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Workplace Report September 2022
PAY AND PRICES BARGAINING #Hotstrikes summer continues Wave of wildcat actions hits Amazon Uber drivers to get up to 5% pay rise Scottish public sector workers to take action EQUALITY Three out of four mothers work Equalities committee urges action on menopause LEARNING AND TRAINING Ofsted finds apprentices still suffering multiple problems RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISATION Recognition wins at progressive employers EUROPE Above-inflation deal reached with Lufthansa Education workers still waiting for a deal LAW AT WORK Employment law — the latest cases HEALTH AND SAFETY Government ‘guilty of criminal complacency’ Union launches comedians’ charter Action call on accident anniversary Union: HSE must explain drop in inspections WHEN ENOUGH ISN’T ENOUGH: HOW PAY REVIEW BODIES FAILED THE REAL WAGES CHALLENGE The pay review bodies had a mostly free hand this year – so why are workers and unions so disappointed with their recommendations? WHY THE GOVERNMENT CAN AFFORD DECENT PUBLIC SECTOR PAY Workplace Report examines the myths the government uses to justify pay restraint, and shows how decent pay for the public sector is perfectly affordable
Pay and prices
Gap between wages and rising prices widens (118 words)
RPI is at 12.3% as the “cost of living crisis” looks set to cause lasting damage to living standards unless drastic action is taken. Payline, ...
Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline database (193 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered) ... Open access
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (239 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 July 2022 ... Open access
Prices (65 words)
... Open access
Bargaining news
Pay rises can’t wait (950 words)
Inflation is driving the fastest fall in real pay ever recorded, and a growing number of employers are realising that extra pay cannot wait until ...
Subscribers only
#Hotstrikesummer continues (352 words)
Mass industrial action continued throughout August with repeated strikes by over 50,000 rail workers from ASLEF, the TSSA and RMT unions.
... Subscribers only
Wave of wildcat actions hits Amazon (428 words)
Amazon warehouse workers across the country have walked off the job in a wave of unofficial action this summer after the employer announced that they ... Subscribers only
Good deals for aviation workers (295 words)
... Subscribers only
Uber drivers to get up to 5% pay rise (294 words)
Tens of thousands of Uber drivers are set for increased earnings following GMB negotiations with the company. Prices will increase across the UK at ... Subscribers only
Refinery and energy workers hold wildcat strikes (453 words)
Oil refinery workers at Grangemouth in Scotland downed tools and walked off-site in an unofficial action in August in a protest over pay. The 250 ... Subscribers only
Scottish public sector workers to take action (123 words)
Workers in early years, waste and schools employed by eight councils are set to strike after rejecting a 2% pay “rise”. In other Scottish ... Open access
Television pay awards (152 words)
The ITV television network initially awarded all staff a 3% rise but the Bectu union has successfully negotiated a further consolidated uplift of 7.11 ... Open access
Equality news
Three out of four mothers work (266 words)
The number of mothers in the workforce has reached its highest level in 20 years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
... Subscribers only
Equalities committee urges action on menopause (469 words)
The UK parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee has urged the government to amend the Equality Act 2010 so as to introduce menopause as a ... Subscribers only
One in five workplaces has no LGBT+ policy (287 words)
One in five (21%) workplaces has no policy in place to support its LGBT+ workers, according to an online poll of 1,001 HR managers carried out for ... Subscribers only
Learning and training news
Ofsted finds apprentices still suffering multiple problems (423 words)
A number of problems created by the Covid pandemic for apprentices and other learners have not been reversed, according to a report by education ... Subscribers only
Recruitment and organisation news
Recognition wins at progressive employers (347 words)
Unions have notched up a number of small-scale recognition agreements in recent weeks, both voluntary deals and those reached through the statutory ... Subscribers only
‘Biggest ever’ agreement (133 words)
Shop workers’ union Usdaw has signed an updated partnership agreement with supermarket giant Tesco, which the union says “provides for wider ... Open access
European news
Above-inflation deal reached with Lufthansa (379 words)
