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Workplace Report March 2011
First aid at the workplace - Most unionised employers comply with requirements for first aid at work, according to a Workplace Report survey. But reps and first aiders have to keep their eyes on the ball.
Outlook for inflation - Living standards are being squeezed because of relatively high inflation, especially for those on lower incomes. But for how long?
Latest case law on dismissals, transfers and redundancy
Pay and prices
Prices surge while pay lags (259 words)
The latest inflation figures show prices shooting up, with the Retail Prices Index (RPI) having risen by 5.5% in the year to February, up from the 5.1 ...
Subscribers only
Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (224 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered). ...
Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (41 words)
All workers £607.90 All male £663.80 All female £521.30 Managers £890.50 Professionals £806.60 Associate professional £6 ... Open access
Annual increase in average weekly earnings (AWE) including bonuses (147 words)
Month Whole economy Private sector Public sector Manu- facturing Services November 2009 (r) 0.9 0.1 3.8 1.9 0.9 December (r) 1.1 0.6 3.5 3.6 0.9 ... Open access
Other pay analysts (25 words)
Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end February 2011) 2.3% Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end January 2011) 2.8% ... Open access
Prices (72 words)
Retail prices index (RPI), Jan ’87=100 % annual increases RPI RPI excl. mortgages January 2010 217.9 3.7 4.6 February 219.2 3.7 4.2 March 220.7 ... Open access
Inflation forecasts (31 words)
Fourth quarter 2011 ... Open access
Bargaining news
University lecturers strike over pensions (735 words)
Union members at eight Scottish universities kicked off a rolling series of one-day strikes on 17 March against changes to the Universities ... Subscribers only
Police and police staff slam ‘all take and no give’ pay cuts (433 words)
Plans for significant cuts to police pay published earlier this month have caused outrage among police officers and staff at all levels. The stated ... Subscribers only
Ford in pension cuts row (297 words)
Workers at the Ford motor company were preparing to vote on industrial action over pensions as Workplace Report went to press. The row centres on ... Subscribers only
CPI and RPI underestimated from 1997 to 2009 (61 words)
The Bank of England has admitted that the recorded figures for CPI and RPI were lower than they should have been for each year from 1997 to 2009, ... Open access
Private sector pay deals reveal divide (285 words)
Divisions in the private sector stand out clearly in the latest set of pay deals monitored by the LRD Payline database. Although there were barely ... Subscribers only
Fair pay report receives qualified union welcome (448 words)
Unions hailed the recently published independent review into fair pay in the public sector as “a starting point” on tackling excessive ... Subscribers only
Scottish teachers’ conditions hit (333 words)
Budget-cutting measures put forward by the Scottish government and local authorities would hit pay levels for supply teachers and also sick pay and ... Subscribers only
Olympics grievance protocol agreed (190 words)
A protocol to deal with workers’ grievances that arise during the London Olympics has been agreed between the TUC, conciliation service Acas ... Open access
Wellbeing to be measured (97 words)
Plans outlined last November for a survey of people’s sense of wellbeing, quickly dubbed a “happiness index”, are now taking ... Open access
Equality news
Nationality-based pay bias for seafarers to be curbed (361 words)
The seafarers’ union Nautilus International has hailed as “long overdue” the government’s announcement that it will curb ... Subscribers only
Disability bias persists (406 words)
A government study of levels of prejudice in Great Britain towards disabled people shows that attitudes have improved since 2005 although prejudice ... Subscribers only
Dual discrimination (163 words)
The government has announced that the “dual discrimination” provisions under the Equality Act 2010 will not be implemented in April as ... Open access
TUC guidance on the effect of the cuts on women (154 words)
The TUC has issued a leaflet aimed at reps, giving the key facts and arguments about why women are bearing the brunt of the government’s cuts ... Open access
Government does u-turn on flexible working (139 words)
The government is to repeal regulations extending the right to request flexible working to parents of 17 year olds, it has been revealed. These ... Open access
Learning and training news
Study calls for shake-up of vocational education (327 words)
Employers should be given financial incentives to train young people, a government-commissioned investigation has found. The report into vocational ... Subscribers only
U-turn on right to request training (150 words)
The government has announced that the right to request training will not be extended from April to employees of small and medium-sizes businesses ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Unions win voluntary recognition at Pinewood, Sodexo and Ericsson (345 words)
Broadcast union BECTU has won back recognition for maintenance workers at Pinewood studios after years of management chipping away at a previous ... Subscribers only
European news
Italian private services deal reveals union split (586 words)
