News

“British jobs” dispute about equal access, insist unions (366 words)

After a wave of unofficial action triggered by the exclusion of UK workers from jobs at Lincolnshire’s Lindsey Oil Refinery, the Unite and GMB ...

Redundancy pay “needs boost” (301 words)

A Private Member’s Bill by Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle aims to bring statutory redundancy pay into line with average weekly earnings. The Statutory Redundancy ...

Recession Watch (270 words)

The rate of job losses continued at such a high level that we are only able to list some of the bigger losses over ...

Recession takes greater toll on women this time around (315 words)

Women are being hit harder by this recession than in previous downturns, the TUC says. And it wants the government to take specific measures ...

Unions back G20 march (228 words)

The TUC and wide range of individual unions are backing a Put People First march in London on 28 March. It will take place ...

Post privatisation (124 words)

The CWU communication workers’ union has threatened to ballot its members for disaffilation from the Labour Party if the privatisation of the postal service ...

Bonus restructuring (128 words)

The Unite general union welcomed the announcement of changes to frontline bank workers’ payments at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to ensure they ...

Unemployment nears two million (208 words)

Jobless figures continue rising as the large number of redundancies feed into official figures. Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, unemployment rose by ...

Manufacturing output plummets (63 words)

Manufacturing output in the final quarter of 2008 fell by 5.1% compared with the previous quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics. It ...

Key economic indicators

Key Economic Indicators (174 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings*% rise in LRD pay deals**Whole economyManu-facturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorDecember (r)3.74.23.63.83.33.9January 20083.83.73.93.83.64.0February3.73.13.73.44.14.0March4.54.44.94.63.74.0April3.83.04.03.73.83.7May3.43.33.53.53.13.9June3.42.53.73.62.93.9July3.62.83.93.54.04.0August 3.22.93.43.13.64.0September 3.13.03.22.84.03.9October (r)3.62.93.93.63.83.8November (r)2.82.43.22.44.33.8December (p)3.22.23.73.13.84.0Headline rate for ...

Union news

Unions “part of the solution” to economic crisis, says TUC (382 words)

The government should formally recognise that unions are “part of the solution” to the economic crisis and act to enable unions help threatened workers, ...

Unite challenger stands down (153 words)

Laurence Faircloth, South West regional secretary of the Unite general union’s Amicus section, pulled out of the election for joint general secretary of Unite ...

US union growth (176 words)

Union membership in the United States rose by 428,000 to 16.1 million in 2008, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. And for ...

Keates re-elected (66 words)

Chris Keates has been elected general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union for a second term. She was re-elected unopposed after receiving three times ...

European news

Tens of thousands of Irish workers protest over pensions levy “pay cut” (562 words)

A huge demonstration by Irish public and private sector workers saw 100,000 take to Dublin’s streets last month over a government-imposed pensions levy, which ...

Demonstrations force Sarkozy’s hand as unions prepare for second day of action (309 words)

French unions are to press ahead with a second major day of action this month, keeping the pressure on the French government. ...

Features

Women edge into the driving seat (2374 words)

While there has been significant progress for women up the managerial scales, and into some previously male-dominated occupations such as medicine and law, other ...

We want more House work! (2098 words)

The Equality Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech in December 2008, will begin its progress through Parliament during the current session. One of the ...

UK workers “need more support” (1860 words)

With the recession cutting deeper and deeper into the UK’s industrial fabric, unions have called for government action to ensure that there is something ...

Tackling the cyberbullies (1488 words)

Teaching unions have raised awareness about the problem of cyberbullying in schools where not only children and young people, but also teachers have been ...

Law Matters

Service-based pay case goes to new Tribunal (357 words)

Pay packages that improve with length of service can typically disadvantage women. ...

The end is nigh for statutory dispute resolution procedures (276 words)

A date has been given for the abolition of the statutory dispute resolution procedures under the Employment Act 2008. ...

Court rules in favour of the sick over leave (162 words)

Workers on long-term sick leave do not lose their right to paid annual leave, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled. ...

New Acas guide on disciplinaries is out (93 words)

Arbitration and conciliation service Acas has produced a draft 74-page guide, Discipline and grievances at work: the Acas guide, to go with its proposed ...

Law Queries

TUPE and pay (228 words)

Q. Our employer is dragging their heels on pay negotiations in advance of a TUPE transfer. They don’t want to reach an agreement which ...

Redundancy pay (167 words)

Q. How many years can the member count for redundancy pay entitlement if they started work for the company through an agency before being ...

Redundancy selection (275 words)

Q. Can we justifiably use last in first out as the only redundancy selection criterion? ...

Law Back-up

Being an employee is the test in unfair dismissals (917 words)

Workers who are not employees have important rights — to be paid the National Minimum Wage, to the benefits of the Working Time Regulations, ...

Health & Safety Matters

Voluntary code is not working, says UCATT (302 words)

A voluntary directors’ code on health and safety was a “complete failure” and should be replaced by statutory director’s duties, says the construction union ...

Staff worry over sick leave (238 words)

British workers are afraid to take time off sick, despite having one of the lowest sickness absence rates in Europe. ...

Asbestos is rife in south east schools (139 words)

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is to carry out a survey of asbestos in schools in Britain, after it was revealed that ...

Research on what’s best for baby (115 words)

Women who stop working a month or more before their babies are due are four times less likely to have a caesarean, says new ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Heat is on for top limit temperature at work (804 words)

Many thousands of workers in factories and offices face high temperatures at work all year round, but especially so in the summer. ...

Equality news

Childcare bills weigh heavily on families (383 words)

Parents are faced with annual childcare bills of around £8,000 or more, the Daycare Trust national childcare charity says in its eighth annual survey ...

Positives can be taken from the disability equality duty (260 words)

There have been a number of positive effects on working practices of the public sector disability equality duty (DED), according to a recent report ...

Inequality in the City has got to end (250 words)

“Huge bonuses for City bosses” are not the only thing wrong with the financial services industry, minister for women and equality Harriet Harman told ...

Workplace Back-up

Government lays plans for the Neets problem (771 words)

It’s no surprise that the government is concerned about the proliferation of unemployed and inactive young people. Nevertheless, tackling the issue is not going ...

Reviews

Syndicalism and the transition to communism (204 words)

Ralph Darlington, Ashgate, hardback, 323 pages, £60 ...

Unfinished Nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto (249 words)

Max Lane, Verso, 312 pages, paperback, £16.99 ...

E-views

e-views (398 words)

In February, LabourStart announced the launch of UnionBook, the social network for trade unionists at www.unionbook.org. Within days, the site came alive with blogs, ...