After two years without an increase, because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the German services union ver.di has signed an above-inflation ... Subscribers only
Education workers still waiting for a deal (355 words)
Despite months of negotiation, more than one million workers in schools, universities and research, including 850,000 teachers, are still waiting for ... Subscribers only
First agreement for Dutch baggage handlers (131 words)
... Open access
Irish public sector pay talks resume (159 words)
... Open access
Employment law - Case reports
Setback to fire and rehire challenge (775 words)
In 2007, Tesco reorganised a number of its distribution centres, which involved closures and relocations. As a result of collective bargaining with ... Subscribers only
Zero hours and holiday pay (429 words)
Music teacher Ms Brazel worked during term times for the Harpur Trust on a permanent contract. She worked between 32 and 35 weeks a year (over three ... Subscribers only
Whistleblower not protected because of way disclosure made (392 words)
Ms Kong was employed by Gulf International Bank as a senior business auditor. She raised several concerns, which amounted to protected disclosures, ... Subscribers only
Trans rights and use of pronouns (301 words)
Part of a doctor’s role was to assess people for disability-related benefits for the Department of Work and Pensions. As a Christian he believed ... Subscribers only
Need for democratic participation was a protected belief (419 words)
Mrs Jones was the head of membership and policy at a housing association federation and her contract of employment prevented her from having a ... Subscribers only
Criticism of gender-identity beliefs led to discrimination (858 words)
Ms Bailey, a well-known lesbian criminal barrister at Garden Court Chambers, holds gender-critical beliefs (the belief that someone’s sex is ... Subscribers only
Fashion store guilty of age discrimination (508 words)
Knitwear design specialist Ms Sunderland was employed by Superdry as a men’s and women’s knitwear designer between 2015 and 2020. She was aged 56 ... Subscribers only
Reasonable belief in misconduct is required (424 words)
A support worker at a charity which supports people with learning disabilities threatened a colleague, saying he had a gun with her name on it. He ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Government ‘guilty of criminal complacency’ (216 words)
Wildfires and other incidents stretched firefighters and control staff to the limit as the country faced record temperatures following a decade of ... Open access
Union launches comedians’ charter (230 words)
The Equity performing arts practitioners’ union launched a comedians’ charter at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last month. It is a set of ... Open access
Action call on accident anniversary (197 words)
To mark the second anniversary of the fatal Carmont train derailment on 12 August 2020, which killed the driver, conductor and a passenger and ... Open access
New toolkit on protecting pregnant workers (180 words)
The TUC and the Maternity Action charity have published a new toolkit for safety reps and other reps who may be the first point of contact for ... Open access
‘Protect hands while protecting the planet’ (104 words)
New online resources on understanding the principles and practice of sustainable glove use while looking after skin have been developed by the RCN ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Union: HSE must explain drop in inspections (197 words)
The Unite general union has called on the HSE to “explain and justify the sharp decline in construction inspections” after its research found ... Open access
Employers must protect workers from extreme heat (510 words)
Employers must act to “future proof” their workplaces in the wake of recent extreme heat events, says the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
... Subscribers only
Fines follow safety breaches (195 words)
Last month, technology firm Dyson was fined £1.2 million after a 1.5 tonne milling machine fell and struck an employee, causing him head and chest ... Open access
Has Robens stood the test of time? (89 words)
Reflecting on the 50th anniversary of the Robens Report of 1972, which led to the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, HSE director of regulation ... Open access
Features
When enough isn’t enough: how pay review bodies failed the real wages challenge (3,147 words)
A large chunk of the public sector workforce, around 2.4 million workers, have their pay set by government ministers after they have received ... Subscribers only
Why the government can afford decent public sector pay (2,294 words)
For years now, central government has used overarching economic arguments to keep public sector pay down. From 2010, we had “austerity”, huge ... Subscribers only