Pay and prices

Pay rises creep up but still trail RPI (242 words)

The median for pay increases in the three months to October rose to 2.5% from the 2.3% recorded for the three months to September, ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (73 words)

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

Full-time weekly average earnings (16 words)

All workers£599.00All male£655.90All female£511.20Managers£880.30Professionals£799.60Associate professional£618.70Admin & secretarial£419.90Skilled/craft£494.20Services£356.20Sales£331.00Operatives£452.90Other manual£353.60 ...

Annual increase in average weekly earnings (AWE) including bonuses (47 words)

MonthWhole economyPrivate sectorPublic sectorManu- facturingServicesJuly (r) 20090.3-0.43.3-0.70.8August (r)0.7-0.33.51.40.6September (r) 1.1-0.13.71.91.0October 0.3-0.63.81.50.6November 1.00.13.91.81.1December0.50.23.43.40.8January 20100.4-0.84.13.8-0.3February5.55.83.85.35.5March6.87.35.79.56.4April0.4-0.53.23.70.3May0.90.91.04.11.0June 1.10.14.43.20.9July 1.81.72.24.71.8August (r)2.11.92.24.22.1September (p)2.21.92.33.62.1Headline rate12.01.82.34.22.0 ...

Other pay analysts (21 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end October 2010)2.1%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end September 2010)2.0% ...

Inflation forecasts (18 words)

Fourth quarter 2010 ...

Prices (12 words)

Bargaining news

Civil servants’ pay progression at risk (806 words)

Civi servants have found their rights to pay progression being challenged as employers attempt to interpret the government’s pay freeze policy. ...

Unions challenge attacks on their pensions (492 words)

Strike action by members of the NUJ journalists union over changes to the BBC’s final-salary pension scheme was postponed earlier this month when the ...

Pension trustees urged to act (296 words)

Pension scheme trustees were urged to take a more active role in the companies their funds are invested in at a TUC pension trustees ...

Auto-enrolment and NEST pensions still on track (290 words)

The TUC has welcomed the fact that plans to make employers auto-enrol and contribute to employees’ pensions from 2012 are still on track following ...

Food workers hold out for one-year deal at Premier (434 words)

Unite negotiators at a Premier Foods canning factory have achieved a 2.63% pay rise, having held out for a fully consolidated increase in the ...

Uncertainty hangs over manufacturing pay (319 words)

There is little sign of resurgence in the level of pay deals, according to organisations representing private sector employers. Pay data published by the ...

Equality news

Employers ‘should help fathers to work flexibly’ (373 words)

Working fathers on a low income feel less stressed if they are able to work flexibly, according to the interim findings of a major ...

Retirement age unwanted (400 words)

Nearly half the UK workforce is in favour of government plans to phase out the default retirement age, according to a survey by the ...

Guide to helping cuts to be ‘fair’ (133 words)

A guide to help public sector employers put fairness and transparency at the heart of the difficult financial decisions ahead has been launched by ...

Unite pushes for race equality (133 words)

General union Unite is issuing workplace union representatives with action packs as part of the union’s Race Forward campaign. ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Industrial action ballots are main method to resolve disputes (306 words)

Nine in 10 union full-time officials have dealt with industrial disputes over the last decade, and almost half of them have reached a point ...

‘Use the cuts to organise’ — TUC (106 words)

The TUC is urging unions to use the All Together for Public Services campaign against public service cuts to strengthen their membership and organisation. ...

Learning and training news

Two cheers for plans to increase apprenticeships (417 words)

The coalition government has unveiled its new skills strategy, Skills for sustainable growth, which confirms plans to fund more apprenticeships for adults with numbers ...

Union wins ‘Skills Olympics’ prize (153 words)

Scientists and professionals’ union Prospect has won the World Skills UK Partner of the Year award for its work in developing an environmental science ...

European news

German metal union pushes for earlier pay out (227 words)

IG Metall, the largest German union, is calling on employers to bring forward a 2.7% pay increase agreed as part the deal in the ...

Public sector gets rise but less than elsewhere (465 words)

Unions representing public sector employees in Austria have agreed a pay rise for 2011. However, while those at the bottom of the pay scale ...

