News

Government faces backlash over the part-privatisation of Royal Mail (313 words)

The Hooper report on the future of the Royal Mail and the government’s response has sparked a new row over privatisatation. Lord Mandelson, secretary ...

Recession Watch (298 words)

Government support is needed for the UK motor industry on which 850,000 jobs directly depend. (See January Workplace) Temporary agency workers are in the ...

Outcomes vary on public sector pay (341 words)

After a difficult year for public sector pay negotiators, there has been some progress although not across the board. ...

CBI attack on public sector pensions is “politics of envy“ (306 words)

Another attack on “the ballooning cost of public sector pensions” was launched last month, this time in a report published by the CBI employers’ ...

Retailers face a changing market (275 words)

The recession is expected to fundamentally change consumer behaviour. Asda’s chief executive Andy Bond argued that with the era of conspicuous consumption now over: ...

Welfare reform (125 words)

Trade union and anti-poverty campaigners have strongly criticised government proposals to reform the welfare system put forward in the white paper Raising expectations and ...

Inflation dropping (117 words)

November’s drop in inflation (RPI 3.0%, CPI 4.1%) could be the first step in a more prolonged fall if the latest forecasts are right. ...

Unemployed need support, says TUC (227 words)

Unemployment is heading towards the two million mark and is already at an 11-year high, according to the latest official figures. ...

Inflation continues to fall (71 words)

Inflation took a tumble in November on the back of cheaper oil and lower mortgage interest payments as the cut in interest rates kicked ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (176 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings(1)% rise in LRD pay deals(2)Whole economyManufacturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorOctober (r)3.52.63.83.63.23.2November4.23.54.24.43.43.4December3.74.23.73.83.33.9January 20083.83.73.93.83.64.0February3.73.13.73.44.14.0March4.54.44.94.63.74.0April3.83.04.03.73.83.8May3.43.33.53.53.13.9June3.42.53.73.62.94.0July3.62.83.93.54.04.0August (r)3.22.93.43.13.64.0September (r)3.13.03.22.93.93.9October (p)3.72.93.93.73.73.8Headline rate for October(3)3.32.93.53.23.8 ...

Union news

Public sector has most negative union-management relations (334 words)

Union-management relations in the public sector have deteriorated during the past 12 months, according to a survey of human resource managers in organisations recognising ...

Unite wins recognition without ballot (167 words)

General union Unite has been awarded collective bargaining rights at London security services company Knightsbridge Guarding Ltd without having to hold a union recognition ...

Unite election (68 words)

Unite general union member Jerry Hicks has withdrawn his complaint about the union’s procedure for retaining Derek Simpson as general secretary of the Amicus ...

TUC picketed (88 words)

Last month, Paul Kenny of the GMB general union and Jeremy Dear of the NUJ journalists’ union joined campaigners outside TUC headquarters to protest ...

New Tribune owner (94 words)

The consortium of unions which has helped the independent Labour magazine Tribune to keep going over the past five years has agreed the sale ...

European news

MEPs’ vote threatens the UK’s opt-out from the 48-hour working week (344 words)

The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to end the UK’s opt-out from the working time directive. Although the vote in itself is not decisive, ...

French unions are put to the vote (437 words)

The French union confederation, the CGT, has reinforced its position as the union body with the greatest level of support among employees in recent ...

Union head becomes minister (120 words)

Rudolf Hundstorfer, the head of the Austrian union confederation the ÖGB, equivalent to the TUC, has been given the job of social and labour ...

Features

Stormy times lie ahead (2802 words)

It is hardly surprising that last year’s economic downturn casts a long shadow over 2009. Although trade unionists will welcome various legislative changes, the ...

Migrant workers face the crisis (1688 words)

“Migrant workers are already forced to take the worst jobs and are the most exploited. In a downturn, unfortunately, we expect even more poor ...

Reviewing a century of the state pension (1808 words)

On 1 January 1909, thousands of people received the first state pension payments. Trade unions and other campaigners saw this as a first victory ...

Surviving the parent trap (1562 words)

The government is continuing to vigorously pursue its new, much tougher welfare reform programme despite the economic downturn. It has already introduced new requirements ...

Law Matters

Worker had the right to take leave for childcare (326 words)

The Royal Bank of Scotland treated an employee unlawfully when it disciplined her for taking a day off to look after her children due ...

Indirect discrimination changes are brought in (186 words)

An amendment has been made to the UK definition of indirect discrimination. ...

Whistleblower protected (113 words)

A language teacher resigned when a manager became angry with her after she had given information to the police about a potential student. ...

Coleman wins hearing on discrimination (109 words)

The European Court of Justice has said that the Equal Treatment Framework Directive prohibits direct discrimination or harassment of a non-disabled person on grounds ...

Sex discrimination ruling is reinstated (66 words)

In the high profile case Allen & ors v GMB ([2008] EWCA Civ 810; [2008] IRLR 690, the Court of Appeal has reinstated the ...

Employment status (60 words)

The December issue of Labour Research covered employment status and reported on the Autoclenz v Belcher case, where the Employment Appeal tribunal (EAT) found ...

Law Queries

Bonuses (160 words)

Q: We have always been paid Christmas bonuses in the past but now we are being told we won’t get a bonus this year. ...

Parental leave (299 words)

Q; A member wants to take the days between Christmas and New Year as “parental leave” to be with their young family. The company ...

Indirect discrimination (237 words)

Q: A member needs to leave half an hour early to collect her three-year old from nursery. She is willing to arrive half an ...

Law Back-up

Indirect discrimination must impact on a group (933 words)

Ms Eweida, a devout practising Christian, worked as a member of British Airway’s (BA) check-in staff. She wanted to wear a plain silver cross ...

Health & Safety Matters

Court tells insurers to pay up on asbestos (304 words)

Unions have won a landmark High Court case on the rights of asbestos victims to compensation. ...

Sick note is to be signed off (247 words)

The traditional doctor’s sick note is to be replaced with a “fit note”, after the government announced a number of new measures to cut ...

London blitz finds unsafe workplaces (101 words)

A blitz on construction sites in London by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found a catalogue of dangerous working practices. ...

Winter working (55 words)

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has produced guidance on winter working. It covers employers’ duties and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, including the ...

French agree on work-related stress (68 words)

In November, France’s five main union confederations — the CGT, CFDT, CFTC, FO and CFE-CGC — signed an accord on work-related stress. The agreement ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Rise in work cancers is understated, says TUC (860 words)

Almost 300,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer every year. ...

Equality news

Muslim women lose out in the UK labour market (362 words)

Second generation British Muslim women continue to be a “strikingly under-used resource in the UK labour market” despite “high levels of education, positive attitudes ...

TUC wants action on trans rights (241 words)

The TUC has called for employers to stop discriminating against transgender people and has appealed to unions to increase their efforts to secure trans ...

Gender pay gap widens in a reverse for working women (298 words)

Unions and equality campaign groups have expressed disappointment at the widening of the gender pay gap, announced at the end of last year in ...

Workplace Back-up

Car industry hits the bumpers of a downturn (802 words)

The pace of the decline in UK manufacturing output has accelerated, official figures show. Output fell by 2% in the three months to October ...

Reviews

The credit crunch (228 words)

Housing bubbles, globalisation and the worldwide economic crisis ...

Edward Carpenter (242 words)

A life of liberty and love ...

E-views

e-views (405 words)

The TUC has a problem: on its staff are a number of people who know a great deal about a wide range of subjects. ...