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Workplace Report June 2015
Regional allowances - It’s not just workers in London who need compensation for the high cost of living. A survey details where allowances are paid and how much; Sick pay and absence – Workplace Report takes the temperature of public sector and private sector schemes; Latest case law on discrimination
Pay and prices
Median stays at 2.3% in May (272 words)
There was no change in the median settlements figure in May but with inflation lagging behind, the average organised worker has seen some improvement ...
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)
Source: ASHE 2014 uprated by AWE. ... Open access
XpertHR (20 words)
Median increases for the three months ending May 2015 ... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (152 words)
Total pay including bonuses. Percentage annual increases ... Open access
Prices (77 words)
1 Retail prices index (RPI), Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
Inflation forecasts (35 words)
Fourth quarter 2015 ... Open access
Bargaining news
Scottish further education agreement faces its first big test (727 words)
The UK’s newest national agreement, in Scotland’s further education sector, is about to face its first big test as unions challenge the lack of a ... Subscribers only
CWU agrees conduct code with Royal Mail (467 words)
The CWU communication workers’ union has agreed a new conduct code with Royal Mail. ... Subscribers only
Living Wage deals a factor in earnings growth (353 words)
Buoyant earnings growth over the last 12 months may owe something to the steady stream of Living Wage deals being clocked up across the labour market. ... Subscribers only
New offer at Tata Steel (173 words)
Steel unions Community, Unite, GMB and UCATT have suspended industrial action at Tata Steel, after the firm tabled a revised offer which would keep ... Open access
Success over spy in cab (123 words)
A dispute over the use of a vehicle tracking device at the lift and escalator firm Kone has been resolved after Unite members escalated their strike ... Open access
Living Wage milestone reached as OVO becomes accredited (397 words)
Independent energy supplier OVO Energy has become the latest accredited Living Wage employer and in the process became the 1,500th employer to become ... Subscribers only
Unions count successes (351 words)
A firm stand on pay and employment issues was bearing fruit this month on the buses, in higher education, the probation service and offshore energy. ... Subscribers only
Range of outcomes for multi-employer deals (276 words)
National multi-employer bargaining sets pay and conditions in some parts of the private sector, as well as most of the public sector. Late last year, ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Disabled workers - close the employment gap, says TUC (362 words)
Just how little progress disabled people in the workforce have made since the 2008 recession is highlighted in a TUC report. ... Subscribers only
‘Poshness test’ a barrier for working class jobseekers (324 words)
Working class applicants struggle to get access to top jobs in the UK, according to the government-appointed Social Mobility and Child Poverty ... Subscribers only
Face no fears over job interviews (139 words)
Changing Faces, the national charity that supports people living with a scar, mark or condition that affects their appearance, has developed guidance ... Open access
Bank’s next equality aim (121 words)
Royal Bank of Scotland has set a target for one third of its top 600 management roles to be held by women by 2020. ... Open access
Learning and training news
‘Union effect’ is a positive in boosting skills (300 words)
Workers who are trade union members are much more likely to receive job-related training compared to workers who don’t belong to a union, a TUC ... Subscribers only
Investment in Union Learning Fund pays back 10-fold (110 words)
Each £1 invested in the Union Learning Fund generates a total economic return of £10.25, a new Unionlearn report estimates, with £5.75 going to ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Union density dips but numbers are stable (332 words)
The proportion of employees who are trade union or staff association members (“union density”) slipped slightly between 2013 and 2014, from 25.6% ... Subscribers only
Unison guide to facility time (119 words)
Extensive guidance on negotiating for and defending trade union facility time has been produced by public services union UNISON. Although aimed at ... Open access
European news
Most Irish unions urge support for Lansdowne Road deal (488 words)
Irish trade unionists are currently balloting over a new pay agreement for the public sector, and in most cases, their unions are urging them to ... Subscribers only
German rail unions take different lines over pay deal (278 words)
The biggest German railway union, EVG, has reached a pay settlement with the Deutsche Bahn railway company. However, a rival union, the GdL, is ... Subscribers only
Solvay profit-sharing (164 words)
Solvay, the Belgian-based chemical group, has signed a profit-sharing deal with a body representing the company’s employees worldwide. ... Open access
Jobs agreement at Nissan (130 words)
Local employee representatives of CCOO, one of Spain’s main union confederations, have criticised an agreement with the Japanese car company ... Open access
Law - Discrimination
Discrimination - the law (1,036 words)
Discrimination law is found in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). The EA 2010 lists nine “protected characteristics”: age; disability; gender ... Subscribers only
Dismissal decision not discriminatory where final decision maker not influenced by discrimination (769 words)
Dr Reynolds, who was an expert in medical insurance, had worked since 1968 for a leading insurance provider, part of the Canada Life Group. After ... Open access
Baker’s refusal to make cake discriminatory on two counts (784 words)
In this well-known case, the claimant, Mr Lee, ordered a celebration cake from Ashers, a commercial bakery in Northern Ireland. ... Subscribers only
Transferee’s duty on reasonable adjustments over offer (998 words)
Ms Gunn worked for the Shropshire Doctors Co-operative (SDC) as a call operator answering the NHS 111 telephone service. She suffered from rheumatoid ... Subscribers only
Not race discrimination to insist clothes aren’t a hazard (511 words)
Ms Begum applied for a modern apprenticeship as a nursing assistant at a day nursery. She was an observant Sunni Muslim, whose religion required her ... Subscribers only
Single act of race discrimination not linked to dismissal (522 words)
Ms Salter, who was of mixed Irish/Afro-Caribbean heritage, worked as an associate director of finance at a large NHS Trust on £127,500 a year. ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Teaching staff need more protection in classroom (246 words)
The stabbing of supply teacher Vincent Uzomah by a student at Dixons Kings Academy in Bradford earlier this month came just weeks after education ... Open access
Stop exposure to weedkiller (170 words)
The TUC is calling on employers whose workforces use glysophate to take action to prevent exposure to the weedkiller after the International Agency ... Open access
Migrant workers safety advice from TUC (203 words)
Help for safety representatives and other union activists who work with migrant workers to make sure that their rights and safety are protected is ... Open access
Domestic abuse (58 words)
Firefighters’ union, the FBU, has published a domestic abuse policy document. ... Open access
Action on bullying (126 words)
General union Unite has called on the Methodist Church to do much more to eliminate bullying and racism, after the church issued an apology for ... Open access
Working longer (86 words)
Unions should campaign for proper research into the impact of working longer, the CSP union for physiotherapists said. ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Welsh government set to curb use of e-cigarettes (411 words)
Wales is hoping be the first part of the UK to introduce legislation on restricting the use of e-cigarettes. ... Subscribers only
New labelling law in force for hazardous substances (199 words)
The European Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures — known as the CLP Regulation — came fully into ... Open access
Asbestos failing (192 words)
A rep in the public service union UNISON says that Waltham Forest council could have avoided a £66,000 fine for failing to manage asbestos and ... Open access
Just £50,000 for a life (110 words)
A South Devon firm has been sentenced for serious safety breaches after a worker was killed after likely being thrown from a six-tonne dumper truck. ... Open access
Features
London Weighting helps with cost of living in capital (2,861 words)
The wide disparity between the cost of living in London and elsewhere in the UK sees many of the capital’s workers receiving compensation in the ... Subscribers only
Fit for purpose? Sick pay and absence deals analysed (2,071 words)
Two years ago, Workplace Report surveys found sick pay under pressure in parts of the public sector but improving in some private sector firms. And ... Subscribers only