Pay and prices

Pay divide narrows as inflation slips (244 words)

With pay settlements collated by the LRD Payline database unchanged at 2.5% for the three months to November and inflation slightly down at 5.2% ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (71 words)

Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered). ...

Full-time weekly average earnings (16 words)

Source: ASHE 2011 uprated by AWE. ...

Annual increase in average weekly earnings (AWE) including bonuses (54 words)

1 The latest three-month average. ...

Other pay analysts (21 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end November 2011)2.0%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end October 2011)2.3% ...

Prices (13 words)

...

Inflation forecasts (19 words)

Fourth quarter 2011 ...

Bargaining news

Localism is back on the agenda for public sector (762 words)

Another two years of minimal pay rises for public sector workers were announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement last month. Pay ...

Government spending cuts hit pay at Babcock (415 words)

Government spending cuts have had a direct impact on private sector pay at Babcock International’s Marine and Technology Division, which runs dockyard operations for ...

Pay gap widens — official (255 words)

The gap between the lowest and highest paid employees in the country widened over the year to April 2011, according to analysis of the ...

Council terms and conditions hit by austerity (278 words)

Recruitment freezes, pay freezes, increased part-time working and reduced additional payments (including recruitment and retention bonuses) are among the measures local government employers have ...

BAe workers call for government investment (357 words)

Hundreds of union members and their families lobbied MPs on 14 December calling for action to save jobs at aerospace manufacturer BAe. The government ...

Unions take on firms who attack pension schemes (424 words)

Blue-chip companies are lining up to slash employee pension schemes, but private sector unions are showing that like, their public sector counterparts, they will ...

Long hours still going unpaid (269 words)

Workers are putting in extra hours each week that often go unrewarded, despite contributing £29 billion to the UK economy every year. ...

Equality news

Workers with hearing loss are quitting jobs early (516 words)

More than one in three people with hearing loss said they took early retirement and one in seven felt they had to change their ...

Mental health help on way (281 words)

It is hoped that more than 1,600 people with mental health conditions will be helped to stay in employment through the first ever government ...

Women and the cuts (180 words)

The TUC has issued a toolkit on Women and the Cuts designed to help trade unions assess the human rights and equality effects of ...

BME students Googled (111 words)

Internet giant Google has decided to continue with its Top Black Talent mentoring scheme after a one-year pilot which won the Race for Opportunity ...

Recruitment and organisation news

N30 strikes see surge in membership applications (308 words)

Two public sector unions have already reported a hike in workers joining them in the period leading up to the public sector strike over ...

Actors’ union supports reps (97 words)

Actors’ union Equity has launched a package of support for its “deputies” — members who are elected to be a first contact point for ...

Learning and training news

Skills central in Unite’s manufacturing strategy (341 words)

The UK’s largest union, general union Unite, has launched a strategy to revive and rebuild the UK’s manufacturing sector over the remainder of the ...

Apprenticeship funding boost (160 words)

A total of 250 employers are to start offering degree-level apprenticeships for the first time as a result of the government’s latest funding initiative. ...

European news

German steelworkers win above-inflation pay rise (320 words)

German steelworkers have won an inflation-busting pay rise and a guarantee that trainees will be offered permanent employment. The deal, signed by the IG ...

German paper industry rise (96 words)

The 50,000 employees in the German paper industry are also to get an above-inflation increase. The chemical and energy union IGBCE has reached a ...

Maternity leave to count as full service in retail sector in Austria (327 words)

Women in the Austrian retail industry who stop work to have a baby are to gain significantly from a deal reached by the non-manual ...

Dutch union calls for moderate rise (85 words)

FNV, the largest Dutch trade union confederation, is calling for a 2.5% increase in pay next year plus a €300 lump sum. The percentage ...

Inflation increases French minimum wage (110 words)

The French minimum wage, the SMIC, went up by 2.1% on 1 December to take account of the increase in prices since it was ...

Fiat in own deal (112 words)

Italian vehicle maker Fiat is negotiating its own deal with the unions, covering its 86,000 employees in Italy, after leaving the employers’ association Confindustria ...

Law - Discrimination

Discrimination — the law (539 words)

Since 1 October 2010, discrimination law is contained in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). With a few notable exceptions, the laws in EA ...

Failure to redeploy bullied employee was discrimination (1332 words)

Paul Foster worked for Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust (the Trust) for many years. He was a senior security inspector in the Security Department. ...

Ex-employees can bring equal pay claims in the civil courts (447 words)

A group of 174 female ex-employees who were former cooks, cleaners, caterers and care staff for Birmingham City Council brought a claim under the ...

Equal pay: each pay element should be compared separately (339 words)

In this case, a group of female healthcare assistants and receptionists brought equal pay claims against the St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust. ...

EHRC criticises outcome of reasonable adjustments case (594 words)

Jane Cordell was a profoundly deaf employee working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). She was offered the role of deputy head of ...

Directors can be liable (513 words)

Mr Chandal and Mr Saini were employees at the All Saints Haque Centre, a not-for-profit advice centre. They each brought successful claims of unfair ...

Marriage discrimination (362 words)

Mrs Dunn worked for the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, a small training and support organisation with 12 employees, where she was recruited ...

When compulsory retirement can be justified (342 words)

This important European Court (ECJ) case looks at factors likely to be taken into account when deciding whether a compulsory retirement age can be ...

Pilots challenge age rule (200 words)

German airline Lufthansa was party to a collective agreement which required commercial airline pilots to retire at 60. Two German pilots challenged this term, ...

Health & safety news

Unions relieved at main conclusion of Löfstedt (463 words)

The TUC has broadly welcomed the long-awaited Löfstedt Report which concluded that health and safety legislation should not be radically altered. However, it has ...

Firms warn against cuts in inspections (103 words)

The Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC), which represents 9,000 private sector firms, has warned that the ending of pro-active inspections by the Health and ...

EU blacklisting law fails (107 words)

Lib Dem members of the European Parliament have voted against a proposal which would have protected workplace safety reps from blacklisting and victimisation. ...

Road deaths spark fears over hauliers’ hours (262 words)

Not enough is being done to prevent Britain’s 300,000 heavy goods vehicle drivers from being made to work excessive hours, according to the Unite ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Direct labour ‘responsible’ for Olympic site safety (384 words)

The London Olympic site has been given a safety report which is positive but which fails to credit the union-initiated agreement on direct labour ...

Airline pilots slam plan to increase flying hours (337 words)

European proposals that airline pilots be able to work longer hours have been condemned as unsafe by their union in the UK, BALPA. ...

Unions and charities push for law on dog ownership (311 words)

A renewed campaign for new legislation to combat irresponsible dog ownership has been set up by the CWU communications union along with five other ...

Features

The enemy within: negotiating on monitoring and surveillance (2131 words)

Disturbing evidence continues to mount of management’s over-enthusiastic monitoring and spying on their employees. But a Workplace Report survey of reps shows that unions ...

Where you work is what you eat: no set-price menu for allowances (2221 words)

The amounts staff are allowed to claim for subsistence when they have to work away from their usual workplace vary widely. And while specified ...