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Workplace Report December 2020
COVID-secure or COVID-safe? - As the UK emerged from the first lockdown, central government policy directed that workplaces should be made “Covid-secure” through the use of risk assessments. We look at how well those assessments are working; ASHE 2020 - we look at the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings; Latest case law on contracts and employment tribunals
Pay and prices
AWEs improve (128 words)
Average weekly earnings continue to grow but there is continued weakness in Covid-hit sectors. ...
Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline database (213 words)
The figures show median (midpoint) pay settlements among all the agreements monitored through LRD’s Payline database. The weighted median (by ... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (241 words)
Regular pay excluding bonuses. Percentage annual increases ... Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (39 words)
ASHE 2019 median uprated by AWE. ... Open access
XpertHR (21 words)
Median increases for three months to end of Sept 2020 ... Open access
Prices (77 words)
1 Retail Prices Index (RPI),
Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
2020 forecasts (40 words)
1 Fourth quarter ... Open access
Bargaining news
Row looms over rumoured public sector pay freeze (748 words)
The prospect of a new round of public sector pay restraint in the 25 November “mini-budget” drew an angry advance reaction from trade unions and ...
Subscribers only
Huge win for outsourced cleaners after 10-year fight (361 words)
Outsourced cleaners at the University of London celebrated the ultimate victory of being brought in-house last month, after a 10-year campaign to win ... Subscribers only
Strike likely over reps’ jobs threat (511 words)
Higher education union the UCU is currently balloting members at the University of East London (UEL) for industrial action in a row over 10 ... Subscribers only
Give all workers pay rise, says RMT (157 words)
Rail union the RMT has begun balloting nearly 2,500 Scotrail staff for both strike action and action short of a strike, after negotiations failed to ... Open access
2020 pay survey available now (115 words)
LRD has released its 2020 report on pay in a free to view format. ... Open access
Care workers’ campaign advances (263 words)
Bosses at the North London Sage nursing home agreed to come to the negotiating table last month, after care workers and cleaners returned a 100% ... Subscribers only
Strikes set over Heathrow fire and rehire (209 words)
UNITE members at Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) facing controversial “fire and re-hire” plans have returned an 85% vote in favour of industrial ... Open access
Furlough extension creates winners and losers (280 words)
In another U-turn, on 5 November, chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the original Job Retention Scheme (furlough), where the government pays 80% of ... Subscribers only
Rolls Royce workers extend strike to save 350 jobs (288 words)
Workers at the Rolls Royce plant at Barnoldswick in Lancashire have been on strike since the beginning of November, in opposition to 350 threatened ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Disabled workers’ pay gap widens, says TUC (381 words)
Disabled workers now earn a fifth (20%) less than non-disabled workers, recent TUC analysis reports. It found that the pay gap for disabled workers ... Subscribers only
Unions back challenge over women’s SEISS entitlement (257 words)
Unions have given their support to campaigning organisation Pregnant Then Screwed (PTS) as it pursues a judicial review against the chancellor of the ... Subscribers only
Carer-friendly employers doing better during Covid (410 words)
Employers with established policies in place to support staff with caring responsibilities have been better able to meet the changing needs of their ... Subscribers only
Learning and training news
Most in need least likely to have studied during lockdown (433 words)
Millions of adults participated in some form of learning activity during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic, but those who might have ... Subscribers only
Yorks courses push sustainability (114 words)
The TUC is offering union reps in Yorkshire two new courses to help them make their workplaces more sustainable and encourage their colleagues to be ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Derecognition challenged, recognition won (378 words)
The TSSA transport union has begun a legal challenge to train operating company Avanti, which it says has “effectively ripped up its recognition ... Subscribers only
TU officer apprenticeship (97 words)
An apprenticeship standard for trade union officials developed between unions and the TUC’s threatened learning wing unionlearn has been approved ... Open access
European news
New German agreements reflect Covid’s impact (705 words)
German unions have reached four significant agreements in the last few weeks, with the deals they have signed indicating the impact of Covid-19 on ... Subscribers only
Delayed settlements deliver 5.4% rise in Sweden (388 words)
After agreeing to postpone pay negotiations in the spring, unions and employers in Sweden have reached signed agreements which provide staged pay ... Subscribers only
Law - Contracts
Contracts - the law (307 words)
Employment rights depend, as a minimum, on the presence of an “employment relationship”. There are important legal distinctions between an ... Subscribers only
Gold medal winning cyclist not a worker or employee (1,298 words)
The claimant in this case, Jessica Varnish, is a professional track cyclist. She entered into a written agreement with not-for-profit organisation ... Subscribers only
Law - Tribunal procedures
Employment tribunal procedures (527 words)
Nearly all employment tribunal (ET) claims must be brought within three months less one day of the matter complained of. ET’s can extend the time ... Subscribers only
Dismissal fair despite use of anonymous evidence (1,511 words)
The claimant in this case, Mr Christie, worked as a carpenter for the respondent, a housing association called Tai Tarian, for 14 years, until he was ... Subscribers only
No apparent bias when same lay ET panel member heard both cases (506 words)
The claimant, Ms Lyfar-Cisse, worked for the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust for more than 30 years until her dismissal in June 201 ... Subscribers only
Interim relief for employee who asked union to lodge pay grievance (525 words)
The claimant, Mr Morales, belongs to the United Voices of the World (UVW) union. In March 2020, his employer, Premier Fruits, asked all employees to ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Covid whistleblowers sacked (263 words)
A shocking one in five (20%) of whistleblowers who raised concerns about Covid-19 were sacked, according to new research by the Protect charity. ... Subscribers only
Union backs masks as part of risk control package (283 words)
Communications union the CWU has agreed the introduction of mandatory facemask wearing in Royal Mail indoor workplaces “as part of an holistic ... Subscribers only
Survey reveals abuse against journalists (243 words)
New research by the journalists’ NUJ union has revealed “shocking evidence” of abuse and harassment of journalists, including being punched, ... Open access
Legal challenge launched (142 words)
The lecturers’ UCU union has launched a legal challenge against the Westminster government over its decision to ignore advice from its Scientific ... Open access
New guide on the right to disconnect (125 words)
Technology was already blurring the line between work and our personal lives, says specialists’ union Prospect, with the “always on” culture of ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Figures show soaring work-related stress and depression (397 words)
New Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show there was a huge rise in levels of work-related stress, anxiety and depression even before the ... Subscribers only
HSE must tackle workplace Covid risks, think tank insists (391 words)
The HSE must step up its role in tackling Covid risks at work, says the Resolution Foundation think tank. Its new Failed Safe? research draws on an ... Subscribers only
HSE to lead study on Covid-19 transmission (154 words)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will lead a study to address the transmission of Covid-19 in the environment, including in workplaces, ... Open access
New regulations set out non-compliance penalties (107 words)
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 came into force on 5 November 2020, the start of the new ... Open access
Features
Covid-secure or Covid-safe? (2,712 words)
As the UK emerged from the first lockdown, central government policy directed that workplaces should be made “Covid-secure” through the use of ... Open access
Earnings and hours shake-up precedes employment shake-out (1,854 words)
Earnings growth stalled, paid hours fell, and actual hours worked fell by much more in the first month of the first Covid-19 lockdown. The Annual ... Subscribers only