Pay and prices

RPI leaps to 3.7 per cent (285 words)

The gap between pay and prices has widened this month with inflation surging ahead but settlement levels falling back. The Retail Prices Index (RPI) ...

New measure of average earnings (116 words)

The Office for National Statistics has introduced a new measure of average earnings. Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) has replaced the Average Earnings Index (AEI). ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (76 words)

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

Full-time weekly average earnings (17 words)

All workers£591.40All male£647.50All female£504.70Managers£869.00Professionals£789.40Associate professional£610.80Admin & secretarial£414.60Skilled/craft£487.90Services£351.60Sales£326.80Operatives£447.10Other manual£349.10 ...

Annual increase in average weekly earnings (including bonuses) (40 words)

MonthWhole economyPrivate sectorPublic sectorManufact- uringServicesOctober 20083.53.73.63.24.0November2.42.13.73.12.6December2.62.53.22.13.2January 2009-2.0-3.13.11.5-2.8February-6.3-7.73.2-0.5-7.1March-0.9-2.12.31.7-1.9April 1.41.13.01.61.7May 0.80.32.8-0.21.1June 1.20.43.91.11.4July 0.6-0.53.3-0.60.5August 0.7-0.33.51.70.5September0.80.03.81.61.1October 0.5-0.43.81.60.5November 1.00.33.82.01.2December 0.90.23.53.10.7Headline rate* 0.80.23.72.20.8 ...

Other pay analysts (22 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end January 2010)0.0%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end January 2010)2.0% ...

Inflation forecasts (20 words)

Fourth quarter 2010 ...

Prices (14 words)

Retail prices index (RPI), Jan ’87=100% annual increasesRPIRPI excl. mortgages Dec 2008212.90.92.8Jan 2009210.10.12.4February211.40.02.5March211.3-0.42.2April211.5-1.21.7May212.8-1.11.6June213.4-1.61.0July213.4-1.41.2August214.4-1.31.4September215.3-1.41.3October216.0-0.81.9November216.60.32.7December218.02.43.8January 2010217.93.74.6 ...

Bargaining news

Redundancy terms divide civil service unions (852 words)

A package that the government says is its “final offer” on changes to redundancy entitlements in government departments and other official bodies has split ...

Increase in wage freezes (400 words)

Wage freezes are now at their highest proportion of pay deals since the start of the recession, according to data from Payline, the LRD ...

Unions to fight local government pay freeze (256 words)

Unions have reacted with outrage to local government employers’ imposition of a pay freeze on 1.6 million council workers in 2010, in the face ...

Unpaid overtime (135 words)

TUC analysis of the annual Labour Force Survey shows that although the number of workers who worked unpaid overtime fell in 2009 to 5.07 ...

RadioLabour builds union solidarity (101 words)

An internet-based audio news show has been developed in an effort to build national and international labour solidarity. The show, Solidarity News, is 20 ...

Pensions report (21 words)

The GMB general union has issued a report on why public sector pensions should be preserved. See www.gmb.org.uk/files/99533/FileName/GMBPublicSectorPensions Report2010.pdf ...

Post Office IR deal gives CWU reps a boost (354 words)

A landmark industrial relations framework deal has been agreed between the CWU communication workers’ union and Post Office Limited (POL), giving full-time status to ...

Staythorpe redundancy dispute resolved (205 words)

The GMB general union has called off planned strike action at the Staythorpe power station site related to a dispute over selection for redundancies ...

Telegraph journalists win additional bonus (144 words)

Journalists at the Daily Telegraph will receive a pay rise of 1.5% and a £500 bonus for 2010. The deal is the second stage ...

Theatres’ pay success (91 words)

Equity, the performers’ union, has signed two new pay deals giving a minimum of £400 a week to theatre actors by 2011. The deals ...

Compensation awards (129 words)

Unity, the union representing workers in the pottery business, has won “protective awards” for members made redundant last year from Denby, Wedgwood and other ...

Mail talks extended (64 words)

Talks between the CWU and Royal Mail, expected to run to the end of 2009, have been extended. In a statement, both parties announced: ...

Equality news

Ofcom withholds broadcasters’ ethnic data (393 words)

The failure of broadcasting regulator Ofcom to make available data on the number of ethnic minority workers employed by broadcasters has led to a ...

Women carers win equal pay on bonuses (329 words)

The Court of Appeal has found in favour of 54 women carers employed by Sheffield City Council in their battle to secure equal pay. ...

Equality rep impact study (289 words)

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has renewed his call for a statutory duty for equality reps following the publication of a new report on ...

Recruitment and organisation news

UNISON increases migrant activists (410 words)

A government-backed project within public services union UNISON to encourage migrant workers to become active in the union has produced 70 new migrant worker ...

