Pay and prices

RPI inflation is back to positive (259 words)

With the RPI jumping back into positive territory after eight months of negative inflation the backdrop to bargaining has changed rather earlier than most ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (75 words)

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

Full-time weekly average earnings (17 words)

All workers£590.80All male£646.90All female£504.20Managers£868.20Professionals£788.60Associate professional£610.20Admin & secretarial£414.20Skilled/craft£487.40Services£351.30Sales£326.40Operatives£446.70Other manual£348.80 ...

Average earnings indices (including bonuses) (66 words)

Earnings index* for whole economy% annual riseWhole economyManufac-turingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sectorAug 2008 (r)136.63.23.03.43.13.7Sept (r)137.13.22.73.33.03.9October (r) 137.23.62.83.83.53.8November 136.82.72.33.12.44.3December137.83.21.83.83.13.9Jan 2009 133.3-0.71.5-1.3-1.73.7February 131.8-2.31.0-3.2-3.63.6March 138.01.50.41.40.93.4April 138.53.32.33.53.43.6May 138.42.30.32.82.03.6June138.52.01.52.21.54.1July138.31.20.31.30.82.5August (r)138.81.62.01.51.22.8Sept (r)138.91.32.31.40.92.9October ...

Other pay analysts (22 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end November 2009)1.2%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end October 2009)2.0% ...

Inflation forecasts (19 words)

Fourth quarter 2010 ...

Prices (14 words)

Retail prices index (RPI), Jan ’87=100% annual increasesRPIRPI excl. mortgages Oct 2008217.74.24.7November216.03.0 3.9December212.90.92.8Jan 2009210.10.12.4February211.40.02.5March211.3-0.42.2April211.5-1.21.7May212.8-1.11.6June213.4-1.61.0July213.4-1.41.2August214.4-1.31.4September215.3-1.41.3October216.0-0.81.9November216.60.32.7 ...

Bargaining news

NHS staff are to get their pay rise in 2010 (618 words)

The three-year pay deal for NHS staff, other than doctors and dentists, is one that the government has said it will honour. This is ...

Prison staff wait on pay review (183 words)

Prison officers are not protected by a long-term pay deal. Their pay review body will, therefore, have to navigate its way around the pay ...

Engineering construction revised national deal (321 words)

Engineering construction members of the GMB and Unite unions have voted to accept a revised national pay and conditions agreement for 2010-12 after the ...

Eurostar train service is taken to the cleaners (369 words)

Cleaners on the Eurostar train service have overwhelmingly voted to accept a settlement following a high-profile campaign and strike action. ...

Bank staff ballot (227 words)

Accord, the union that represents members in the finance group HBOS, part of the Lloyds Banking since January, is to carry out a full ...

Cuts to the frontline (74 words)

Frontline defence will be severely compromised if as reported the government cuts another 10,000 jobs from the Ministry of Defence, civil service union PCS ...

BBC union survey finds fixed-term confusion (348 words)

BBC staff working on fixed-term contracts are to receive more support from media union BECTU, after a survey revealed that the BBC’s management of ...

Diageo: vastly improved redundancy benefits (377 words)

The Scottish workforce of drinks manufacturer Diageo has overwhelmingly voted to accept the employer’s latest and much-improved redundancy offer. The new deal was made ...

First Capital Connect (148 words)

Train drivers’ union Aslef has called off a strike of its 550 plus members working for the south east train operator First Capital Connect ...

Refuse workers win deal (147 words)

Leeds city council refuse and street cleaning workers have won their 11-week pay dispute (see Labour Research, November 2009, page 5) and voted overwhelmingly ...

Equality news

Childcare tax relief survives in government U-turn (431 words)

The government U-turn on scrapping tax relief on childcare vouchers has been widely welcomed by unions, employers and a cross party alliance of MPs. ...

Small businesses slow to employ disabled people (263 words)

More than three-quarters of UK businesses do not have a policy relating to the employment of people with disabilities, new research has found. ...

Further progress on parental leave deal (113 words)

New rights increasing parental leave from three to four months have moved a step closer following the meeting of the EU council of ministers ...

Fewer women board directors (186 words)

FTSE 100 companies have failed to appoint more women to the board, according to the annual Cranfield Female FTSE Index and Report. ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Unions seek tougher blacklisting regulations (279 words)

Unions have broadly welcomed the revised draft regulations on blacklisting published earlier this month, but will be working behind the scenes to toughen them ...

New union recognition cases (114 words)

General union Unite was granted recognition by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) on behalf of general labourers at Loch Lomond Distillery Company’s Alexandria site ...

Learning and training news

New national skills strategy (556 words)

The government has announced further details of changes to the structure and operation of government-funded learning and training provision in a new white paper, ...