Portuguese car workers fare well (286 words)

The 3,000 plus workers at Autoeuropa, the Portuguese arm of the German carmaker Volkswagen, have accepted a 3.9% increase as well as a guarantee ...

German cigarette employees secure above inflation rise (59 words)

The union NGG has agreed an above inflation increase for the 9,000 employees in the cigarette industry. Pay rose by 2.8% on 1 November ...

Law - Discrimination

Discrimination — some basic legal rules (417 words)

From 1 October 2010, discrimination law is contained in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). All the cases in this edition of Workplace Report ...

Discrimination — the key developments (278 words)

f The deliberate choice by an employer of strikingly ageist language in a brief to recruitment consultants, in the face of advice from human ...

Age discrimination (650 words)

Mr Beck, aged 42, was dismissed from his role as head of marketing at a Canadian investment bank after 11 months’ service, ostensibly on ...

Compensation in victimisation claims (1009 words)

Mrs Blundell joined her employer, a primary school, as a probationary teacher aged 25, remaining until her dismissal aged 41. Her employment was uneventful ...

Compulsory retirement and objective justification (532 words)

This case involved an application by the German Courts to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling as to whether a ...

“Outing” gay employee could be discriminatory (418 words)

The claimant worked as a manager at the Land Registry. He was initially based at the Registry’s offices in Lytham, where he had been ...

Associative discrimination and partners of pregnant women (465 words)

In this case, the claimant, Mr Kulikaoskas, tried unsuccessfully to persuade the tribunal that the special protection against discrimination available to pregnant women throughout ...

Calculating the causes of injury to health (341 words)

This case looks at compensation awards for injury to health in the employment tribunal. ...

Justifying age bias: an update (167 words)

The EAT in Woodcock v Cumbria Primary Care Trust UKEAT/0489/09 has cast doubt on an established principle of discrimination law, namely the rule that ...

Health & safety news

Unions attack Young’s health and safety review (353 words)

UnionS have united to condemn Lord Young’s review of health and safety, the TUC branding it a “grave disappointment” and a “missed opportunity”. ...

Number of people harmed by jobs increases (134 words)

The lack of plans to reduce workplace ill health and injury in the Young report is striking considering that official Health and Safety Executive ...

Schools sick plan slammed (220 words)

Teaching unions have voiced anger at government proposals to require schools to publish teacher sickness absence rates per school, to help parents make “informed ...

More women dying of asbestos-related cancer (115 words)

A worrying increase in the number of women killed by mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, has been pinpointed by the latest ...

Commute times fall (89 words)

Commuting time has reduced to a 10-year low, according to analysis by the TUC published to coincide with the Work Wise Commute Smart Week ...

CWU campaigner wins national award (69 words)

Dave Joyce, health and safety officer at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), received this year’s Achiever of the Year award at an Institute of ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Half of workplaces have never been inspected (225 words)

In the month when the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has seen its budget cut by 35%, research has revealed that almost half (49%) ...

Fire strike called off over union’s safety concerns (162 words)

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) called off its London-wide strike planned for bonfire night because of concern about the competence of contract staff hired ...

Revised guidance on Fire safety in construction (129 words)

Revised guidance on Fire safety in construction has been published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). ...

Poor building practices rife in London (139 words)

Inspectors targeting small construction sites across London boroughs have been shocked by the level of poor practices uncovered in one of the UK’s most ...

HSE asbestos training scheme targets apprentices (125 words)

Thousands of trainee joiners, electricians and plumbers are being warned through their training colleges about the dangers of working with asbestos, the UK’s biggest ...

Launch of online risk assessment (92 words)

The HSE has launched a free on-line risk assessment designed to assess hazards in an office environment, intended to take 20 minutes to complete. ...

Occupational safety consultants register (57 words)

The HSE is to set up a new occupational safety consultants register in January 2011. Inclusion on the register will be voluntary, but participants ...

Features

The union keeps down the price of your workplace cuppa! (2373 words)

The works canteen appears to be a declining tradition in UK workplaces. Only just over half (56%) of the 254 union representatives responding to ...

Negotiators must get a grip of defined-contribution pensions (2041 words)

Workplace pension provision in the private sector — where it exists — is increasingly shifting to the “defined contribution” (DC) model, with pensions based ...