Pay and prices

Pay gap narrows as inflation tumbles (221 words)

The latest figures from LRD’s Payline database show the median for settlements in the three months to October down to 3.8% from the 4.0% ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (72 words)

Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered). ...

Full-time weekly average earnings (16 words)

All workers£583.50All male£641.20All female£493.30Managers£866.30Professionals£781.20Associate professional£603.00Admin & secretarial£404.10Skilled/craft£490.10Services£346.40Sales£320.50Operatives£453.40Other manual£351.80 ...

Average earnings indices (including bonuses) (61 words)

* 2000=100. ** Average of earnings increases for latest three months compared to a year earlier. (r) revised. (p) provisional. Source: National Statistics. ...

Other pay analysts (21 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end October 2008)3.8%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end September 2008)3.8% ...

Inflation forecasts (18 words)

Fourth quarter 2008 ...

Bargaining news

Unions step up pressure in the face of recession (808 words)

In response to the deepening recession, unions are pushing forward an agenda of job protection, financial and regulatory reform and effective consultation. 156,000 jobs ...

Health unions push for new deal on pay (359 words)

Unions representing NHS workers have joined forces to demand the reopening of pay talks with the government in the light of the financial crisis. ...

Three-year police deal retains negotiating body (385 words)

The police have agreed a landmark three-year pay deal with the government with rises of 2.65% from 1 September this year, followed by 2.6% ...

Agency Workers’ Directive (102 words)

After 12 weeks at work temps in the UK will have the right to equal treatment with direct recruits, following the EU’s acceptance of ...

RPI set to fall (91 words)

Pay deals could slump next year with the prospect of inflation going into the negative in late 2009. Concerns about deflation have now begun ...

Pensions reform fears (76 words)

Proposed pension reforms would undermine the security of final salary pensions in corporate failures and buyouts. The pensions minister, Rosie Winterton, is consulting about ...

Vulnerable worker protection board (150 words)

Unions, business groups and government departments have joined forces to set up the Fair Employment Enforcement Board to help protect vulnerable workers from unscrupulous ...

Odeon cinemas pay 2.7% (98 words)

Staff at Odeon cinemas will received a 2.7% pay rise backdated to January 2008, followed by a 3% increase from January 2009. However, if ...

BT pensions review goes to consultation (548 words)

Communications unions the CWU and Connect have reached an agreement with BT on proposals to all staff on new pension arrangements. The unions and ...

Pay settlements for further and higher education (180 words)

THE further and higher education sectors have settled their pay negotiations with government. Staff in higher education (HE) accepted 5% as the final part ...

Equality news

Equality Commission to investigate meat industry (365 words)

AN investigation into the treatment of workers in the meat processing trade is set to “send shockwaves” through the industry. ...

Gender pay gap report refuted as “fiction” (253 words)

The TUC has reacted angrily to research that claims employer discrimination should not be blamed for the gender pay gap. ...

Workplace sexism highlighted (53 words)

Gender equality campaign the Fawcett Society has launched its “Just Below the Surface” initiative designed to highlight sexism in the workplace. The campaign’s shark-themed ...

Fathers’ rights research (117 words)

New research will examine the barriers preventing working fathers from accessing their family friendly rights. ...

Gender pay gap worsens (153 words)

Britain’s gender wage inequality increased by 4% last year according to the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index published this month. The ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Academy spreads activist culture (293 words)

In 10 years the TUC Organising Academy has “dramatically increased the amount of organising activity taking place,” but unions need to adapt further to ...

De-recognition opposed by UCU lecturers’ union (156 words)

OVER 100 members of the UCU university and college lecturers union at Nottingham Trent University took strike action last month over their employer’s decision ...

Learning and training news

Unions improve learning at work (180 words)

Learning and skills experiences at work are significantly improved in organisations where there is a local union rep and where the employer engages positively ...

Public sector apprenticeships (183 words)

The government has announced that over 1,000 apprentices will work in central government departments and agencies this academic year, more than double the original ...

European news

Inflation complicates Belgium’s bargaining (459 words)

Unions and employers have until the end of the year to agree a new two-year framework deal for the private sector in Belgium. And ...

Italian unions divided (335 words)

A new framework deal has been reached for Italy’s 3.5 million public sector employees but only two of Italy’s three main union confederations have ...

Metalworkers beat inflation (287 words)

The German union IG Metall has reached an agreement with employers on pay for the country’s 3.5 million metalworkers to run for the next ...

Law - Contracts

Contract law (209 words)

f Depending on the facts, it is possible for a redundancy policy contained in an intranet folder to be part of an individual’s contract ...

Intranet contract (295 words)

Case 1: The facts ...

Defining sham clauses (265 words)

Case 2: The facts ...

Agreement under protest (214 words)

Case 3: The facts ...

Employment not secondment (276 words)

Case 4: The facts ...

Express clauses (332 words)

Case 5: The facts ...

Garden leave (233 words)

Case 6: The facts ...

Law - Tribunal procedures

Employment tribunals (247 words)

Case details are available at www.employmentappeals.gov.uk (EAT) and www.bailii.org (Court of Appeal). Call 020 8686 9141 for details of the journal Industrial Relations Law ...

Different comparators (289 words)

Case 1: The facts ...

“Without prejudice” (175 words)

Case 2: The facts ...

Amended judgment (331 words)

Case 3: The facts ...

Holiday pay stayed (224 words)

Case 4: The facts ...

Late appeals (376 words)

Case 5: The facts ...

Written grievance (225 words)

Case 6: The facts ...

Health & safety news

Safety failures led to firefighter fatalities (279 words)

There has been a sharp increase in firefighter deaths in the last five years, a report for the FBU firefighters’ union has found. ...

Rail management to blame for Grayrigg (90 words)

Management failures contributed to a train crash in Cumbria that left one person dead and scores injured, an investigation report has found. ...

Demand for more asbestos protection (98 words)

UNIONS have called for greater efforts to protect workers from asbestos, as the extent of exposure and the number of cases continues to grow. ...

CWU negotiates upgraded footwear (77 words)

Unions in Royal Mail have negotiated better footwear after a wave of slips and trips by postal workers. Last year safety reps reported a ...

Shopworkers still face violence and abuse (277 words)

One in every 10 shopworkers has been physically assaulted at some point in their work, according to new research from shopworkers’ union Usdaw. ...

Pleural plaques demo (109 words)

The Unite and GMB general unions and UCATT construction union held a joint lobby on 28 October to persuade the government to overturn last ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Small improvement in safety figures for 2008 (316 words)

THE Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said that 229 people were killed at work in 2007-08, down from 247 the year before. Almost 110,000 ...

Safety reps credited for improvements (217 words)

Union safety representatives have been crucial to securing improvements in health and safety, the government’s health and safety minister said at an anniversary celebration ...

Asbestos campaign (92 words)

Every week 20 tradesmen die from asbestos-related diseases, and this number is set to increase, according to new figures issued by the HSE. The ...

Toothless enforcement in Scotland (165 words)

Health and safety enforcement in Scotland is withering away, according to new figures obtained by the University of Stirling’s Occupational and Environmental Health Research ...

Safe winter work advice (97 words)

THE Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has offered some guidance to ensure workers remain safe during the colder, darker months ahead. ...

Features

Unions make headway against bargaining fragmentation (3246 words)

In the 2007-08 pay round almost one in eight pay deals (that is, close to 100 agreements in total) registered on Labour Research Department’s ...

Should union reps be concerned about psychometric testing? (2259 words)

Ann Vinden, regional manager, learning and development in public services union UNISON, says that at Anglian Water in 1993 people complained that psychometric testing ...