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Workplace Report November 2022
PAY AND PRICES 2 BARGAINING 3-5 Wave of strikes goes from strength to strength Median pay hits 8% Workers win parity Ballots deliver strike mandate Environment Agency staff may strike for first time EQUALITY 6 ‘Reckless’ plans a backward step Think tank: disabled workers need more support Majority see diversity improvements at work LEARNING AND TRAINING 7 Green skills training saves in-house jobs Labour’s skills policy RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISATION 7 Deal plugs recognition gaps EUROPE 8 Chemical deal includes €3,000 tax-free bonus EU minimum wage adopted Self-employed get better access to bargaining LAW AT WORK 9-12 Employment law — the latest cases HEALTH AND SAFETY 13-14 Proposals ‘will risk lives’ Workplace rights attacks ‘will doom Tories’ All party group backs making suicide reportable Inspections target injuries THE YEAR OF PAY ACTION: 15-19 LRD’S ANNUAL SURVEY OF WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING WITH PAY Pay and earnings just haven’t been able to keep pace with soaring inflation, yet 2021- 2022 has seen some of the highest settlement levels for many years. If they can be sustained into 2022-23, those real terms losses may yet be recoverable.
Pay and prices
Private sector pay deals reach 9.8% (109 words)
RPI remains staggeringly high at 12.6%, but pay is pushing up too, with workers achieving a median 9.8% pay increase in the private sector over the ...
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 August 2022 ... Open access
Prices (65 words)
... Open access
Bargaining news
Companies for people (631 words)
Who benefits from our work? At a time when we’re all fighting to cope with inflation, the TUC also has its sights on the longer term. With its eye ...
Subscribers only
Wave of strikes goes from strength to strength (468 words)
Dockers at the port of Liverpool are continuing their weeks of strike action, with the latest taking place between 24 October and 7 November. To ... Subscribers only
Median pay hits 8% (318 words)
With all agreements hitting 8% and the private sector at 9.8%, the LRD’s Payline data on median pay settlements (see page 2) has shown a ... Subscribers only
Environment Agency staff may strike for first time (270 words)
Environment Agency staff are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay. A decision to strike would be the first in the ... Subscribers only
Workers win parity (326 words)
Outsourced workers for healthcare facilities firm OCS at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust have won a long-running dispute. After a two-year ... Subscribers only
Ballots deliver strike mandate (500 words)
Over 70,000 university staff at 150 universities are set to take strike action after UCU members overwhelmingly voted “yes” to strike action in ... Subscribers only
Strike combats milk rota changes (151 words)
Around 70 HGV drivers and shunters at Mullers’ Stonehouse factory in Gloucestershire took 11 days strike action in October over changes to their ... Open access
Mine museum workers take to picket line (136 words)
Workers from the National Coal Mining Museum in Yorkshire went on strike during October half term, hosting picket lines every day. UNISON said the ... Open access
Equality news
‘Reckless’ plans a backward step (186 words)
Government plans to scrap gender pay gap reporting requirements on smaller businesses will “turn the clock back for women at work”, according to ... Open access
Think tank: disabled workers need more support (269 words)
The Resolution Foundation has called for more “appropriate workplace support” for disabled people following research which showed a huge increase ... Subscribers only
Survey finds ‘worrying gap’ (200 words)
Two-thirds of workers do not challenge discrimination at work despite thinking of themselves as friends to colleagues from under-represented groups, ... Open access
Majority see diversity improvements at work (127 words)
More than half of employees think there’s been an improvement in diversity at work, and more than two-thirds feel everyone in their company has an ... Open access
Cuts will hit young women workers (154 words)
Young women part-time workers will bear the brunt of benefit cuts announced by the government in its “mini-budget”, Claire Reindorp, chief ... Open access
Learning and training news
Green skills training saves in-house jobs (347 words)
Swansea City Council’s vehicle maintenance staff have obtained new green skills and safeguarded their jobs in-house in the process, following a ... Subscribers only
Labour’s skills policy (139 words)
Employers will be able to spend apprenticeship levy money on types of training other than apprenticeships, such as modular courses, if Labour comes ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Deal plugs recognition gaps (541 words)
The CWU communications workers’ union has finalised complicated negotiations to ensure that all former BT Facilities Services (BTFS) staff – as ... Subscribers only
European news
Chemical deal includes €3,000 tax-free bonus (363 words)
Germany’s IGBCE chemical and energy union and the employers have reached a new pay deal, which delivers 6.5% plus €3,000 in bonuses over 20 ... Subscribers only
Self-employed get better access to bargaining (341 words)
The European Commission has adopted new guidelines which will make it easier for self-employed workers to negotiate better terms and conditions ... Subscribers only
EU minimum wage directive adopted (74 words)
New EU legislation on adequate minimum wages has finally been adopted, with the council, which brings together representatives of national ... Open access
Dutch metal workers reach rapid settlement (119 words)
Unions and employers in the Netherlands have reached a rapid settlement for the around 150,000 employees in the metal and electrical industries. The ... Open access
Austrian Airlines staff recover lost ground (100 words)
A settlement for around 3,500 Austrian Airlines flight deck and cabin crew employees restores some of the pay they were losing in a long-term ... Open access
Employment law - Case reports
Employee hadn’t provided sufficient evidence to meet definition of disability (2,044 words)
Miss Alao started her employment with an NHS trust in May 2018 as an HR manager. She was initially subject to a three-month probation, which was ... Subscribers only
Some evidence required before burden of proof transfers (1,080 words)
Ms Lucas was employed by Cosmeceuticals Ltd as a business development manager from March 2017 until she was dismissed in August of the same year. Her ... Subscribers only
Employee was entitled to equivalent share incentive scheme after transfer (1,119 words)
Mr Gallagher was employed by Total Exploration and Production UK Ltd (TEPUK) until his employment transferred to Ponticelli Ltd under the Transfer of ... Subscribers only
‘Fair-minded’ test should have been applied (546 words)
Mr Simpson was a member of the Unite union and was branch secretary for the Greater Glasgow Unite Community Branch. In March 2018 he made a complaint ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Workplace rights attacks ‘will help doom Tories’ (401 words)
The TUC has warned the Conservative government it will face a “significant” voter backlash if it follows through on plans to rip up key workplace ... Subscribers only
All-party group backs making suicide reportable (276 words)
The APPG all-party parliamentary group on issues affecting men and boys has published a new report backing demands from Hazards Magazine, Hazards ... Subscribers only
Union contributes to report on aggression in schools (281 words)
A new report – Violence towards teaching/classroom assistants in mainstream UK schools – based on interviewing 16 teaching and classroom ... Subscribers only
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Proposals ‘will risk lives’ (277 words)
European Commission proposals to reduce the “dangerously high maximum exposure level of 0.1 fibres/cm3 set out in the 2009 Asbestos at Work ... Subscribers only
Acting on mental health also cuts business costs (219 words)
Employers have a legal responsibility to assess and act on mental health risks and by doing so can improve their bottom line, says the HSE. ... Open access
Inspections target injuries (194 words)
HSE inspectors are carrying out 1,000 inspections to examine how building workers are moving heavy or bulky materials. Beginning last month and ... Open access
Radiation prosecution (265 words)
The SoR radiographers’ union has highlighted six figure fines handed down to the Alliance Medical diagnostic imaging services company, and its ... Subscribers only
Features
The year of pay action (5,313 words)
Pay and earnings have been eroded by soaring inflation, up from 4.8% in August last year to 12.6% now. That’s retail prices index (RPI) inflation, ... Subscribers only