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Workplace Report March 2018
2017-18 pay round - The median increase for the pay round so far is 2.5% - an improvement on the 2.2% rise last year at this time; Union learning - There is a £12.30 return to the economy from every £1 invested in the Union Learning Fund - one of the benefits of union-led learning; Latest case law on discrimination
Pay and prices
It’s 3.0% once again (101 words)
Settlements hit the 3.0% level for the third month in a row, LRD Payline data shows.
...
Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline Database (224 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered)
... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (254 words)
Regular pay excluding bonuses. Percentage annual increases
...
Subscribers only
Full-time weekly average earnings (41 words)
ASHE 2017 median uprated by AWE. ... Open access
XpertHR (19 words)
Median increases for three months to February 2018 ... Open access
Prices (77 words)
1 Retail Prices Index (RPI),
Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
2018 forecasts (39 words)
1 Fourth quarter ... Open access
Bargaining news
Public sector offers more money to lower-paid staff (856 words)
Union members covered by two of the UK’s biggest collective agreements — the NHS and local government — are considering significant pay offers. ... Subscribers only
Fujitsu tries to silence whistle-blowers (401 words)
“Unjustified” redundancies, in breach of agreements, employees’ contracts or the law are fuelling continuing strike action at IT services ... Subscribers only
Pay and pension deal put to CWU members (285 words)
The CWU communication workers’ union is consulting members at British Telecom (BT) on a proposed deal covering pensions and pay, with a strong ... Subscribers only
New minimum wage rates (158 words)
Statutory minimum wage rates rise on 1 April. The National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and over increases by 4.4% or 33p to £7.83 an hour.
... Open access
Employment tribunal compensation limits rise (135 words)
New limits to the compensation payable in successful employment tribunal cases come into effect on 6 April.
... Open access
Pay gap widens for women as they grow older (397 words)
Women earn less than men at every stage of their career but the gender pay gap is at its widest when women hit 50, says the TUC.
... Subscribers only
School teachers pay devolved to Wales (344 words)
Despite opposition, decisions about school teachers’ pay will be taken by ministers in the Welsh government, from September 2019, rather than the ... Subscribers only
County council ditches Living Wage (290 words)
Derbyshire County Council’s decision to stop paying the voluntary Living Wage has been described by the GMB general union as a “direct attack” ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Safety net missing for UK’s worst paid women (433 words)
Millions of working women face
financial insecurity, finds research by the Living Wage Foundation and the women’s campaign group, the Fawcett ... Subscribers only
Reform policies supporting dads in workplace, say MPs (316 words)
Current policies supporting fathers in the workplace do not deliver what they promise, particularly for less well-off fathers, a report by the House ... Subscribers only
It’s time to close tech gender gap (281 words)
Consultancy PwC has joined forces with 18 organisations to tackle a lack of women in UK technology roles. The organisations, including JP Morgan, ... Subscribers only
Learning and training news
Six nursing learning reps recruited (325 words)
A national learning agreement has been signed by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and nursing and care agency Interserve Healthcare.