Unions and employers have reached agreement on pay increases for more than two million people working in private services in Italy. However, the ... Subscribers only
French pharmaceutical pay inches up (189 words)
Unions and employers in the French pharmaceutical industry have agreed a pay increase for the around 120,000 employees covered by the agreement. ... Open access
Above-inflation deal for German regional government (323 words)
Unions representing some 580,000 employees at the regional government level in Germany have agreed a settlement with the employers which increases ... Subscribers only
Law - Dismissal
Dismissal — the basic legal rules (330 words)
Employees dismissed unfairly can go to a tribunal if they have been working for at least a year, though some types of dismissal do not require a ... Subscribers only
Dismissal — the key developments (155 words)
f When deciding whether a dismissal is fair or unfair, only the state of mind or knowledge of the individual appointed by the employer to make the ... Open access
Decision maker not expected to have all the knowledge (521 words)
Mr Orr worked for Milton Keynes Council as a youth care worker. He was black and of Jamaican origin. He was dismissed for gross misconduct following ... Subscribers only
When does time start to run out in an unfair dismissal claim? (712 words)
This case examines the deadline for bringing an unfair dismissal claim. It focuses, in particular, on the events that trigger the start of the ... Subscribers only
Law - TUPE
Transfers — the basic legal rules (247 words)
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) are intended to protect the rights of employees on the transfer of ... Open access
Transfers — the key developments (108 words)
f TUPE will always apply to business transfers carried out by administrators, including transfers that involve “pre-pack ... Open access
TUPE applies to “pre-pack administrations” (738 words)
In a typical business transfer, the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employees) Regulations (TUPE) provide two key protections: first, ... Subscribers only
Service provision change not covered by EU Directive (448 words)
Reps will be aware that since 2006, there are two types of transfer under the TUPE regulations: a business transfer and a “service provision ... Subscribers only
Law - Redundancy
Redundancy — the basic legal rules (182 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 ... Open access
Redundancy - the key developments (112 words)
f The test for fairness in the case of selection out of a pool of employees at risk of redundancy is not the same as the test to be used where an ... Open access
Redundancy — different test for recruiting into new roles (628 words)
Mr Morgan was employed by the Welsh Rugby Union as National Elite Coach Development Manager. In early 2008, a re-organisation resulted in the loss ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Unions condemn cuts in unannounced inspections (353 words)
Safety inspectors’ union Prospect has slammed a proposed 30% cut in unannounced workplace inspections as set out in a leaked letter from the ... Subscribers only
Proactive visits expose construction dangers (187 words)
The continued need for unannounced Health and Safety Executive inspections has been highlighted recently by the HSE itself. A recent programme of ... Open access
Potters Bar is ‘a warning’ (199 words)
The outcome of the prosecution in relation to the 2002 Potters Bar rail disaster, which killed seven people, is a warning against reprivatisation, ... Open access
First test of corporate killing law reveals flaws (303 words)
Unions and safety campaigners have expressed disappointment over the effectiveness of corporate manslaughter legislation, despite the first ... Subscribers only
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Agency staff ‘forced to buy own safety gear’ (188 words)
Construction union UCATT is calling for HSE action to stop employment agencies from making building workers supply their own personal protective ... Open access
UNISON welcomes plan to ‘design out violence’ (291 words)
The Department of Health is taking a new approach to reducing violence and aggression towards NHS staff — though a re-design of hospital ... Subscribers only
HSE consults on reduced accident reporting (149 words)
THE Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a consultation based on Lord Young’s controversial proposal to reduce injury reporting ... Open access
Workers’ Memorial Day (103 words)
The theme for this year’s International Workers’ Memorial Day (WMD) on 28 April as set by the International TUC is “the crucial ... Open access
HSE statistics (58 words)
The HSE is conducting a survey to discover what people’s priorities are in terms of health and safety statistics, such as those collected via ... Open access
Guidance on the menopause at work (87 words)
Guidance on how employers and unions can support women through the menopause at work has been published by the TUC. ... Open access
Features
Ensuring first aid provision at the workplace is up to scratch (2,938 words)
The requirements for first aid in the workplace are set out in the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981. These lay down that employers ... Subscribers only
High inflation is here to stay — but how high and for how long? (2,165 words)
February’s shock inflation figures of 5.5% on the Retail Prices Index (RPI) and 4.4% on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) proved that the cost ... Subscribers only