News

Strikes could be on the cards in engineering construction sector (359 words)

Unions are keeping up the pressure on engineering construction employers in the wake of the unofficial Lindsey Oil Refinery dispute (see Labour Research, March ...

Union reins in agency job losses (326 words)

Savage job cuts among agency workers at the BMW Mini car plant at Cowley, near Oxford, have not been quite as massive or quite ...

Recession Watch (259 words)

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

Teaching unions sceptical over fast-track career plan (297 words)

The government took the teaching world by surprise last month with its announcement of fast-track career-entry plans. The move may help recession-hit professionals, but ...

Company greed fuels strikes (255 words)

A spate of strikes and protests in the rail and media sectors reflects anger at firms that seem to be taking advantage of the ...

Voluntary sector job losses (111 words)

Voluntary sector job losses are becoming a serious cause for concern across Britain, with unions looking to government bodies to recognise the scale of ...

Royal Mail woes, Post Office hopes (126 words)

The CWU postal workers’ union has branded attempts to privatise Royal Mail as unconstitutional. Billy Hayes, general secretary, points out: “The Labour Party came ...

Average earnings show rise (65 words)

January’s average earnings figure for the whole economy show a 3.4% rise. However this excludes bonuses, and when these are included the figure shows ...

Jobless total passes two million (199 words)

Unemployment has passed the two million mark for the first time since 1997, according to official figures. ...

Key economic indicators

Key Economic Indicators (175 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings*% rise in LRD pay deals**Whole economyManu-facturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorJan 2008 (r)4.83.95.25.03.64.0February3.73.13.73.44.14.0March4.54.44.94.63.74.0April3.83.04.03.73.83.7May3.43.33.53.53.13.8June3.42.53.73.62.93.9July3.62.83.93.54.04.0August 3.22.93.43.13.64.0September 3.13.03.22.84.03.8October 3.62.93.93.63.83.8November (r)2.62.32.92.24.33.8December (r)3.21.83.63.03.94.0Jan 2009 (p)-0.21.7-0.6-1.13.73.5Headline ...

Union news

Pledge to ban blacklisting is welcomed by building union (288 words)

The UCATT construction workers’ union has welcomed a government commitment to outlaw the blacklisting of workers after it was revealed that major construction firms ...

Amicus re-elects Derek Simpson (266 words)

Members of the Amicus section of the country’s biggest union, Unite, have re-elected Derek Simpson as joint general secretary of the merged union. Simpson ...

Union fund prioritises vulnerable workers (213 words)

The latest priority for the Union Modernisation Fund (UMF), aimed at helping unions develop “innovative modernisation projects”, will be delivery of union support for ...

European news

Italy says “virtual strikers” will have to do unpaid work on “strike” days (555 words)

The Italian government has agreed to put forward a new set of rules for public transport strikes which could result in so-called “virtual strikes”, ...

Unions and employers negotiate over Europe-wide increase in parental leave (332 words)

Parents could gain the right to an additional one month’s leave to look after their children if talks between unions and employers at European ...

Features

When will it happen here? (1744 words)

This month’s TUC Black Workers’ Conference will discuss a motion to challenge the political under-representation of black and minority ethnic (BME) people in the ...

Kicking out the far right (1579 words)

Hundreds of trade unionists and other anti-fascist campaigners gathered recently, determined to redouble their efforts to head off the threat posed by the extreme ...

UK lay-offs have lower pay-offs (2164 words)

The latest figures from the official Labour Force Survey show that more than a quarter of a million people in the UK lost their ...

Helping reduce pay inequality (1744 words)

It is 10 years this month since the first National Minimum Wage (NMW) in UK history came into force. One of the Labour government’s ...

Law Matters

High Court will have its say over retirement age (415 words)

The position regarding retirement age is still unresolved after the long-awaited decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the Heyday case. ...

Employer has to honour pay rises after TUPE transfer (235 words)

Pay bargaining arrangements established under collective agreements can remain effective after a TUPE transfer, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled, even where the ...

April rings in the changes to entitlements (258 words)

A number of changes to employment rights come into effect this month. ...

Law Queries

Redundancy (130 words)

Q. The company is making redundancies and asked for 28 volunteers. Twenty employees volunteered but they were turned down. No reason was given. Are ...

Breach of contract (295 words)

Q. Our warehouse operatives do two types of work: loading and dispatch; and picking boxes, palletising them and taking them to dispatch. Management now ...

Variation of contract (238 words)

Q. Our local authority employer suddenly decided to reserve its car parking spaces for managers. Care workers, who need to use their cars because ...

Law Back-up

New code on workplace disputes is introduced (858 words)

Statutory dispute resolution procedures were only introduced in 2004. But five years later they have been abolished following universal disapproval from employers, employees and ...

Health & Safety Matters

STUC makes the case for health provision (295 words)

A massive expansion in publicly provided occupational health services, to increase the number of workers being rehabilitated back into the workplace, has been called ...

Safety at work is a casualty (240 words)

Some firms are reducing the priority given to workplace health and safety now the economy is in recession. ...

Recognise Workers’ Memorial Day (91 words)

Unions are supporting Labour MPs John McDonnell and Austin Mitchell, who have each tabled a House of Commons early day motion calling on the ...

Firms refuse to fund cancer research (75 words)

Electronics companies are refusing to fund new research that could highlight the cancer risks in the industry. ...

Odds are deadly on exposure to asbestos (65 words)

Older carpenters who were heavily exposed to asbestos before they were 30 have a one in 10 chance of dying from asbestos-related diseases mesothelioma ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Bosses should plan to help depressed staff (808 words)

“Depression” is used to describe everyday feelings of low mood which can affect most people from time to time. However, it is recognised as ...

Equality news

Cop-out on equal pay audits angers unions (434 words)

The idea of giving employers protection from equal pay litigation if they take active steps to tackle gender pay bias in their organisations has ...

Plan sets out what women need in man-made recession (196 words)

The government should take urgent action to counter the impact of the recession on women, according to equality campaigners at the Fawcett Society in ...

NHS publishes new guides on equality (235 words)

The Department of Health has published two new equality guides for the NHS — one on sexual orientation and the other on religion and ...

Workplace Back-up

Public sector is now reclaiming its services (739 words)

Public service trade unions will be heartened by the results of a new independent report which urges councils to consider the potential benefits of ...

Reviews

Struggles for Black community (475 words)

Four films by Colin Prescod, IRR, prices vary ...

E-views

e-views (439 words)

If you want to know how to make your union website better, ask your members. And if you really, really want it to be ...