![[Basket]](images/basket.png){kind=small}
Your order![[cover image]](images/issue/WR202206.jpg)
![[PDF]](images/pdf.gif)
Workplace Report June 2022
RISING INFLATION MEETS ‘BROKEN’ PAY SYSTEM - Drawing on an LRD survey of the further education sector, we look at how, as inflation, accelerates, unions and employers are gearing up for a new round of bargaining
ANY PORT IN A STORM? MAKING FREEPORTS WORK FOR WORKERS The reality of freeports, why unions and workers are concerned about them, and what unions can and are doing about them
Pay and prices
Increases fall behind 40 year highest inflation (110 words)
Median pay settlements rose to 4.2% for the three months up to and including April (LRD Payline, increase on lowest basic rates, see table, right). ...
Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline database (194 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered)
... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (240 words)
(r) revised, (p) provisional ... Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (33 words)
... Open access
XpertHR (21 words)
Median increases for three months to end of April 2022 ... Open access
Prices (65 words)
... Open access
Bargaining news
Can the wages squeeze continue? (836 words)
“Everything’s going up but our wages”, the TUC says. That will be the big message on 18 June, as unions march and rally in London. With much ...
Subscribers only
Airport workers win, others battle on (449 words)
Representatives of ground services staff at Glasgow Airport have won a new pay settlement worth up to 9.1%. The new deal, negotiated by the Unite ... Subscribers only
Victory at last for Sandwell leisure workers (291 words)
Leisure workers in Sandwell in the West Midlands have finally won their long fight to return to being paid under the terms of the NJC national local ... Subscribers only
Sheffield cafe recognises union (130 words)
Workers at South Street Kitchen in Park Hill, Sheffield have organised themselves with the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) and won ... Open access
Tube workers threaten Jubilee strike (158 words)
Members of the RMT transport union are planning to strike during the first day of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, in a row over bullying. ... Open access
Outrage over civil service job cuts plan (224 words)
The government announced last month that it will be cutting 91,000 civil service jobs. The announcement that staffing levels will be returned to pre-2 ... Open access
Security guards win through (202 words)
Security guards at the Royal Berkshire Hospital have won a pay increase of 7.5%, backdated to December 2021, with each worker receiving approximately ... Open access
Education staff ‘underpaid and undervalued’ (205 words)
Prison education is in the grips of a workforce crisis driven by low pay and poor conditions, universities and colleges union UCU says – and a new ... Open access
Green jobs delivery group launches (286 words)
A group has been set up to deliver on the government’s promise of new job creation for the “net zero” economy. The group comprises ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Women workers face ‘menopause misery’ (207 words)
Menopausal women are facing “unnecessary misery” in the workplace, according to Fawcett Society chief executive Jemima Olchawski, following the ... Open access
Unemployment twice as high for BAME workers (233 words)
The unemployment gap between BAME and White workers has widened significantly since the start of the pandemic, according to the TUC, with the ... Open access
Equality ‘at risk’ without bill (204 words)
The government’s failure to include an employment bill in the Queen’s Speech risks “turning the clock back” for women at work according to a ... Open access
Widening pay gap hits disabled workers (147 words)
Disabled workers earn almost £2 an hour less than their non-disabled colleagues according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics ... Open access
Ethnicity wage reporting to remain voluntary (123 words)
The government has said it will not force employees to report ethnicity pay gap figures, a decision described as “nonsensical” by Caroline Nokes ... Open access
Learning and training news
Programme to reskill pandemic-hit workers (409 words)
A programme to help reskill workers who were disproportionately affected by the Covid pandemic is being developed and piloted by the Learning & ... Subscribers only
Unions at loggerheads over Deliveroo deal (278 words)
Two unions are at loggerheads after the GMB general union signed what it called “an historic union recognition deal” with Deliveroo, covering the ... Subscribers only
Nuclear academy (70 words)
The GMB general union has welcomed the announcement by Rolls-Royce that it is to establish a new nuclear manufacturing academy in Derby, which will ... Open access
Learning rep award (68 words)
