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Labour Research June 2015
Conciliation - New rules oblige workers to seek conciliation before taking a tribunal claim. What has been their impact?
MPs’ union links - Labour’s new crop of MPs are helping ensure that the party’s links with the unions remain strong
Surveillance at work - In many sectors, surveillance of staff has become the norm.Labour Research reports
Social care - Adult social care faces tremendous pressures, thanks to cuts and privatisation
News
Unions issue warning over seven-day working in NHS (345 words)
Unions have warned prime minister David Cameron that his renewed commitment to introducing a seven-day health service will be unachievable without an ...
Subscribers only
Movement must build, says Turner (265 words)
“We are facing an onslaught of attacks,” said Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner speaking at the Labour Research Department’s ... Subscribers only
Industrial news (250 words)
Industrial action by members of the PCS public and commercial services union at the National Gallery is set to continue into June, following the ... Subscribers only
UK is most unequal country in Europe, research finds (268 words)
The UK is now the most unequal country in Europe in terms of wages and income distribution, according to EU research agency Eurofound. ... Subscribers only
Leader to be announced in September (221 words)
Labour’s next leader will be in post for the 2015 Trades Union Congress, with voting scheduled to begin mid-August and the announcement of the new ...
Open access
PCS conference (131 words)
In one of the first union conferences to be held since the general election, Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS civil service union, last ... Open access
Housing crisis (123 words)
Recent Office for National Statistics data show that house prices are increasing annually by 9.6% compared to just 2.2% for wages. ... Open access
Joblessness continues to fall (216 words)
Unemployment continued its downward path in early 2015. ... Open access
Negative territory for CPI inflation (61 words)
Inflation under the government’s preferred measure — the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) — moved into negative territory in April.The CPI was minus ... Open access
Key economic indicators
Key economic indicators (413 words)
Inflation +0.9%; Average earnings +3.3% ... Subscribers only
Union news
Tory majority sees increased likelihood of union merger (354 words)
The Tory election win has increased the likelihood of the broadcasting union, BECTU, merging into the Prospect specialists’ and professionals’ ... Subscribers only
Political fund (119 words)
The previous coalition government’s lobbying Act may have had an unintended consequence — encouraging unions who have no political fund to set ... Open access
Half of new cabinet ministers would fail to meet proposed new strike ballot threshold (343 words)
Half of new Cabinet ministers would not have been elected to Parliament if the Tories’ planned strike ballot rules had applied to them, the PCS ... Subscribers only
European news
Major blow to plans for improved maternity leave (360 words)
Prospects for better maternity leave provision across the European Union have receded, as the European Commission seems certain to go ahead with its ... Subscribers only
Ongoing agreements supported (264 words)
Spain’s supreme court has confirmed the ongoing effectiveness of collective agreements in a decision which limits the impact of the government’s ... Subscribers only
German nurseries on strike (112 words)
Staff at German nurseries have been taking indefinite strike action in a major effort to improve their pay. ... Open access
EU proposals for growth (133 words)
The European Commission has set out its recommendations to member states which it thinks will be “key to making Europe’s return to jobs and ... Open access
Features
What is the impact of early conciliation? (2,104 words)
New rules introduced last year mean that workers can no longer take a claim to tribunal without first considering conciliation. So what have these ... Open access
Union links remain solid (2,292 words)
Tensions over the Labour Party’s links with trade unions may have flared up again. But the Labour-trade union link in Parliament remains strong, ... Subscribers only
The boss is watching ... (1,688 words)
Some groups of workers are increasingly under pressure from surveillance through the use of new techology, as Labour Research reports. ... Subscribers only
Care needs a helping hand (1,681 words)
The adult social care sector has been struggling to cope with a cash shortfall and the impact of privatisation and outsourcing. ... Subscribers only
Law Matters
Disappointing ruling in Woolworths litigation (372 words)
The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has handed down a disappointing final ruling in Usdaw’s legal challenge following the insolvent ... Subscribers only
Case spotlights nature of tribunal composition (232 words)
A new case, Birring v Michael Rogers and Carolyn Moore t/a Charity Link UKEAT/0388/14/RN, has highlighted that a claim for trade union detriment ... Open access
Meetings and working time (270 words)
An important ruling on reps’ rights has confirmed that where a union is recognised, time spent attending meetings at the workplace in the capacity ... Subscribers only
Law Queries
Contact during sick leave (304 words)
Q. I am on long-term sick leave after a serious operation. What are some of the main issues I should consider? ... Subscribers only
Shared maternity leave (261 words)
Q. I am a single parent without a partner expecting my second child. I live with my mother who works full time. Under the new shared parental leave ... Subscribers only
References (188 words)
Q. I am making arrangements to leave to take a new job. Must my employer provide a reference? ... Open access
Law Back-up
Working people are in for an even tougher time (877 words)
This month’s Law Back-up looks at what the majority Conservative government, freed from the constraining hand of the Liberal Democrats, means for ... Subscribers only
Health & Safety Matters
Plight of Rana Plaza victims is highlighted (231 words)
Unions and the TUC marked International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April, with its rallying cry of “Remember the dead, but fight for the ... Open access
Offshore industry accused over safety performance (265 words)
Offshore unions have called on the oil and gas industry to halt its “opportunistic campaign” of job cuts and “the imposition of regressive ... Subscribers only
Unease over part-time ‘student army’ (138 words)
The white collar transport TSSA union has condemned plans by London mayor Boris Johnson to recruit a part-time, 200-strong “student army” to cope ... Open access
Victory for blacklisted rep (116 words)
Unite general union rep Steve Kelly, who was blacklisted by his employer Interserve Industrial Services because of his union activities while working ... Open access
Health & Safety Back-up
Migrant workers and health and safety (839 words)
A recent dispute at the construction of a giant waste-from-energy plant at the Wilton complex on Teesside has highlighted the issue of health and ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Policies disadvantage disabled workers (319 words)
A new study examining the impact of government policies on disabled workers finds that over the past four years there has been a deterioration in ... Subscribers only
Women’s presence not acknowledged by media (268 words)
Women were largely invisible in the recent general election campaign — unless they were married to the prime minister, according to analysis of ... Subscribers only
Gove to oversee human rights act’s repeal (238 words)
The Conservatives’ manifesto commitment to scrap the Human Rights Act is among the issues facing Michael Gove who has been appointed Lord ... Open access
Workplace Back-up
Falling unemployment masks huge insecurity (930 words)
New research from the TUC finds that underemployment is increasing while those jobs that are being created are overwhelmingly low paid and insecure. ... Subscribers only
Reviews
Detroit 67 (243 words)
The year that changed soul ... Open access
Growing space (240 words)
A history of the allotment movement ... Open access
E-views
e-views (400 words)
Navigation can make or break your website. If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for, they become frustrated and leave. This is especially ... Subscribers only