News

Pharmaceuticals giant abandons Kent facility and 2,400 jobs (415 words)

News of further job losses last month cast doubt on government policies on the economy and “Big Society”. ...

Unions defend multiculturalism (190 words)

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS civil service union, and Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU communication workers’ union, are speaking up ...

Redundancy watch (252 words)

The scale of job cuts in the public sector continue unabated. ...

Rally signals fight to save services for young people (370 words)

The fight to save youth services moves into a new phase following last month’s highly successful indoor rally in Solihull organised by the Choose ...

BSF ruling warmly welcomed (138 words)

The High Court ruling against education secretary Michael Gove’s decision to scrap the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project (see Labour Research, August ...

Cuts watch (229 words)

Almost three-quarters of councils are planning “disproportionate” cuts in services supporting vulnerable groups such as elderly, homeless and disabled, people, the National Housing Federation ...

Jobless numbers continue to rise (202 words)

Under the Labour Force survey count, UK unemployment rose by 44,000 to 2.5 million in the three months ending December, says the Office for ...

Inflation sees big increase (74 words)

Government-imposed increases in VAT and fuel duty aided a big jump in inflation. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI), the rate of inflation was ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (177 words)

% annual rise in average weekly earnings1% rise in LRD pay deals2Whole economyManu-facturingServicesPrivate sectorPublic sector3Dec 2009 (r)1.13.51.00.62.41.2Jan 20100.43.8-0.3-0.82.91.8February5.55.35.55.82.52.0March6.89.56.47.33.12.0April0.43.70.3-0.52.02.0May0.94.11.00.9-0.22.0June1.13.20.90.12.22.1July 1.84.71.81.71.92.2August 2.14.22.11.91.82.3September 2.23.92.32.02.22.2October 2.03.92.42.02.32.5November (r)2.12.92.52.02.32.5December (p)1.11.11.61.02.12.6Headline ...

Union news

TUC march set to be largest union protest in recent years (364 words)

The TUC is calling for volunteer stewards to ensure the March for the Alternative on 26 March runs smoothly, in addition to the professional ...

Journalists to elect new leader (238 words)

Billy Hayes will serve a third term at the helm of the CWU communications union after being re-elected unopposed. ...

May Day (102 words)

The TUC has criticised the government’s proposal to replace the May Day bank holiday with one in October, saying the coalition has a problem ...

UNISON leaders (57 words)

Public services union UNISON has appointed five new assistant general secretaries to its senior management team “to help the union deal with the challenges ...

Ad contest (74 words)

The TUC is running its third “60-second ad” contest — this year with the impact of the spending cuts as its theme. ...

European news

Spanish union confederations sign wide-ranging deal with employers (643 words)

Spain’s two largest trade union confederations, CCOO and the UGT, have signed a wide-ranging agreement with the government and Spanish employers. ...

Young workers highlighted in negotiations (211 words)

Unions and employers in France have started discussions which may lead to new rules governing the role and rights of interns. ...

Features

Still too few women at the top (2110 words)

Three years ago the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) annual report, Sex and Power 2008, looking at women in top positions of power ...

Marching for the alternative (1661 words)

Hundreds of coaches have been booked and trains chartered from across the country for this month’s TUC march and rally in London against the ...

Workers’ rights dismissed (2028 words)

Government proposals to reform unfair dismissal laws have been attacked by unions as “trashing workers’ rights” and giving employers “a green light for workers ...

Workplace safety must be more gender aware (1475 words)

Women now make up almost half the UK workforce. But as TUC assistant general secretary Kay Carberry recently told a gathering of trade union ...

Law Matters

Pub treated gay staff and regulars unfairly (324 words)

Where services provided to a group with a protected characteristic are re-targeted at a broader group, could the effect of that re-targeting be discriminatory? ...

European court rules on added paternity pay (278 words)

In April, regulations give parents of children due, or matched for adoption, on or after 3 April, greater flexibility in how they use maternity/paternity ...

Civil court avenue for equal pay (266 words)

The time limit for bringing an equal pay claim in the tribunal is six months from the date that an individual’s contract of employment ...

Law Queries

Adoption leave (221 words)

A. Adoption leave does not end just because the placement has been disrupted. Adoption leave will come to an end, but under the terms ...

Use of CCTV (276 words)

A. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent authority whose job includes issues of data protection for individuals — and CCTV is covered ...

Holidays (226 words)

A. In 2009, the European Court of Justice, in the joined cases of Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (C-350/06); Stringer and Others v HMRC ...

Law Back-up

Mean-minded proposals for tribunal reform (863 words)

The government’s headline-grabbing proposal is to increase the qualifying period for claiming unfair dismissal from one year to two years. However, the government also ...

Health & Safety Matters

Union campaign hots up over safety cuts (286 words)

Unions from across the public and private sectors are taking part in a week of action — from 28 February to 5 March — ...

Manufacturing employers attack safety regulation (218 words)

The EEF manufacturing employers’ organisation has urged the government to “redouble efforts to build an alliance with other EU member states to reduce the ...

Fear over increase in air time (245 words)

Airline pilots have lobbied transport secretary, Philip Hammond and called on him to stand firm against European Union (EU) proposals to increase UK pilot ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Fear led to Network Rail safety failings (801 words)

The investigation into Network Rail followed campaigning by Bob Rixham, the national officer for railways at the Unite general union. In April 2010, he ...

Equality news

Funding cut threatens equality watchdog (337 words)

Staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission have written an open letter to the body’s commissioners expressing concern at the government’s plans to ...

Women’s presence in UK workforce gets bigger (287 words)

The GMB general union has issued data showing that in the UK women now make up over 49% of the workforce and in many ...

HIV medics rethink (115 words)

The Department of Health is reviewing its policy that prevents HIV-positive surgeons and dentists from working in the UK. ...

Youth volunteering (126 words)

The Unite general union has attacked the government for implementing cuts from next month to youth volunteering organisations and predicts that at least 400,000 ...

Workplace Back-up

New work experience scheme ‘inadequate’ (790 words)

The TUC has slammed as “woefully inadequate” the government’s new work experience scheme, which according to employment minister Chris Grayling is aimed at giving ...

News from LRD

LRD annual general meeting (62 words)

The Labour Research Department annual general meeting is on Monday 18 April from 2pm at Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London SE1 0LN (the ...

Reviews

Striking a light (226 words)

The Bryant and May matchwomen and their place in history ...

New trade union activism (198 words)

Class consciousness or social identity? ...

E-views

e-views (396 words)

Traditional journalism has had a tough time of it recently. With so much content now available free online, newspaper sales have been falling steadily ...