Learning and training news

TUC launches recession recovery skills project (349 words)

The TUC’s learning and skills organisation, unionlearn, is ensuring that trade unions have the information and resources they need to support members coping with ...

Learning at work day (109 words)

National Learning at Work Day will take place on Thursday 20 May 2010. The event has been run by the Campaign for Learning since ...

European news

German union agrees agency workers’ deal (545 words)

The DGB, the main union confederation in Germany, has reached a pay agreement with one of the main associations representing companies supplying agency workers. ...

Three-year pay pact agreed in Spain (268 words)

Unions and employers in Spain have reached agreement on pay guidelines for the next three years. The deal was signed on 9 February by ...

Dutch metal-workers reach agreement (276 words)

Unions in the Netherlands have signed a new deal for the 180,000 employees covered by the so-called “large metalworking” agreement, which sets terms and ...

Law - TUPE

Transfers – the basic legal rules (156 words)

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) state that, when a business or part of a business is transferred from one ...

Transfers - the key developments (116 words)

• Even when there is no compulsory consultation on a transfer because no measures are intended to be taken against affected employees, the employer ...

Transfer information also applies to voluntary consultation (346 words)

Under TUPE regulation 13(2), “long enough before a relevant transfer to enable the employer of any affected employees to consult the appropriate representatives of ...

Union seeks clarity over which members affected by transfer (817 words)

The two councils in this case transferred their resources directorate to South West One Ltd, a joint venture company which the councils had established ...

Law - Dismissal

Dismissals – the basic legal rules (276 words)

Employees dismissed unfairly can go to a tribunal if they have been working for at least a year. There are special rules for retirement ...

Dismissals – the key developments (200 words)

• A ‘disclosure of information’ attracting whistleblowing protection means giving facts, not simply stating a position or making a bare allegation (case 1). ...

Definition of terms for whistleblowing claims (771 words)

Mr Geduld was a director and employee of the company. He fell out with his colleagues and was eventually removed as a director. From ...

Legal representation (413 words)

The claimant was a teaching assistant at X School, who was dismissed after an investigation for breach of trust. It was alleged that he ...

Gross misconduct (667 words)

Ms Westwood was a staff nurse working in Accident and Emergency at Birmingham’s City Hospital. She was dismissed regarding an incident concerning a young ...

Reasonable responses (438 words)

A former mental health in-patient complained that Mr Crabtree, a staff nurse on an adult mental health ward, had been sending her text messages ...

Constructive dismissal (309 words)

Mr Kennaugh claimed unfair constructive dismissal. The employment tribunal decided there had been no constructive dismissal, first because there was no fundamental or repudiatory ...

Health & safety news

Unions call for tougher penalties for violence (323 words)

The TUC has blamed the recession for a sharp increase in violence at work. British Crime Survey (BCS) figures published last month show that ...

Scottish Bill would make an assault aggravated crime (152 words)

a new bill in Scotland could mean tougher penalties for perpetrators of assaults on workers. The Workers (Aggravated Offences) Bill is supported by shop ...

Gender-sensitive safety (208 words)

Professional union Prospect is asking its safety reps how gender-sensitive their workplaces are. Risks to men are better known, it says, because health and ...

Employers “treading on thin ice” over slips (116 words)

The cold snap has prompted public services union UNISON to warn organisations that “they are treading on thin ice” if they fail to take ...

EU musculoskeletal directive (85 words)

A new EU musculoskeletal directive is one of the subjects for discussion at a forthcoming RSI conference in London on Saturday 20 March 2010. ...

Stress report (52 words)

Papers from the November 2009 Annual Stress Network Conference, Stress the 21st Century Epidemic, are now available at: www.workstress.net/conference09.htm. The Network has also given ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Demand for accurate figures on work deaths (256 words)

An early day motion put forward by Katy Clark, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, calls on the government to publish the total ...

Some don’t like it hot (199 words)

Trade union reps have been asked about problems relating to heat at work as part of an ongoing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) review ...

New phase of “Shattered Lives” campaign (229 words)

This month the HSE launched a new phase in its Shattered Lives campaign aimed at reducing the most common cause of major workplace injury ...

Quarrying, pathogens and GMO consultations (147 words)

The HSE has proposed revising the approved code of practice (ACOP) to the Quarries Regulations 1999. The proposals include updating references to other legislation ...

Waste and recycling industry guidance (107 words)

The HSE has issued new guidance for local authorities (LAs) on procuring and managing waste and recycling services in a bid to reduce death ...

Features

Annual leave entitlements (1693 words)

The law was changed from 1 April 2009 to increase the statutory minimum holiday entitlement from 4.8 weeks to 5.6 weeks a year. For ...

National bargaining: a new start for school support staff (2380 words)

National multi-employer bargaining arrangements play a limited role in the private sector but are very much the norm in the public sector, putting them ...