News

Income squeeze hits low and middle income earners (426 words)

Low and middle income earners are facing a “livelihood crisis” that has been brewing in Britain for three decades, according to a report by ...

Civilian job cuts doubled at MoD (233 words)

News that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will double the number of civilian job cuts this year to 8,000 has been described as “incomprehensible” ...

Redundancy watch (280 words)

Job losses in the public sector continued at a huge level. Recent announcements include the Department for Work and Pensions which is planning to ...

NHS policy rethink dismissed as ‘tinkering’ by health unions (307 words)

Unions have dismissed government claims to have had a major rethink on NHS reform and are continuing to call for the controversial Health and ...

Blow to supported employment (228 words)

The Remploy factories which mainly employ disabled workers have been issued a “death knell”, according to general union Unite. ...

Government ministers flag up anti-union legislation (231 words)

With a rolling programme of strike action under way as unions fight to defend their members’ pensions, another minister has mooted the possibility of ...

Unemployment posts large fall (222 words)

Unemployment posted the biggest drop since the middle of 2000, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. ...

Inflation steadies on both counts (59 words)

The rate of inflation under the Retail Prices Index (RPI) was unchanged at 5.2% in May compared to the previous month, according to the ...

Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (184 words)

Inflation +5.2%, Average earnings +2.2% ...

Union news

Construction union fails in appeal against re-ballot ruling (328 words)

The executive council of the UCATT construction union has lost its appeal against the certification officer’s decision to force general secretary Alan Ritchie from ...

Community engagement can help unions achieve their goals (278 words)

Strong engagement between unions and communities can help unions achieve their core objectives, according to a report commissioned by the TUC as part of ...

‘Dark picture’ accompanies protests in Arab world (219 words)

The upheaval in the Arab world has been accompanied by extensive violations of trade union rights and abuse of migrant labour. ...

European news

Third national strike greets further round of austerity moves in Greece (512 words)

The Greek government has agreed a new package of tax rises, spending cuts and privatisation in the hope of further financial support from the ...

Members’ subs deliver bulk of confederation’s income (237 words)

Just over three-quarters of the income of the CFDT, one of France’s main trade union confederations, is made up of members’ subscriptions and other ...

Hungarian council abolished (84 words)

The Hungarian government says it will abolish the country’s OÉT council comprising unions, employers and government. It is replacing it with a new council ...

Features

Hounding out the watchdog? (2446 words)

If the government has its way, Britain’s equality watchdog is in for a radical transformation — a transformation described by unions as “politically motivated” ...

Resisting the attack on pensions (2004 words)

The row over public sector pensions has now come to a head. Unions reacted furiously when, in mid-June, Treasury secretary Danny Alexander announced detailed ...

Back-to-work plan under fire (1566 words)

This summer, the government rolls out the new Work Programme, hailing it as the biggest welfare-to-work programme the country has ever seen that will ...

Will Sure Start services come to a full stop? (1547 words)

As a growing number of parent-led campaigns are making clear, Sure Start children’s centres up and down the country are facing closure or reductions ...

Law Matters

Failing to compromise by signing agreement (347 words)

When can an employer insist that an employee departing with enhanced redundancy pay sign a compromise agreement? ...

Working time proposals (316 words)

Proposals on changes to the UK’s Working Time Regulations (WTR) have been set out in the coalition government’s Modern Workplaces consultation. ...

Help for tribunal claimants (228 words)

At their inception, it was intended that employment tribunals would offer a relatively straightforward method of resolving workplace issues. Today, given the complexity of ...

Law Queries

Redundancy pay (238 words)

A. Where earnings fluctuate, the base figures to use for calculating redundancy pay are neither the maximum nor the minimum figures earned. Instead an ...

Sick pay (283 words)

A. Regardless of the enhanced scheme that the employer operates, your member has a statutory right to some sick pay. Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) ...

Working patterns (193 words)

A. Where a person wants to change their working patterns in order to care for a spouse, partner or adult living at their address, ...

Law Back-up

What if scores are on the door marked exit? (923 words)

Employees of SPH, a property title search business were TUPE-transferred to a rival business First Scottish Searching Services Ltd (FSSS). Following the transfer, a ...

Health & Safety Matters

Work-related stress addressed in survey (257 words)

Members of the general union Unite are to be surveyed over the levels of work-related stress that they suffer. ...

Ignoring worker welfare (247 words)

Employers don’t understand the true economic value to themselves of safeguarding workers from injury and illness. So says the safety professionals’ organisation the Institute ...

AssetCo fire sale? (130 words)

The downside of the privatisation of public services has been shown in the case of AssetCo. ...

Blacklister’s award (132 words)

A Balfour Beatty subsidiary has been presented with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accident’s (RoSPA) most prestigious award for safety. ...

Health & Safety Back-up

Cuts mean an inspector may never call on firms (889 words)

Last month, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the employers’ group the Local Government Group (LGG) published new joint guidance to regulators tasked ...

Equality news

Cuts hitting disabled people’s lives more (321 words)

Disabled people are being urged to continue resisting government spending cuts, as a TUC briefing reveals the extent to which the cuts are affecting ...

Employers warned on stresses of working (309 words)

Cuts and job losses have radically impacted on the working population’s mental health, with management increasingly passing on the strain to workers. ...

Youth aspirations (169 words)

Young people from the UK’s poorest families believe that they will achieve little or nothing in life, according to a new report from The ...

Council care cuts (84 words)

A High Court ruling found that Birmingham City Council acted unlawfully by deciding to cut care services to disabled people. ...

Workplace Back-up

Coalition digs in over women’s pension age (964 words)

The coalition government’s Pensions Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons with a coalition government majority of 70. The Bill now ...

Reviews

Bankrupt Britain: an atlas of social change (265 words)

Daniel Dorling and Bethan Thomas, Policy Press, 208 pages, paperback, £29.99, Bookmarks special offer £25 ...

Chavs: the demonization of the working class (205 words)

Owen Jones, Verso, 256 pages, paperback, £14.99 ...

E-views

e-views (328 words)

Like most technologies, operating systems — the software that runs on computers and allows everything else to work — keeps changing fast. ...