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Workplace Report October 2015
The 2014-15 pay round - a median settlement figure of just 2.0% is the disappointment of the survey of the last pay round. However, with lower inflation, living standards for some will have improved; Latest case law on discrimination
Pay and prices
Real-term rises despite dip in September (249 words)
The overall settlement figure shows a dip in September. ...
Open access
Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (225 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
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (160 words)
Total pay including bonuses. Percentage annual increases ... Open access
XpertHR (20 words)
Median increases for the three months ending September 2015 ... Open access
Prices (76 words)
1 Retail Prices Index, Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
Inflation forecasts (34 words)
1 RPI excluding mortgages ... Open access
Bargaining news
Invisible workforce wants to be valued (724 words)
A campaign to improve working conditions for the UK’s 620,000 cleaners has been launched by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), with ...
Subscribers only
Almost one in four jobs pay less than Living Wage (420 words)
Some six million jobs paid less than the Living Wage in the UK last year, according to official estimates, with over half of them part-time jobs. ... Subscribers only
Gender pay gap persists even in new technology (301 words)
Technical specialists earn a third more than full-time employees generally on a median salary of £36,600, but still suffer from a 15% gender gap, ... Subscribers only
EDF action suspended (222 words)
UNITE members employed by EDF Energy to undertake Smart meter installations have suspended a planned week-long strike due to start on 19 October, ... Open access
National Minimum Wage (87 words)
On 1 October, the National Minimum Wage rose by 20p an hour to £6.70. The youth rate for 18- to 20-year-olds rose by 17p an hour to £5.30, while ... Open access
Junior doctors vote on strike over contracts (420 words)
Junior doctors across England, members of the British Medical Association (BMA), will vote next month on industrial action in a dispute over their ... Subscribers only
Meat on deal at St Merryn (342 words)
A three-stage pay deal has been agreed by Usdaw at St Merryn Meats, Cornwall. ... Subscribers only
Protests over construction pay rates (267 words)
A row has broken out over contractors allegedly failing to pay the nationally agreed engineering construction (NAECI) pay rates in Widnes, near ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Staff want their employer to reveal pay gap (370 words)
An overwhelming majority of employees — 93% — think that their employer should have to publish their organisation’s overall gender pay gap, ... Subscribers only
Maternity and pregnancy discrimination still rife (336 words)
A survey of pregnant women and new mothers has uncovered that, while many employers are supportive of female staff during and after their ... Subscribers only
City dominates family-friendly top 10 (249 words)
The annual list of the UK’s most flexible and family-friendly employers from charity Working Families has a high concentration of firms from the ... Open access
Learning and training news
Quality concerns as apprentice numbers rise (468 words)
More people than ever are doing an apprenticeship, with a particular growth in the number of higher apprenticeships, provisional government ... Subscribers only
Recruitment and organisation news
Union reps a moneysaver (393 words)
The government’s claim that its squeeze on trade union facility time will save taxpayers money has been turned on its head by new evidence released ... Subscribers only
Usdaw targets Lidl supermarket (122 words)
Unions have called on the Lidl supermarket chain to get round the table and talk about union representation, after the company reversed its plan to ... Open access
European news
Deal after German childcare strike (414 words)
Employers and unions in local government in Germany have reached agreement on pay increases for around 240,000 people working in local government ... Subscribers only
Ireland - new rates for cleaning, security (411 words)
Some 50,000 Irish workers are benefiting from pay increases as a result of new pay rules introduced by the Irish government. ... Subscribers only
Dutch unions agree settlement in metal (275 words)
Unions representing around 330,000 employees in the metal and technical area, which covers workers in central heating installation, auto-repair and ... Subscribers only
Law - Discrimination
Discrimination - the law (940 words)
Discrimination law is found in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). The EA 2010 lists nine “protected characteristics”: age; disability; gender ... Subscribers only
Claim can be brought over victimisation by association (933 words)
Mr Thompson, a bus driver, was dismissed by the London Central Bus Company for breaking the rules at work by giving his high-viz vest to a co-worker. ... Subscribers only
Ruling draws distinction between unfavourable and detriment (580 words)
Mr Williams suffers from the neurological condition Tourette’s syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), along with other health conditions. ... Subscribers only
Position of each respondent has to considered separately (388 words)
Mr Wootlif was chief executive officer of the Smart Diner Group, an online restaurant booking service, until his summary dismissal on 18 October 2013. ... Subscribers only
A limited company can claim direct discrimination (790 words)
Mr Abrams worked for EAD Solicitors as a member of that firm’s limited liability partnership (LLP). As he approached retirement, he decided, for ... Subscribers only
Claimants were not entitled to retroactive pension benefits (502 words)
The Court of Appeal heard two important rulings to decide whether entitlement to pension benefits should be backdated to take account of earlier ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Trade Union Bill a threat to safety reps (237 words)
The Trade Union Bill could put lives at risk, says the TUC. It is campaigning to get the message about the threat the bill poses to safety reps out ... Open access
New advice aims to support workers with cancer (191 words)
New guidance on supporting people with cancer at work has been issued by the TUC as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. ... Open access
Law needed to rid workplaces of asbestos (220 words)
The UK needs a new law on asbestos with a clear timetable for the eradication of asbestos from every single workplace, says a group of MPs. ... Open access
Get active at work (123 words)
The CSP physiotherapists’ union has backed calls from NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens for the government to support employers who deliver ... Open access
Carrier bag charge fears (114 words)
Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has called on customers to respect staff as a 5p carrier bag charge begins in England this month. ... Open access
Overloaded teachers (70 words)
More than half of teachers (53%) are considering leaving the profession in the next two years, with workload one of the main reasons for the exodus, ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Victory as prison smoking ban begins in 2016 (289 words)
The POA prison officers’ union has welcomed the government’s announcement that all prisons in Wales and four in the South West of England will ... Subscribers only
Four employers hit with fines over worker deaths (444 words)
A wind turbine supplier and an installation contractor are just two of four firms that have recently been fined over work-related deaths. ... Subscribers only
Turban-wearing Sikhs (51 words)
From 1 October, under the Deregulation Act 2015, a health and safety exemption that was originally designed to allow Sikhs to wear a turban in place ... Open access
Fee for Intervention (126 words)
Recently published data on the HSE’s cost recovery scheme Fee for Intervention (FFI) shows that the number of invoices issued, the number of ... Open access
New HSE strategy (112 words)
HSE chair Judith Hackitt told the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) House of Lords Luncheon last month that, while it was ... Open access
Features
Unions look to new pay round for sustained improvements (5,057 words)
The 2.0% rise in collectively agreed pay settlements in the last pay round was disappointing and was the lowest rise since the 2009-10 pay round. ... Open access