to a ceremony to be presented with a good service award. ...

Health & Safety Matters

Asbestos victims lose money (294 words)

Asbestos campaigners are appalled that some victims will lose compensation as a new government scheme came into force last month. ...

New law brings in higher fines for safety offences (248 words)

Safety campaigners have welcomed a new law that to increases penalties for health and safety offences. ...

Union action secures safety rep’s job (107 words)

The threat of industrial action by over 2,000 London Tube workers has forced the Metronet infrastructure firm to reinstate a victimised safety rep. ...

Tories are ‘reckless’ over school safety (130 words)

Teaching union NASUWT has criticised Conservative promises to “sweep away” health and safety law in schools as “reckless”. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Charter sets out wish list for safety reps (857 words)

One of the landmarks in British trade union history came into force in October 1978, when the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 ...

Equality news

Charity calls for greater support on mental health (409 words)

Employers need to do more to enable employees with mental illnesses to be open about their condition and to give them support, according to ...

Flexible work options are on the rise — CBI (244 words)

There has been a dramatic rise over the past four years in the number of employees working flexibly, with almost half of employers saying ...

Pay gap between women and men in Whitehall is too wide (266 words)

Whitehall has some way to go before it abolishes the gender pay gap among its own workforce, according to figures published by the Government ...

Workplace Back-up

Labour gets tougher on minimum wage evasion (803 words)

Trade unions gave a qualified welcome to the new National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates introduced from 1 October, bringing the main adult rate to ...

Reviews

The man who hated work and loved labour (247 words)

The life and times of Tony Mazzocchi ...

Trade union merger strategies (229 words)

Purpose, process and performance ...

E-views

e-views (347 words)

For more than a decade, LabourStart has provided online news for trade unionists. This summer the website underwent a major overhaul most of which ...