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Workplace Report September 2015
Living Wage - There will be a new statutory National Living Wage from April next year. How will this impact on collective agreements?; NHS - A Conservative government seems intent on putting NHS staffing into the critical ward.; Latest case law on contracts of employment and tribunal procedures
Pay and prices
Sure start to pay round (262 words)
The 2015-16 pay round started off a sound footing, the latest settlement data show.
...
Subscribers only
Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (227 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered)
...
Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (42 words)
Source: ASHE 2014 uprated by AWE. ... Open access
XpertHR (20 words)
Median increases for the three months ending August 2015 ... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (153 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
Pay restraint and caps hit public servants (855 words)
Headline average weekly earnings are now rising at 2.9%, but there is clear blue water between the private and public sectors. After five years of ... Subscribers only
Sports Direct targeted as other retailers pay up (441 words)
Sports Direct, notorious for its reliance on zero-hours contracts, is under pressure to pay the Living Wage, which other major employers from Lidl ... Subscribers only
Restaurant chains in union’s sights over tips (320 words)
The “tronc” system of dealing with workers’ tips needs a “radical, modernising overhaul”, says the Unite general union. The call comes in ... Subscribers only
Research staff strike for first time in 30 years (157 words)
Scientists and researchers at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) have walked out in their first pay strike for more than 30 years.
... Open access
Offshore catering staff to be balloted over action (129 words)
Employers in the Catering Offshore Trade Association (COTA) have been warned by the Unite general union that it will ballot its members across the ... Open access
Sixth form colleges agreement restores pay parity with teachers (494 words)
The national agreement for teaching staff in sixth form colleges has been updated to restore parity with school teachers’ pay, in a way that ... Subscribers only
Liverpool leads way (251 words)
Construction unions, the GMB, UCATT and Unite, have drawn up a Construction Charter to boost building workers’ conditions in Liverpool.
... Subscribers only
Agricultural Wages Board for Wales soon (279 words)
The agricultural sector in Wales will soon be taking a step closer to getting a replacement for the Wages Board for England and Wales that was ... Subscribers only
Equality news
More diversity needed in creative industries (369 words)
New guidance has been released by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and industry regulator Ofcom to help increase diversity in the ... Subscribers only
Older people not to blame for poor prospects of young (315 words)
Young people’s falling long-term economic prospects are not down to older people in society hoarding all the wealth, finds a new TUC report.
... Subscribers only
Women lose out on well-paid jobs (276 words)
Women in their twenties earn more than their male counterparts but this changes dramatically when they hit their thirties.
... Subscribers only
Learning and training news
Union provides learning on the move to members (432 words)
The road transport union URTU has had to address numerous obstacles to enable its members to access learning opportunities, not least because, as the ... Subscribers only
Views sought on levy (140 words)
The government has launched a formal consultation on the apprenticeship levy proposed for all large firms from 2017.
... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Four recognition successes, but two ballots lost (286 words)
The Independent Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) has declared union recognition without the need for a ballot in four cases in the last couple of ... Subscribers only
Gathering members into CWU (103 words)
The CWU communication workers’ union has reached a voluntary recognition agreement with Gather and Gather, a subsidiary of Mitie, which provides ... Open access
European news
Dutch unions want 3% rise (522 words)
FNV, the largest union body in the Netherlands, is calling for an average 3% pay increase for 2016, well above inflation, which is currently just 0.8% ... Subscribers only
Paris stores to open late (310 words)
Two of France’s premier luxury cosmetic stores, Sephora and Marionnaud, have reached a deal with the unions on late opening in their two flagship ... Subscribers only
Austrians call for €1,700 a month minimum (115 words)
Erich Foglar, head of the Austrian union confederation the ÖGB, has called for collective agreements to set €1,700 a month as the lowest monthly ... Open access
Portuguese unions demand €600 a month (109 words)
Portugal’s largest union confederation, the CGTP, has called for the national minimum wage to be increased to €600 a month from January 2016. The ... Open access
Poles get €440 (92 words)
The Polish labour ministry has formally announced that the national minimum wage will go up to 1,850 zł (€440 or £321) from 1 January. This is a 5 ... Open access
Law - Contracts
Contracts - the law (581 words)
Employment rights depend, as a minimum, on the presence of an “employment relationship”. There are important legal distinctions between an ... Subscribers only
Voluntary overtime comes into reckoning for holiday pay (440 words)
Mr Patterson, an assistant plant engineer, brought a tribunal claim in the Northern Ireland Industrial Tribunal (NIIT) for unlawful deduction of ... Subscribers only
No proof needed for sick worker to carry over untaken holiday (442 words)
Mr Plumb was employed as a printer. A work accident led to him being off sick for four years, at the end of which his employment was ended.
