News

Unions defend agency workers as BT slashes 10,000 jobs (473 words)

Agency workers and contract staff will bear the brunt of 10,000 job cuts announced last month by telecoms giant BT. But employment agency Manpower ...

Job losses show regional variation (180 words)

The recession could be tougher and longer than first appeared likely and may hit London harder than northern cities, but unemployment is rising fastest ...

Recession watch (270 words)

The rate of job losses flowing from the recession has accelerated sharply. US bank Citigroup is making 75,000 job cuts this year — with ...

Former MG Rover employees are in work but on less pay (382 words)

Three years after the closure of MG Rover nearly all of the former car manufacturer’s employees have found jobs, but most are earning less ...

PCS halts action to allow talks to go ahead (173 words)

The PCS civil service union suspended its national industrial action planned to run for 28 days from 10 November to allow talks over the ...

CWU hails post office card victory (182 words)

Last month’s decision to keep the Post Office Card Account with the Post Office, rather than tender it out to the private sector (Labour ...

Unemployment keeps on rising (225 words)

Unemployment is at an 11-year high, according to the latest official figures. ...

Inflation drops as fuel prices fall (72 words)

Inflation tumbled in October as a result of a price reduction in fuel, food and housing. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure it ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (178 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings (1)% rise in LRD pay deals (2)Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorSeptember (r)4.32.44.74.63.13.4October3.72.64.03.83.23.2November4.23.54.24.43.43.5December3.74.23.73.83.33.7January 20083.83.73.93.83.64.0February3.73.13.73.44.14.0March4.54.44.94.63.74.0April3.83.04.03.73.83.8May3.43.33.53.53.13.9June3.42.53.73.62.93.9July (r)3.62.83.93.54.04.0August (r)3.23.03.43.13.64.0September (p)3.03.13.12.84.04.1Headline rate for ...

Union news

MPs fail to back changes to strike balloting process (364 words)

The largest backbench revolt of Gordon Brown’s premiership was insufficient to make industrial action ballots less of a bureaucratic minefield for trade unions. ...

Unions lobby world leaders (184 words)

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber joined an international trade union delegation last month to lobby the Washington Summit of G20 leaders who were meeting ...

Leadership election (59 words)

Michael Leahy has been re-elected as general secretary of the Community general union. He had put himself up for open election despite having the ...

Black vice-chair (34 words)

The Midlands TUC has elected its first black woman as vice-chair to the regional council. Eleanor Smith is a nurse and a member of ...

Union recognition (72 words)

The PCS civil service union has signed a voluntary recognition agreement with the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) based in Nottingham. The GLA, set up ...

Expanding the CWU (61 words)

The CWU communication workers’ union has appointed three new organisers, increasing the total headcount of its organising team to a record-high of 15. ...

European news

EU Parliament prepares to vote on the future of the UK opt-out (730 words)

This month is likely to see important developments on two key pieces of European legislation of concern to trade unionists. The revised directive on ...

IG Metall pay deal (91 words)

IG Metall, Germany’s largest union, has agreed a pay rise of 4.2% over 18 months. The increase will be paid in two stages of ...

Polish occupation (62 words)

Polish unions are protesting against government plans to cut early retirement benefits for 760,000 workers. Under the current rules, about one million Poles have ...

Irish back pact (97 words)

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has voted by 305 votes to 36 to back a new national wage deal. ...

Features

Why not every wish comes true (1880 words)

While the festive season is always a struggle for those on the lowest incomes, the poorest in society are set to face an even ...

Looking for a recession- proof job (1833 words)

Public sector jobs are traditionally seen as a safer bet in times of recession with perceptions of life-long job security and so-called “gold-plated” public ...

Greening the jobs market (1572 words)

World leaders, trade unionists, employer representatives and environmentalists are gathering in Poland on 1 December to work out a new climate change deal. The ...

Planning for the future (1598 words)

Young people have been having a hard time of it in the press. They seem to be predominantly mentioned in relation to criminal gang ...

Law Matters

Bonuses paid to males are a sham and discriminatory (332 words)

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has upheld a finding by an employment tribunal that bonuses paid to male council workers in the north east are ...

Disability tribunals must not judge on looks (292 words)

In many cases of disability discrimination, a person’s first problem is proving to an employent tribunal that they have a disability within the legal ...

Names must be given in FoI application (186 words)

The Information Commissioner has ordered a government department to disclose to an unknown complainant the names and addresses of respondents in employment tribunal claims ...

Revised code of practice from Acas (49 words)

The revised Acas code of practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures is now available on its website. ...

Law Queries

Discrimination over sickness (277 words)

Q: I am trying to find out if the attendance management policy at work is discriminatory. It states that if you have averaged more ...

Overpayment of wages (176 words)

Q: I have a member who, unknown to them, was overpaid wages. The next month their employer took back the whole amount that was ...

Breaks during working time (233 words)

Q: I am confused about the different breaks under the Working Time Regulations. The term “rest break” seems to be applied to both a ...

Law Back-up

Mutual obligation is key to being an employee (983 words)

Many employment rights, such as the right to claim unfair dismissal, depend on an individual being an employee. ...

Health & Safety Matters

Poor funding hinders the HSE (247 words)

Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive have fallen by almost half over the last five years, according to research for the Unite general ...

Three in five safety reps say stress is top concern (313 words)

Stress and musculoskeletal disorders top the list of workers’ safety concerns in the TUC’s 2008 survey of safety reps. ...

UNISON calls for tough action on NHS violence (135 words)

NHS workers have been punched, kicked, spat at and had knives pulled on them, as assaults have increased again over the last year. ...

Scots get new law on pleural plaques (114 words)

Plans by the Scottish government to compensate workers suffering from asbestos-related conditions, such as pleural plaques have been welcomed by unions. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Stress is a class issue for teachers in school (857 words)

Teachers have the best mental health at the start of their working life, and the worst by the end of it, Canadian researcher Karen ...

Equality news

BME Workers in the NHS suffer a double whammy (384 words)

Workers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are grossly under-represented at senior levels in NHS trusts across England, but over-represented in disciplinary, grievance, bullying ...

Mums want to work but need flexibility (239 words)

Four in five mothers are considering returning to work or increasing their current working hours as they re-examine their earning options in the recession, ...

Sexism is a bigger worry for women than coming out (258 words)

Lesbian and bisexual women feel that sexism has a greater impact than homophobia on their experiences in the workplace, according to a report by ...

Workplace Back-up

Credit crunch is set to push up jobless figures (873 words)

There is now hardly a section of the economy unaffected by the current collapse in consumer confidence and the restriction of bank finance — ...

Reviews

Building the new common sense (233 words)

Social ownership for the 21st century ...

Kyoto2 (226 words)

How to manage the global greenhouse ...

E-views

e-views (397 words)

Unions are increasingly turning to tools like Facebook. But there is also a growing awareness of the problems with such social networks. Groups and ...