A workplace and learning rep for the Scotland number 1 branch of the CWU communications workers’ union has won a top Scottish TUC award in ... Open access
Recognition deals (114 words)
The University and College Union (UCU) has won a recognition deal at the Royal College of Art (RCA) as part of resolution to a long-running dispute ... Open access
European news
Spain: Unions push for local agreements (482 words)
Spain’s two major union confederations, CCOO and the UGT, are planning to increase the pressure for agreements at industry, regional and company ... Subscribers only
Austria: Inflation pushes up pay (287 words)
Three recent pay deals signed in Austria show the impact of inflation on settlement levels. ... Subscribers only
Germany: IG Metall wants 8.2% (93 words)
Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, is looking for an 8.2% increase in pay for its members in the steel industry. The demand was agreed at a ... Open access
Irish government restores normal hours (119 words)
The Irish government has agreed that public servants’ working time will return to the previously agreed length. As part of the then government’s ... Open access
Unions sign government pay agreement (90 words)
Italian public sector unions have finally signed a new three-year deal for employees in central government around four months after it was agreed in ... Open access
Employment law - Case reports
Injunction prevents Tesco removing contractual benefit in fire and rehire (876 words)
Early last year, the Tesco supermarket chain sought to change employees’ terms and conditions by terminating their existing contracts and replacing ... Subscribers only
Identifying the pool for comparison in a claim of indirect discrimination (881 words)
Miss Allen worked for clothes retailer Primark as a department manager in their Bury store. She had a child and was looking to return to work on 1 ... Subscribers only
Disciplinary action did not lead to constructive dismissal (805 words)
Mrs Harris initially started working for East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust in 1998. She went on to qualify as a registered nurse and became an ... Subscribers only
Failure to make reasonable adjustments does not always make dismissal unfair (1,081 words)
Ms Knightly began employment with Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation in 2009 as lead midwife for mental health, and was employed until ... Subscribers only
A party can apply for a transcript of ET proceedings (959 words)
Mr Kumar’s claims of direct race discrimination and victimisation arising from an unsuccessful job application were heard in the ET in February 2020 ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Union launches performing arts charter (198 words)
The Equity performing arts practitioners’ union has launched a mental health charter setting out five demands after a global scoping review of 111 ... Open access
Uniforms ‘unfit for purpose’ (251 words)
The UNISON public services union says ambulance uniforms are not fit for purpose and may put staff at risk after a survey of more than 1,000 workers ... Subscribers only
Education unions demand action on workloads (151 words)
Following the first in-person meeting of leaders from 10 education unions, the BIGTU British and Irish group of teacher unions has called on policy ... Open access
Sexual harassment in workplaces must not be tolerated, says TUC (150 words)
As this magazine went to press, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady and TUC president Sue Ferns were set to meet the TSSA president and senior ... Open access
Crash test dummy design failing women drivers (106 words)
Women are almost twice as likely as men to be trapped in a vehicle following a car crash, a study by University Hospitals Plymouth emergency medicine ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Eradicate asbestos, TUC demands (457 words)
The TUC is calling for a new law requiring the removal of all asbestos from public buildings, after a new survey found only one local authority in a ... Subscribers only
Companies failing to disclose safety breaches (263 words)
Companies are failing to report safety breaches and fines from regulators in their annual reports, according to a new report from the PIRC pensions ... Subscribers only
HSE issues safety alerts (314 words)
f RPE: the HSE has issued a safety alert after new research found that respirators or masks which rely on ear loops – including those provided ... Subscribers only
Features
Further education: rising inflation meets ‘broken’ pay system (3,037 words)
Further education is there for learners who need to learn a skill or trade, to study a vocational subject, or develop their professional career. It ... Subscribers only
Any port in a storm? Making freeports work for workers (2,195 words)
In May, the UK government announced a £26 million spend to set up a “freeport” in Wales. This adds to two freeports planned for Scotland and ... Subscribers only