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Workplace Report June 2021
Unions fight fire and rehire -unprecedented numbers of employers have tried to force through fire and rehire policies during the pandemic; Young people and the post-COVID future during the Covid pandemic, young workers have been more likely to face redundancy, to be furloughed at the lower rate of pay and to see their wages or hours cut.; Latest case law on employment tribunals and compensation
Pay and prices
Growth still masking skewed economy (112 words)
Official figures for average weekly earnings in March for regular pay (excluding bonuses) in the whole economy continue to show growth at 4.9%. ...
Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline database (221 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) (243 words)
Regular pay excluding bonuses. Percentage annual increases ... Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (33 words)
... Open access
XpertHR (21 words)
Median increases for three months to end of April 2021 ... Open access
Prices (77 words)
1 Retail Prices Index (RPI),
Jan ’87=100 ... Open access
2021 forecasts (37 words)
1 Fourth quarter ... Open access
Bargaining news
Talk or walk (787 words)
Nearly half a million employees resign each year as a result of conflict. Acas says handling disagreements and complaints early before employment ...
Subscribers only
IKEA commits to Living Wage (180 words)
Unions have welcomed last month’s decision by retail giant IKEA to re-commit to paying workers at least the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) rate, ... Open access
TUC intervenes with review bodies (390 words)
In what it describes as “an unprecedented move”, the TUC has directly approached five of the independent pay review bodies whose recommendations ... Subscribers only
Company wins praise for ‘Living Hours’ (212 words)
Scottish energy provider SSE has been confirmed as an accredited Living Hours Employer, which means that, as well as paying the real Living Wage, it ... Open access
Early money at Tesco Bank (68 words)
Staff at Tesco Bank/Tesco Personal Finance, including 1,500 based in Scotland, have had an early pay rise. A paybill increase of 2% was distributed ... Open access
Negotiated improvements for self-employed couriers (201 words)
The GMB union and parcel delivery company Hermes have agreed further benefits for “self employed-plus” couriers, updating their ground-breaking 20 ... Open access
Formula pay rises deliver differing results (194 words)
Recent pay increases monitored by the LRD Payline database have delivered a variety of different results, depending on their pre-agreed “formula” ... Open access
Council in school catering policy change (289 words)
A London borough council paying school catering staff less than the London Living Wage (LLW) has changed its policy after six months of effort by ... Subscribers only
Probation changes set pay challenge (544 words)
Probation in England and Wales is on the cusp of change, overcoming the fragmentation caused by the government’s earlier Transforming ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Scottish youth unemployment ‘at crisis point’ (345 words)
Current levels of youth unemployment will lead to up to £2.4 billion and £3 billion in lost wages for Scotland’s young people, if there is no ... Subscribers only
Survey: three quarters of LGBT+ higher education staff considered resigning (303 words)
Over three-quarters (77%) of LGBT+ staff have considered leaving the higher education sector, a report by the UCU college and lecturers’ union has ... Subscribers only
Over 50s in worst employment drop since 1980s (396 words)
The Covid-19 crisis has led to the biggest annual employment fall for workers over 50 since the 1980s, according to a report published last month by ... Subscribers only
Learning and training news
TUC warns of flexi-job apprenticeship exploitation risks (384 words)
Safety from exploitation and poor training quality must be assured for those participating in the government’s planned “flexi-job ... Subscribers only
Apprenticeships were in decline even pre-Covid (193 words)
Young potential apprentices were hit disproportionately hard by the fall in the number of apprenticeships started during the first Covid lockdown, ... Open access
Union takes on Cambridge University over representation (279 words)
The University and College Union branch at Cambridge University (CUCU) has stepped up its campaign for full union recognition and for fair pay and ... Subscribers only
Recognition wins (125 words)
Staff at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) have voted overwhelmingly in favour of general union Unite being recognised as the union ... Open access
European news
Breakthrough at Amazon’s biggest Spanish site (443 words)
The US online retail company Amazon has reached agreement with unions on a new deal covering its largest site in Spain, the distribution centre at ... Subscribers only