European news

Spanish unions and employers agree to “unblock” negotiations (507 words)

Spain’s main national employers’ associations and its two largest union confederations, CCOO and UGT, have agreed to make a joint effort to “unblock” negotiations ...

Finnish settlements leave wide margin for future talks on pay (311 words)

Negotiations in Finland are currently underway in almost all industries, with the chemical industry being one of the most recent to settle. But, although ...

First Austrian pay settlements of the year (117 words)

Some 170,000 employees in the metal and energy industries will receive a 1.5% increase on basic rates, backdated to 1 November, in the first ...

Law - Contracts

Contracts – the basic legal rules (268 words)

Employment rights depend, as a minimum, on there being an “employment relationship”. This implies some contractual obligations between the employer and the worker. To ...

Contract law - the key developments (141 words)

• A written contract may not accurately reflect a worker’s true employment status, if there is evidence to show the real intention of the ...

Written contracts may be misleading (599 words)

This case concerned the legal status of 20 car valeters who worked for Autoclenz. The firm had one customer (British Car Auctions), operating at ...

Pay for untaken holidays (441 words)

Ms Wang worked for a Herb and Health shop from 2001 until her dismissal in 2008. She made various tribunal claims, including for untaken ...

Sickness on annual leave (495 words)

Mr Pereda worked as a specialist driver for an organisation removing wrongly parked cars. Under the employer’s planned leave schedule for 2007, he was ...

Minimum wage applies to basic hours and cannot include additional shift allowances and enhancements (229 words)

Ms Hillier worked as a care worker. Her basic pay rate was below the National Minimum Wage. However, she was entitled to time plus ...

Law - Tribunal procedures

Employment tribunals – the basic legal rules (219 words)

Most tribunal claims must be lodged within three months of the matter being complained of. Tribunals can extend the time limit in unfair dismissal ...

Employment tribunals – the key developments (179 words)

• The statutory grievance procedure under the Employment Act 2002 does not apply to claims for redundancy pay or for holiday pay under the ...

Termination claims under statutory grievance process (388 words)

Ms Allen and two other claimants worked as bar staff at a pub. When the pub ceased trading, they were dismissed for redundancy. ...

Discrimination time limits (374 words)

Dr Bailey was employed as a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster, teaching HR and personnel development. He brought a claim under the ...

Compensation uplift (443 words)

Mr Onley was the only employee of a family firm. He had worked for the firm as a painter and decorator for six years. ...

Review of strike-out should consider all relevant factors (593 words)

Anthony Neary, a graduate mathematics teacher, was being considered as a supply teacher by St Albans’ School. Some difficulties arose about his credentials and, ...

Health & safety news

Unions link on paper deaths (275 words)

A spike in workplace fatalities in the paper industry has prompted an historic union link up to tackle the hazards. ...

GMB opens “unofficial” accident book (255 words)

A new tool to help its safety reps make better use of the accident book has been launched by the GMB general union, with ...

Unions highlight flood safety (150 words)

Recent heavy rain and flooding has confirmed union fears about cuts undermining public safety. ...

Prison officers walk out over bullying (89 words)

Prison officers at Liverpool Prison walked out last month in protest at bullying and harassment by senior management. ...

Union outrage as toilet breaks denied (88 words)

General union Unite has condemned management at the Dunbia meat processing plant in Lancashire for forcing workers to take unpaid toilet breaks during work ...

Attacks on NHS workers condemned (81 words)

Health union UNISON has condemned the continuing high level of attacks on NHS workers. The NHS Security Management Service annual survey published last month ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Safety enforcement has “virtually collapsed” (337 words)

Health and safety law enforcement has “virtually collapsed”, according to substantial new research into the activities of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors. The ...

Advice on lead revised (257 words)

A report, “Dangerous Lead”, by academics at Stirling University and published in Hazards magazine has forced the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to revise ...

Union demands more meat hygiene checks (129 words)

The meat hygiene regulations need to be tightened up and the number of meat safety inspectors working in abattoirs boosted, according to UNISON, the ...

Total’s guilty plea on Buncefield welcomed (164 words)

The FBU firefighters’ union has welcomed the announcement that Total UK has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the explosion at the Buncefield oil ...

BP removed as HSE leadership model (138 words)

Energy firm BP has been removed from the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) website on directors’ leadership, after the safety body was criticised for ...

Features

Shiftwork patterns emerging from recession cuts (1818 words)

The recession had a sharp impact on shift working with many employers cutting back on shift working or even ending shifts altogether. The impact ...

Public sector pay curbs (2223 words)

The government and main opposition parties are all calling for pay curbs, freezes or cuts. Labour’s plans will start to affect public sector pay ...