Pay and prices

Gap between inflation and pay increases (250 words)

The median (mid-point) of pay increases in the three months to November was 2.6% across the whole economy, according to the latest figures from ...

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£609.10All male£665.10All female£522.30Managers£892.30Professionals£808.20Associate professional£627.60Admin & secretarial£426.90Skilled/craft£502.90Services£361.40Sales£336.90Operatives£462.50Other manual£359.70 ...

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

MonthWhole economyPrivate sectorPublic sectorManu- facturingServicesAugust 2009 (r)0.7-0.23.51.40.7September 1.1-0.13.71.91.0October (r)0.1-0.73.71.50.5November 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 2.11.92.24.22.1September (r)2.32.02.43.92.3October (p) 2.12.02.63.92.4Headline rate12.22.02.44.02.2 ...

Other pay analysts (21 words)

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

Inflation forecasts (18 words)

Fourth quarter 2011 ...

Prices (13 words)

Bargaining news

Equality to suffer from local government axe (613 words)

Diversity and equality are the latest casualties in a local government rocked by budget cuts, redundancies, pay freezes and threats to its workers’ terms ...

Cuts and localism (179 words)

The Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) says the funding settlement for councils in England for 2011-12 and 2012-13 coupled with the Localism Bill (both ...

Part timer pay sluggish (383 words)

Earnings rose by 1.8% in the year to April, but women did better than men and full timers did better than part timers. These ...

Minimum wage underpins bakers’ settlement (397 words)

Several thousand staff working for Scottish bakery employers saw an end to their pay freeze on 1 October after their union, Usdaw, negotiated a ...

Pay progression at risk in health service (141 words)

Concerns about a threat to pay progression in the NHS have proved to be justified. The employers’ side has proposed a “national enabling agreement” ...

Performance pay rises at McDonald’s (142 words)

“Performance which requires improvement will not qualify for a pay rise,” according to fast-food chain McDonald’s. The company says it rewards hard work and, ...

Squeezed economy keeps agreements modest (481 words)

While pay freezes are becoming scarce at private sector company level the thaw in employment conditions generally remains distinctly modest, with both inflation and ...

Bad weather and Christmas working stretch tolerance (314 words)

Employers’ handling of a number of seasonal issues is causing problems in the energy and rail transport sectors. Rows at Npower in the North ...

Heating and ventilating pensions (111 words)

General union Unite and heating and ventilating employers have amended their industry pension arrangements in what they describe as a “pioneering” move which anticipates ...

UCU members reject pension changes (90 words)

Members of the UCU academic staff union have expressed overwhelming opposition to planned changes to the universities pension scheme (USS). The employers want to ...

Union submission to Hutton review (93 words)

As the Hutton pensions review prepares its final report, members of the UNISON, GMB and Unite unions have made a joint submission on the ...

Equality news

Government abandons mandatory pay audits (438 words)

The coalition government has abandoned plans to introduce compulsory audits of male and female pay as was originally envisaged in the Equality Act. The ...

Older workers forced out at Longleat (320 words)

All staff over the age of 65 at the Longleat tourist attraction have been forced to retire from their work just a year before ...

View of cancer sufferers outdated (175 words)

Many employers have an outdated view of how cancer affects workers, according to research published by the Society of Occupational Medicine. Earlier diagnosis and ...

Breastfeeding fostered (97 words)

The government plans to introduce breast-feeding facilities in the workplace. Ways of encouraging new mothers to breastfeed at work, such as providing special facilities ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Unions in recognition gains (321 words)

The CWU communication workers’ union has won the right to negotiate pay and conditions for staff employed by Adecco at a Liverpool-based call centre, ...

Voluntary sector (69 words)

Union membership in the voluntary sector is rising because of worries over job security. The Guardian newspaper reports that union density in the sector ...

Organising blitz (36 words)

A week-long “organising blitz” in the West Midlands region of public services union UNISON has netted over 500 new members. The campaign focused on ...

Learning and training news

Employers to cut training (337 words)

Almost half of UK managers anticipate that their training budgets will be slashed in 2011 resulting in further skills shortages, according to research from ...

Abolition of Lifelong Learning UK (79 words)

An additional blow to the future of workplace training comes with the recent announcement by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills that the ...

Time off for union training ‘legitimate' (153 words)

Employers need to know that union rep requests for time off work for union training are legitimate and will be made with consideration for ...