Workers in the former East still work longer hours (332 words)
The recent agreement for the metal working and electrical industries, initially signed in the region of North Rhine Westphalia on 30 March (see ... Subscribers only
Two-year pay deal in Dutch construction (109 words)
Unions and employers have reached a two-year pay deal for the around 110,000 workers employed in construction and infrastructure. The agreement, ... Open access
Deal secures EasyJet employment in France (73 words)
Unions and EasyJet management in France have agreed a long-term deal which will safeguard employment in the country and maintain the wages of most ... Open access
Renault signs global remote working deal (84 words)
French based motor manufacturer Renault has signed an agreement on remote working with global union federation IndustriALL. The document, which ... Open access
Law - Tribunal procedures
Employment tribunals - the law (566 words)
Nearly all employment tribunal (ET) claims must be brought within three months less one day of the matter complained of. ETs can extend the time ... Subscribers only
Judge erred when striking out in claimant’s absence (1,077 words)
Nancy Mukoro was employed by the IWGB union as a legal department coordinator from July 2015 until her dismissal in November 2016. She brought claims ... Subscribers only
Judge wrong to strike out claim without identifying it (873 words)
Agency worker Daniel Cox was employed by Adecco to work in the Special Educational Needs Department at the London Borough of Croydon. His initial ... Subscribers only
Employer had not waived privilege to all documents (1,090 words)
Solicitor Peter Watson joined law firm Hilary Meredith as chief executive officer in June 2017 and invested £100,000 in shares in the firm. In ... Subscribers only
Compensation: - the law (176 words)
Compensation for claims of discrimination and whistleblowing includes an award for “injury to feelings” that will be assessed by the employment ... Open access
Compensation for a whole lifetime of lost earnings should be rare (929 words)
Mr Shoukrey was a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician who joined Dorset County Hospital NHS Trust in June 2011, where he was employed as a ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Health and care workers ‘need higher standard of PPE’ (198 words)
As the spread of new variants raises the prospect of a further wave of Covid cases, an alliance of trade unions and health professional bodies is ... Open access
Unions mark Mental Health Week (207 words)
Mental health policies must be put in place or Covid-related pressures and increased home working could “act as detonators of mental health ... Open access
Union wants safeguards over hi tech kit (337 words)
The government ignored the advice of its own SAGE scientific advisory group when it lifted the requirement for face coverings to be worn in schools ... Subscribers only
Loss of life won’t dent CEO’s pay, says PIRC (140 words)
Research from the PIRC pensions investment research organisation has found that the work-related death of an employee cuts chief executive officer ... Open access
Victory over remote monitoring (118 words)
Workers at call centre giant Teleperformance, which employs around 383,000 workers worldwide, have won their fight against the mandatory installation ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Union calls on regulators to publish visit records (154 words)
The Unite general union has called on regulators, including the HSE, local authorities and public health bodies, to publish records about whether ... Open access
Agricultural deaths rise prompts action call (169 words)
Workplace agricultural deaths have risen sharply from 20 in the whole of 2019/20 to 33 already in 2020/21 by the third week of February – a 61% ... Open access
Safety inspections ‘slashed’ across Europe (493 words)
The number of workplace safety checks across Europe was at its lowest in a decade when Covid-19 struck, according to new research by the ETUC ... Subscribers only
HSE in asbestos review (144 words)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reviewing whether the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 are continuing to meet their objectives, remain ... Open access
World Asthma Day marked by fumes focus (128 words)
The HSE marked World Asthma Day on 4 May by announcing an inspection focus on fabricated metal businesses to check compliance with its guidance on ... Open access
Features
Unions fight fire and rehire (3,220 words)
British Gas, British Airways, Heathrow Airport, Sheffield University and Go North West are some of the better-known employers that have been prepared ... Open access
Young people and the post-Covid future (1,833 words)
During the Covid pandemic, young workers have been more likely to face redundancy, to be furloughed at the lower rate of pay and to see their wages ... Subscribers only