... Subscribers only
Summary dismissal justifiable over sending of porn email (462 words)
Mr Williams was a senior employee of Leeds United Football Club whose duties included spotting and nurturing new talent. ... Subscribers only
Equal treatment for agency staff confined to working time and pay (500 words)
Mr Coles was an agency worker who had been assigned for several years to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) estates management department, looking after ... Subscribers only
Refusal over companion at hearing a breach of trust (541 words)
Professor Stevens was a university academic who was under scrutiny over certain allegations relating to the documenting of some clinical trials of ... Subscribers only
Law - Tribunal procedures
Employment tribunals - the law (646 words)
Nearly all tribunal claims must be brought within three months of the matter complained of. Tribunals can extend the time limit in an unfair ... Subscribers only
Wasted costs order should not have been made (489 words)
Mr Mullick issued a tribunal claim for race discrimination and constructive dismissal against Paul, the high street patisserie chain. The claim was ... Subscribers only
Care must be taken over early conciliation paperwork (323 words)
Ms Sterling submitted a tribunal claim form, fee and application for remission to an employment tribunal four days before the claim deadline. Her ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Fight to get bullies banned from workplace (373 words)
The TUC has called for action to prevent workplace bullying and encouraged people to join a union to ensure they are fairly treated at work following ... Subscribers only
Risks of long working week cannot be ignored (322 words)
The number of people working excessive hours has risen by 15% since 2010, a new TUC analysis has found. After a decade of decline in long-hours ... Subscribers only
Stress toolkit (118 words)
The Scottish education union EIS has launched a new toolkit for university lecturers to help combat work-related stress after a survey it ... Open access
Better Loos 4 U (66 words)
Posters and guidance have been published by the Unite general union as part of its campaign to improve toilet facilities for mobile workers including ... Open access
Well-being plan (53 words)
Health unions have welcomed the £5 million plan to improve the health and well-being of health service staff announced by NHS England.
... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Why did HSE treat bin lorry crash as road accident? (273 words)
Campaign group Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) has questioned the HSE’s decision not to investigate the fatal bin lorry crash in Glasgow ... Subscribers only
Guidance for self-employed (348 words)
New HSE guidance has been published on how health and safety law applies to self-employed people following a change in the law that takes effect on 1 ... Subscribers only
Mapping the way forward on fines (87 words)
The TUC has pointed to the new one-stop, interactive online map of safety fines published by the US safety regulator OSHA as the way forward for a ... Open access
Bad Boss fined (87 words)
Fashion company Hugo Boss has been handed a £1.2 million fine for breaches of health and safety law after four-year-old Austen Harrison was killed ... Open access
Corporate manslaughter (64 words)
Executives from construction firm Linley Developments have pleaded guilty to the corporate manslaughter of Gareth Jones who was killed in January 2013 ... Open access
Price of a young life (130 words)
Earlier this month, Enfield-based Rooftop Rooms Ltd was fined £325,000 for breaches of health and safety law following the death of 16-year old ... Open access
Features
Whether statutory or voluntary Living Wage means a pay rise (2,605 words)
In his July Budget, chancellor George Osborne surprised everyone, and upset quite a few employers, with his announcement of a statutory National ... Subscribers only
Conservatives intent on getting NHS on the cheap (2,369 words)
The NHS faces a staff recruitment and retention crisis, with unions raising concerns about whether staffing numbers are adequate enough to avoid ... Subscribers only