European news

German paper industry gives extra benefits to union members (325 words)

In a rare development the German chemical and energy union IG BCE has reached an agreement with the employers which provides an extra benefit ...

Wages fall further in real terms in Spain (355 words)

The average pay increase for Spanish agreements signed in the first 11 months of the year is 1.29%, according to the latest ministry of ...

Irish crisis leads to pay cuts (278 words)

Measures by the Irish government to tackle the country’s financial crisis have once again targeted pay, but this time the private sector has been ...

Spanish unions condemn walkout by air traffic controllers (73 words)

Both main Spanish union confederations have condemned the action of the Spanish air traffic controllers, who walked out claiming sickness earlier this month. A ...

Law - TUPE

Transfers — the basic legal rules (245 words)

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) are intended to protect the rights of employees on the transfer of the business ...

Transfers — the key developments (92 words)

The EU Acquired Rights Directive can be used to protect the employment rights of an individual who has no employment contract with the transferring ...

TUPE may apply even if transferred business is not legal employer (709 words)

This case, decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), involved the Heineken Group, within which all employees are employed by a Netherlands-based service ...

Law - Dismissal

Dismissals — the basic legal rules (318 words)

Employees dismissed unfairly can go to a tribunal if they have been working for at least a year. Some types of dismissal do not ...

Dismissal law — the key developments (117 words)

f When assessing unfair dismissal compensation, the employer’s ability to pay is irrelevant to the award size (Case 1). ...

Employer's ability to pay (221 words)

The claimant in this case, Mrs Jin, brought a successful claim for unfair dismissal and failure to pay the national minimum wage and was ...

School holidays can count towards a year’s service (495 words)

In April 2008, the claimant, Mr Hussain, was engaged as a teacher on a temporary contract to cover sickness absence until the summer exams. ...

Little discretion on time limit for unfair dismissal claims (483 words)

A claim for unfair dismissal must be brought within three months from the dismissal date. Section 111 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 gives ...

Turning down a re-employment offer is not decisive (477 words)

In an unfair dismissal claim, a tribunal will only award compensation for lost earnings up to the point at which it believes the claimant ...

Law - Redundancy

Redundancy — the basic legal rules (186 words)

A redundancy situation exists where an employer closes or intends to close the workplace or reduce the number of employees doing a particular kind ...

Redundancy — the key developments (111 words)

Where an employee on maternity leave is at risk of redundancy, the employer is obliged to offer any “suitable” available vacancy, provided that the ...

Redundancy during maternity leave (823 words)

Regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 (MPL Regulations) gives important rights to an employee whose role becomes redundant while on ...

Health & safety news

Staff forced to work in freezing conditions (244 words)

A shop has been fined £2,000 plus costs for forcing staff to work in illegally low temperatures following an anonymous tip-off to the local ...

Employers show prejudiced attitude to mental illness (242 words)

Over half of employers do not regard depression as a good reason for staff to take time off work, according to a survey of ...

Unsafe practices rife in vehicle repair (150 words)

Nearly half of motor vehicle repair premises visited across Kent have been ordered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to make improvements. Failures ...

Work is bad for your health — official (108 words)

Work is adversely affecting the health of a quarter of European workers, according to the fifth European Working Conditions Survey. In a sign of ...

Lord Young’s health and safety agenda ploughs ahead without him (166 words)

Lord Young’s proposals for health and safety reform are being taken seriously by many. This despite the Tory peer’s forced resignation after letting slip ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Union gains longer festive breaks for shop workers (308 words)

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has negotiated a number of arrangements with employers to try to get the longest possible break for members over the Christmas ...

Wood dangers highlighted (335 words)

The dangers of working with wood dust were highlighted recently by the widows of two craftsmen who died from nasal cancer after careers working ...

Safety alert on “hot work” (118 words)

Following two recent cases in which workers were killed while cutting up drums, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a reminder about ...

Shell to be prosecuted over Bacton blast (100 words)

The Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive are to bring a joint prosecution against Royal Dutch Shell for the explosion and fire ...

Rep of the year (66 words)

The TUC’s health and safety rep of the year is Julie Knight of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. She works for an NHS physiotherapy ...

Features

A drugs and alcohol policy is not just for Christmas (2026 words)

Unions are increasingly responding to employer actions on drugs and alcohol at work. The GMB general union reports that drug and alcohol policies have ...

Shift work squeeze switches from private to public sector (1824 words)

During the depths of the recession many employers cut shifts, in some cases completely, but most of these have now been restored, according to ...