![[Basket]](images/basket.png){kind=small}
Your order![[cover image]](images/issue/WR201610.jpg)
![[PDF]](images/pdf.gif)
Workplace Report October 2016
2015-16 pay round - Collectively agreed settlements averaged 2% in the last pay round; Latest case law on contracts of employment and tribunals
Pay and prices
Labour Research Department’s Payline Database (226 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered)
...
Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (42 words)
Source: ASHE 2015 uprated by AWE. ... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (355 words)
Readers should take note that there has been a change in the figures used in the Average Weekly Earnings table.
...
Subscribers only
XpertHR (19 words)
Median increases for three months to August 2016 ... Open access
Prices (77 words)
1 Retail Prices Index (RPI),
Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
Inflation forecasts (38 words)
Fourth quarter 2016 ... Open access
Bargaining news
Strike action looms over pension scheme closures (834 words)
The fight to stop employers closing defined benefit pension schemes continues, with some unions threatening industrial action.
... Subscribers only
New safety guidance for lone-working nurses (431 words)
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has published a new guide for nursing staff who work alone.
... Subscribers only
Dodgy scanners dumped (248 words)
Construction workers’ union UCATT says its complaints over the failure of a digital fingerprinting system have been vindicated after management at ... Open access
Coventry University contract change repelled (270 words)
A move to sack staff employed by a subsidiary of Coventry University and then re-engage them on inferior terms and conditions has been reversed, ... Subscribers only
Over 3,000 government workers paid less than voluntary Living Wage (398 words)
Thousands of workers across central government are paid less than the voluntary Living Wage, new figures have revealed in responses to parliamentary ... Subscribers only
Union challenge Fujitsu on jobs, pay and consultation (287 words)
Members of the Unite general union at IT Services giant Fujitsu Services, covered by the Manchester Recognition Agreement, are challenging the ... Subscribers only
Tax credits contract brought back in-house (220 words)
The PCS civil service union has welcomed the decision to bring the controversial Concentrix tax credits contract back in-house, with immediate effect. ... Open access
NHS pay in 2017-18 (80 words)
A uniform 1% increase should apply to all NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) staff groups in 2017-18, the Health Department for England (HDE) has proposed. ... Open access
Equality news
Lesbian/bisexual women face negative treatment (271 words)
Two-thirds of lesbian and bisexual women have experienced discrimination in the workplace, according to research.
... Subscribers only
Ability to work flexibly is related to earnings (380 words)
High-earning parents who earn more than £70,000 a year are 47% more likely to work flexibly than those earning between £10,000 and £40,000.
... Subscribers only
Discrimination in police (160 words)
UNISON’s police and justice service group conference held earlier this month opened with a vow to tackle employment discrimination.
... Open access
Bump up minimum wage (144 words)
The TUC has welcomed the increase in the National Minimum Wage for workers aged under 25 from 1 October, but has called for it to be raised further ... Open access
Learning and training news
TU studies under threat (260 words)
Trade union studies lecturers are mobilising support for under-threat departments with the message “Use us or lose us”.
... Subscribers only
eNote resource to help with maths (79 words)
TUC Education has developed an eNote aimed at union members to help them with maths.
... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Local union branch gives support to migrant workers (266 words)
Support for migrant workers in the Norfolk area who are concerned about their situation following the Brexit vote is being provided through a new ... Subscribers only
Watershed between BECTU and arts centre (137 words)
Entertainment union BECTU has reached a voluntary recognition agreement with Watershed, a cultural cinema and digital creativity centre in Bristol ... Open access
UCU wins recognition at university spin-off (95 words)
University lecturers’ union UCU had to go through the statutory procedure to win recognition on behalf of 70 teachers at CU Services Ltd – one of ... Open access
European news
Real-terms increase for Swedish central government staff (606 words)
In one of the last agreements to be signed in Sweden this year, unions representing around 111,000 employees in central government have negotiated a 2 ... Subscribers only
12 million Italians wait on a deal (176 words)
In Italy, some 12 million employees are covered by collective agreements that have already run out and are waiting to be renegotiated.