... Subscribers only
Recruitment and organisation news
Gig economy and housing gains as Usdaw targets Lidl (422 words)
The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has been awarded statutory recognition in a case which is significant to unions organising in ... Subscribers only
Care workers sign for UNISON (139 words)
A union organising campaign among care workers in the North West has netted hundreds of new members for public services union UNISON. Some 210,000 ... Open access
European news
Guaranteed increases in Spanish public sector pay deal (563 words)
Spain’s public sector unions have agreed a new three-year deal for employees in the public sector, the first overarching agreement signed for 10 ... Subscribers only
New rules on bargaining in Italy (239 words)
Italy’s three main union confederations and the country’s largest employers’ association have agreed new rules for collective bargaining. ... Open access
Volkswagen - 4.3% rise (122 words)
Around 110,000 workers at German carmaker Volkswagen will get a 4.3% pay increase on 1 May this year in a deal negotiated by Germany’s largest ... Open access
Info rights blocked (105 words)
The European Commission has decided not to bring forward legislation to implement an agreement on information and consultation signed by unions and ... Open access
Italian health service (65 words)
Unions and employers have reached agreement on a pay increase for around 550,000 workers in the health service, the final part of the Italian public ... Open access
Law - Discrimination
Discrimination - the law (975 words)
Discrimination law is found in the Equality Act 2010 (EA10). The EA10 lists nine “protected characteristics”: age; disability; gender ... Subscribers only
Firm didn’t have constructive knowledge of disability (641 words)
Ms Donelien was employed by the outsourcing company Liberata as a court officer from 2004, preparing and presenting cases for the London Borough of ... Subscribers only
Transitional pension provisions were age discriminatory (531 words)
Both of these cases were based on changes made to public sector pension schemes following the 2011 Hutton Report on pensions and the enactment of the ... Subscribers only
Detriment for injury to feelings in working time discrimination (312 words)
This case involved a group of firefighters who were supported by their union, the FBU, in their working time dispute against their employer, South ... Subscribers only
Agency worker entitled to same perks as employees (461 words)
Mr Kocur became an employee of Angard Staffing Solutions (ASS), an agency providing workers to RMG. His services were provided to RMG as an agency ... Subscribers only
Police force committed perceived discrimination over disability (595 words)
Ms Coffey joined Wiltshire Constabulary in 2009 as a staff member and two years later applied to become a police constable there.
... Subscribers only
No coercion but expectation that analyst works long hours a PCP (467 words)
Mr Carreras was employed by United First Partners Research (UFPR) as an analyst. He often worked late.
... Subscribers only
‘In-situ cancer’ is a cancer and so a disability under Equality Act (495 words)
Ms Lofty, a member of the Unite general union, had been employed as a café assistant at First Café, owned by Mr Hamis. In March 2015, she underwent ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
TUC conference calls for action on women’s safety (381 words)
More action is needed to tackle sexual harassment, bullying and violence, long working hours, pregnancy discrimination and the taboo surrounding the ... Subscribers only
It doesn’t cost the earth to save the planet (342 words)
Trade unions must challenge the false choice of good jobs versus the environment, says the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group ... Subscribers only
Some loos change (174 words)
The Unite general union has welcomed news that London mayor Sadiq Khan’s 2018-19 budget will include £6 million of funding to provide permanent ... Open access
Miners denied compo (128 words)
Work and pensions secretary Esther McVey has rejected expert advice and refused to recognise Dupuytren’s contracture as a prescribed disease ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Prison maintenance staff sacked after raising safety issues (302 words)
The Unite general union has called for prison maintenance contracts to be brought back in house after an employment tribunal ruled private contractor ... Subscribers only
Stay in REACH post-Brexit (251 words)
The campaign group Alliance for Cancer Prevention (ACP) used a Lords debate on amendments to the European Union Withdrawal Bill earlier this month to ... Subscribers only
High Court rules Tories’ air pollution plan illegal (184 words)
Last month, the High Court ruled for the third time in three years that the UK government’s plans to tackle air pollution are unlawful .
... Open access
Dangerous dog sentence (102 words)
Communication workers’ union CWU called a 160-hour community service sentence handed down to an dog owner last month as a “satisfactory and ... Open access
Police merger on hold (102 words)
Train drivers’ union ASLEF has welcomed the Scottish government’s decision to put the controversial merger of the British Transport Police (BTP) ... Open access
TUC guide to new health and safety standard (71 words)
The TUC has warned that the new international health and safety standard ISO 45001, which was published earlier this month, must be much more than ... Open access
Features
Private sector leads the way in latest pay round (2,905 words)
The public sector pay cap may be ending but it’s still a mixed picture for pay in the 2017-18 pay round so far, with inflation-linked deals ... Open access
Union-supported learning at work brings widespread benefits (2,171 words)
Learning and progression is a core theme of the TUC’s Great Jobs Agenda. The TUC wants employers to give employees time off for union-led learning ... Subscribers only