News

College cuts undermine coalition claims over accessible education (405 words)

Government attempts to relaunch the debate on social mobility have done little to win over critics angry at its decision to triple university fees ...

Large-scale action on horizon (256 words)

Around a quarter of a million public servants may strike next month following a decision by the national executive of the Public and Commercial ...

Redundancy Watch (263 words)

Job losses in the public sector continued apace over the last month. In the health service recent announcements include: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust ...

Union steps up campaign of support for locked out workers (220 words)

The GMB general union has begun a hardship fund with an initial donation of £100,000 to support 430 workers locked out of their construction ...

Government gives go-ahead to National Minimum Wage increases (320 words)

The government has announced that it has accepted the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) on the National Minimum Wage (NMW). This means ...

Cuts watch (269 words)

An investigation by the Financial Times has found that about £6 billion worth of council-run services across England are to be reduced or eliminated ...

Inflation takes a tumble (67 words)

The rate of inflation under the Retail Prices Index (RPI) took a surprising dip to 5.3% in March against 5.5% the previous month. Cheaper ...

Unemployment rate falls (197 words)

Male unemployment numbers are down but female numbers are up. ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (189 words)

Inflation +5.3%, Average earnings +1.3% ...

Union news

Election sees boost to female leaders (90 words)

The growing ranks of female union general secretaries have been swollen after last month’s election of Michelle Stanistreet to lead the NUJ journalists’ union. ...

UCATT appoints George Guy as acting general secretary (79 words)

The executive council of construction union UCATT has appointed George Guy as acting general secretary following the instruction by the certification officer that it ...

TUC urges fairness (180 words)

Workers supplying sportswear for the 2012 Olympics must be free from the exploitation and abuse that has characterised the run up to previous Olympic ...

European news

Portugal set for draconian austerity measures in exchange for debt bailout (596 words)

The Portuguese government’s decision to ask the European Commission for help in dealing with its financial problems looks certain to lead to new measures ...

Government plan for ‘mini-jobs’ thwarted after Slovenian unions win referendum (243 words)

Slovenia’s main trade union confederation, ZSSS, has stopped a government plan to allow employers to offer students and the unemployed so-called “mini-jobs” with fewer ...

Features

Who will be voting for the alternative? (2310 words)

The issue of which voting system we use cuts across party lines, and, as Labour Research reports, also divides unions. ...

Academy top pay scrutinised (2037 words)

The conversion of English schools into academies, taking them out of local authority influence and the national framework for teachers’ pay and conditions, remains ...

Can Euro unions fight back? (1894 words)

A year ago, on 3 May 2010, the Greek finance minister and the governor of the Bank of Greece wrote to the International Monetary ...

Mental health plans doubted (1422 words)

The government’s new mental health strategy for England, No health without mental health, places an emphasis on prevention and early intervention. ...

Law Matters

Coalition curtails right to request training (393 words)

Successive governments have pledged to encourage workers to acquire new skills throughout their lives but what co-operation can they expect from their employers? ...

Dual provision axed (264 words)

Many of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 (EA) were brought into force on 1 October 2010. The bulk of the Act was ...

Further equality changes (238 words)

Third party harassment is where a third party, such as a customer or a supplier to an employer, harasses an employee. It was made ...

Law Queries

Tribunal costs (302 words)

A. The Conservative-led government has issued a consultation document about amending tribunal procedures called Resolving workplace disputes. You are right that under its proposals, ...

Who can represent? (283 words)

A. In order for a compromise agreement to be enforceable it must be in writing, and it must be specific to the particular proceedings. ...

TUPE (116 words)

A. The Takeover Panel is responsible for ensuring that where a publicly-listed company may be taken over, the offeree company keeps its prospective employees ...

Law Back-up

Spanish case could undermine TUPE in the UK (855 words)

Following a protracted struggle between the European Commission and the Thatcher government, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations were finally fully adopted ...

Health & Safety Matters

Workers exposed to high radiation levels (379 words)

As well as causing massive loss of life and human suffering, the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March 2011 has severely ...

Working is mandatory (309 words)

Conservative employment minister Chris Grayling says he is keen to give the unemployed an “… extra push to make sure they are really keeping ...

Risks from chemicals revealed (210 words)

New research produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has thrown light on the terrible damage that high concentrations of chemicals can wreak upon ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Workers at risk from health and safety cuts (874 words)

Unions are united in their condemnation of the proposals outlined in the Good health and safety: good for everyone strategy paper, which is yet ...

Equality news

Cuts hit black and Asian workers hard (325 words)

Black and Asian workers are facing increasing hardship with the TUC predicting that public sector spending cuts could see thousands more employees from ethnic ...

Flexible working cuts are ”anti-women” (328 words)

General union Unite has accused the government of having an “anti-women” bias after women were dealt a further knock-back with the withdrawal of plans ...

Tribunal claims (154 words)

Statistics published by the Tribunal Service show that claims by older workers and pregnant women have risen sharply in the last quarter of 2010. ...

LGBT action plan (70 words)

The Home Office has launched a cross-government LGBT action plan in order to meet its equality and diversity commitments in education, public services and ...

Workplace Back-up

No additional bank holiday for many (943 words)

Bank holidays are in the news this year — particularly the additional one granted on Friday 29 April to mark the royal wedding. Many ...

News from LRD

LRD Executive committee (76 words)

Following the Labour Research Department (LRD) annual general meeting on 18 April, the new LRD executive committee took office. ...