... Open access
Possible strike action in Ireland’s public sector (132 words)
The most recent settlement for public sector workers in Ireland is under pressure as unions representing teachers and the police (Gardaí) plan ... Open access
IT agreement in Austria (78 words)
The 50,000 or so employees in the Austrian IT industry can look forward to above-inflation increases next year after the GPA-djp union reached a pay ... Open access
Above-inflation deal for Spanish travel agency staff (80 words)
CEAV, the association of Spanish travel agents, has reached agreement on a three-year deal covering the around 50,000 workers employed in the ... Open access
Law - Contracts
Contracts - the law (352 words)
Employment rights depend, as a minimum, on the presence of an “employment relationship”. There are important legal distinctions between an ... Subscribers only
Results-based commission counts towards holiday pay (631 words)
Mr Lock, a member of the public services union UNISON, was employed as a salesperson by British Gas Ltd (BG). BG paid Lock basic salary plus ... Subscribers only
Pay protection for less skilled job a ‘reasonable adjustment’ (839 words)
Mr Powell was employed as a single line maintenance engineer (SLM) by G4S Cash Solutions (G4S).
... Subscribers only
Employer guilty over trafficked workers’ pay and conditions (406 words)
The six Lithuanian workers who pursued this case were employed by DJ Houghton Catching Services Ltd (DJHCS) who provided workers to poultry farms ... Subscribers only
Law - Tribunal procedures
Employment tribunals - the law (702 words)
Nearly all tribunal claims must be brought within three months less one day of the matter complained of. Tribunals can extend the time limit in an ... Subscribers only
No reason not to file unfair dismissal claim in time (513 words)
Mr Davies was dismissed from his job as a caretaker at Sheredes School (the school) on 12 June 2015. This resulted in him losing his family ... Subscribers only
No bias in tribunal’s warning to claimant over potential costs (584 words)
Mr Hussain brought various employment tribunal claims against the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (the Trust). During the hearing, the tribunal ... Subscribers only
Linked complaint may be pursued after issue of EC certificate (339 words)
Mrs Morgan was employed by Compass Group. Morgan was suffering from a disability. She commenced a grievance alleging that Compass had failed to ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Do something different in cancer awareness month (393 words)
A new fact sheet produced by the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre (GMHC) calls on union safety reps to make sure that issue of prevention is ... Subscribers only
Bank signs TUC charter to support terminally ill staff (285 words)
Santander bank is the latest employer to sign the Dying to Work Voluntary Charter.
... Subscribers only
Wrong-sized personal protective kit a risk (188 words)
A one-size-fits-all approach to personal protective equipment (PPE) and emergency equipment is putting seafarers’ health and safety at risk, ... Open access
Crossrail safety protest (112 words)
Last month, construction union UCATT demonstrated outside the Crossrail tunnelling contract over safety and workplace abuses on the project, which is ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
TUC highlights lack of health and safety inspections (314 words)
Nearly half of UK workplaces have never had a health and safety inspection, according to a new TUC survey of more than 1,000 trade union health and ... Subscribers only
More jail sentences for safety offences in 2016 (306 words)
More people are being handed jail sentences for health and safety offences since new sentencing guidelines for health and safety and corporate ... Subscribers only
Regulators ill-equipped over safety of fracking (88 words)
New research from the University of Stirling has found little evidence to back up government assertions that fracking in the UK will be safe as a ... Open access
Manual handling guide (173 words)
The HSE has published a revised edition of its guidance on the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (L23). The fourth edition has been ... Open access
More safety deregulation? (108 words)
The HSE has recently consulted on the revision of three sets of hazardous substances regulations, as part of a Tory-instigated deregulation programme. ... Open access
Features
Collectively agreed settlements again average out at 2.0% (5,295 words)
Bargaining around low pay expanded in the 2015-16 pay round with rises in the National Mimum Wage and the introduction of a higher minimum wage for ... Open access