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Workplace Report November 2015
2014-15 pay round - one in four settlements included changes to non-pay terms and conditions; Hours and earnings - ASHE 2015 records a real terms pay increase and a slightly narrower gender pay gap; Latest cases involving dismissal, transfers and redundancy
Pay and prices
Agreements show a 2.4% rise (248 words)
Settlements showed some improvement in October.
...
Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline Database (226 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered)
... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (152 words)
Total pay including bonuses. Percentage annual increases
... Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (42 words)
Source: ASHE 2015 uprated by AWE. ... Open access
XpertHR (20 words)
Median increases for the three months ending October 2015 ... Open access
Pay and prices
Prices (77 words)
1 Retail Prices Index (RPI),
Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
Inflation forecasts (38 words)
Fourth quarter 2015 ... Open access
Bargaining news
Low pay, job cuts – a regional press story (854 words)
Over the summer, south London journalists clashed over pay and jobs with one of the biggest regional newspaper chains, Newsquest. It is just one ...
Subscribers only
Three-year deal in pivotal national agreement (455 words)
Successive annual increases of 1.5%, 2.0% and 2.5% to hourly pay rates, travel and accommodation allowances have been agreed in a new three-year deal ... Subscribers only
Public sector recruitment crisis looms (234 words)
After years of pay curbs and austerity the public services may be facing a recruitment crisis.
... Open access
New Living Wage rates (96 words)
Increases in the hourly rates for the voluntary Living Wage were announced in early November.
... Open access
Unilever a new Living Wage employer (222 words)
Manufacturing has so far been one of the sectors least affected by the voluntary Living Wage. However, 500 of Unilever’s 7,500 UK employees will ... Open access
Firms try to avoid paying National Living Wage (474 words)
Some employers are planning to dodge chancellor George Osborne’s National Living Wage, the RMT transport union has warned.
... Subscribers only
DHL Pay success and protests (320 words)
The ups and downs of bargaining with a big but decentralised operator like DHL stood out this month, as the GMB celebrated pay success at its Banbury ... Subscribers only
1% cap bites — or should that be sucks? (180 words)
The government’s 1% pay cap continues to have a marked impact on earnings in the civil service.
... Open access
Dispute over agency workers at Royal Mail (100 words)
Spontaneous protests took place at the Royal Mail’s Plymouth delivery offices last month after several agency staff were brought in without union ... Open access
Equality news
Women apprentices get short end of stick (366 words)
The gender pay gap first appears in apprenticeships, warned campaigning group the Young Women’s Trust.
... Subscribers only
Muslims missing from top (371 words)
Urgent action is needed to tackle the chronic under-representation of British Muslims in the top professions, and to ensure more of the youngest ... Subscribers only
HIV guidance (165 words)
A guide to tackling HIV discrimination at work has been published by the TUC.
... Open access
Name blind university applications (100 words)
Proposals from the prime minister for a name-blind university applications process have been welcomed by the UCU university staff union.
... Open access
Learning and training news
Gender gap as women miss out on workplace training (270 words)
New research from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) reveals the ... Subscribers only
Tory cuts mean college closures (122 words)
An analysis of adult education budgets published by the House of Commons library this month suggests up to four in 10 further education and ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Usdaw calls on Aldi to talk (302 words)
Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has called on discount retail chain Aldi to get round the table to resolve complaints about working conditions, following ... Subscribers only
CWU gains (137 words)
Hundreds of contact centre workers joined the CWU communications union last month in a recruitment blitz called Contactober.
... Open access
Three recognition wins for Unite (84 words)
The Unite general union has won recognition for “all employees working as part of the Jetty Operation, including supervisors, at Stanlow Oil ... Open access
European news
Pay thaw in some parts of Europe but freeze remains elsewhere (769 words)
Public sector pay is set to rise in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, two countries where it was cut as a result of the economic crisis after the ... Subscribers only
Above inflation deals in Austria (328 words)
Negotiations in two major industries in Austria have produced near identical settlements; in both cases they are double the current level of ... Subscribers only
Law - Dismissal
Dismissal - the law (740 words)
f Employees dismissed unfairly can go to a tribunal if they have been working for at least two years. Some specific types of dismissal do not ... Subscribers only
Witness must get chance to rebut finding of bad faith (649 words)
Mr Lown worked for eight years as a prison officer for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) until he was dismissed for gross misconduct in ... Subscribers only
Two-year-old Facebook post leads to fair dismissal (822 words)
Mr Smith had worked for nine years for the British Waterways Board as an operative. He had an unblemished record, and had received consistently good ... Subscribers only
Interference from HR made dismissal unfair (759 words)
Mr Ramphal had worked for 19 years at the Department for Transport (DfT) in an auditing role. He spent many hours on the road, returning to the ... Subscribers only
Law - TUPE
Transfers - the law (269 words)
The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) are intended to protect the rights of employees on the transfer of ... Subscribers only
Permanently incapacitated employee did not transfer (541 words)
Mr Edwards worked for BT as a field maintenance engineer in its domestic network outsource (DNO) division. He developed a serious cardiac condition, ... Subscribers only
No transfer where old employer is part of new employer group (337 words)
Mr Layton worked as a decorator for Martlet Homes, a social housing provider. Responding to changes in the social housing sector, Martlet merged with ... Subscribers only
Law - Redundancy
Redundancy - the law (215 words)
A redundancy situation exists where an employer closes or intends to close the workplace or reduce the number of employees doing a particular kind of ... Open access
Duty to consult over job losses covers foreign state’s UK base (237 words)
The Supreme Court has ruled on one aspect of a long-running case brought against the USA, that resulted from a decision to close the American ... Open access
Health & safety news
TUC calls for zero tolerance as one in three bullied (369 words)
New guidance for safety reps and people who are being bullied at work has published by the TUC. It has called for employers to have zero-tolerance ... Subscribers only
Safety concerns over staff going to work when ill (337 words)
Construction union UCATT is urging employers to take heed of new research showing that so-called presenteesim — going to work when ill — is ... Subscribers only
Private prosecutions over dangerous dogs (137 words)
Communication workers’ union CWU says that “landmark” convictions of the owners of dangerous dogs in the first two private prosecutions brought ... Open access
Stress at work (131 words)
Every two minutes, a worker somewhere in the UK is made ill through stress at work which leads to 11.3 million lost working days, according to the ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Stiffer fines in guidelines but do they go far enough? (302 words)
New guidelines for the sentencing of organisations and individuals convicted of corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences will mean large ... Subscribers only
European Commission has nothing new to say (191 words)
TUC head of health and safety Hugh Robertson has slammed the European Commission’s 2016 Work Programme, saying it “does not offer a single new ... Open access
Union slams eight-year delay in sentencing (191 words)
The HSE is facing criticism from construction workers’ union UCATT after the bereaved family of a construction worker had to wait almost a decade ... Open access
Serious crimes at sea (124 words)
Maritime union Nautilus International has supported the call for a change in law that would require the UK police to investigate all serious crimes ... Open access
Electromagnetic fields (161 words)
The HSE is currently consulting on how the European Directive on electromagnetic fields (EMF) should be implemented in the UK. The requirements of ... Open access
Features
Better holidays the focus of improvements in conditions (3,027 words)
Pay settlements may have been running at just 2% in the 2014-15 pay round, compared with a 2.5% rise the year before. However, there was plenty going ... Subscribers only
Earnings up — but they’re still below 2009 peak in real terms (1,993 words)
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings for April 2015 show that with low inflation, pay in the UK managed a real terms increase. The gender pay gap ... Subscribers only