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Workplace Report March 2023
PAY AND PRICES BARGAINING Highlands and Islands airports to strike; Union act on facilities management parity ‘Arms length’ workers to strike Zero hours at record high; Cleaners to take buses off the road EQUALITY Women’s groups slam harassment bill change; Lesbian and trans BAME women face more Racism LEARNING AND TRAINING Government control of FE sector ‘threatens colleges’ RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISATION Thousands join union EUROPE Pay deals pave way to further settlements; European Parliament calls for stronger rights Employment law — the latest cases HEALTH AND SAFETY Only a fifth of safety reps are women; Employers ‘are wellbeing washing’ UNIONS AND NEURODIVERSITY Neurodiversity Celebration Week (13 to 19 March) aims to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological difference and to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived. To coincide with the initiative, we look at how trade union reps can help to transform workplaces so they reflect and include neurodivergent people MAKING OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH WORK FOR WORKERS Everyone wants healthier workplaces and workers, but unions can face real challenges in dealing with occupational health services and getting the best out of them for members
Pay and prices
Rises continue but lag behind inflation (134 words)
Private sector earnings (regular pay) continue to increase annually by over 7%, and that’s reflected in the mainly private sector settlements ...
Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (33 words)
... Open access
XpertHR (21 words)
Median increases for three months to end of January 2023 ... Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline database (271 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered) ...
Subscribers only
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (239 words)
(r) revised, (p) provisional ... Open access
Prices (65 words)
... Open access
2023 Forecasts (39 words)
Source: HM Treasury, Forecasts for the UK economy, December 2022. 1 Fourth quarter 2 Calendar year
... Open access
Bargaining news
Public sector pay: progress or paralysis? (860 words)
A confusing mix of offers, strike votes, strikes and strike “pauses” point to movement in some quarters – but with ministers and employers ... Subscribers only
‘Arms length’ workers strike (103 words)
Over 300 cleaning and grounds maintenance staff employed by HTS (Property & Environment) Ltd, a company wholly owned by Harlow Council, are to ... Open access
Rail union chooses strike dates in solidarity (85 words)
The RMT rail workers’ union has called four further 24-hour strikes on 16, 18 and 30 March, and 1 April, choosing specifically not to take action ... Open access
Food manufacturing workers balloting (86 words)
150 workers employed by animal feed and nutritional product manufacturer AB AGRI are being balloted for strike action over pay. ... Open access
Highlands and Islands airports to strike (354 words)
Strike action closing airports owned by the Highlands and Islands Airport Limited (HIAL) Group looks likely to escalate as a second union joins the ... Subscribers only
Union acts on facilities management parity (337 words)
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) says it has taken the first step towards achieving a standard sectoral wage in outsourced facilities ... Subscribers only
North sea workers strike as companies report record profits (453 words)
Oil drilling installations in the North Sea may face shutdown as over a thousand workers are balloted for strike action by Unite in an escalating ... Subscribers only
Zero hours at record high (377 words)
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 1,133,441 people were employed on a zero hours contract in October to ... Subscribers only
Outsourced cleaners to strike at Sellafield (155 words)
More than 300 workers employed by the Mitie facilities management company at the Sellafield nuclear power plant have said they are ready to take ... Open access
Cleaners to take buses off the road (145 words)
Meanwhile, other outsourced workers who are employed to clean and refuel buses for First Bus in Glasgow and Aberdeen are also set to strike in a ... Open access
Equality news
Disabled workers fear hiring hurdles (140 words)
More than three-quarters of disabled people would not disclose their disability in a job application, according to YouGov figures cited by Evenbreak, ... Open access
BAME people face workplace pension gap (135 words)
BAME workers are at increased risk of financial hardship when they retire, a leading think tank has claimed following a report showing only a quarter ... Open access
Women’s groups slam harassment bill change (220 words)
A collection of 17 women’s groups and trade unions have condemned “last minute” government amendments to a bill to protect women from sexual ... Open access
Lesbian and trans BAME women face more racism (203 words)
BAME women who are lesbian or transgender are more likely to experience racism at work than their cisgender heterosexual colleagues, according to ... Open access
New protections promised (170 words)
Legislation to protect pregnant women from redundancy moved closer to law in February when the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family ... Open access
Learning and training news
Government control of FE sector ‘threatens colleges’ (346 words)
Labour has warned of the risk to further education (FE) colleges arising from the government’s newly acquired controls over their capital ... Subscribers only
UCAS to advertise apprenticeships (114 words)
Apprenticeship opportunities are to be advertised alongside undergraduate degree courses on the website of the Universities and Colleges Admissions ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Unions gain recognition through voluntary and statutory routes (359 words)
Around 150 staff working for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) will have their pay and conditions collectively negotiated after the Unite general ... Subscribers only
Thousands join union (130 words)
Thirty-four thousand school staff joined the NEU education union in just 11 days following its announcement of strike action on 16 January, according ... Open access
European news
Spain raises national minimum wage (100 words)
The Spanish government has increased the national minimum wage by 8% to €1,080 a month. As it is paid 14 times a year (there is a double payment in ... Open access
Construction workers get €1,000 inflation bonus (108 words)
The German construction workers’ union, IG BAU, and the construction employers’ association have agreed an extra €1,000 ... Open access
Staged deal in Dutch childcare (75 words)
The FNV and CNV unions have agreed a complex 18-month staged deal for workers in childcare. This runs from 1 January 2023 and provides for a 2% plus ... Open access
Pay deals pave way to further settlements (381 words)
The Teollisuusliitto industrial union has reached agreements with employers in the technology and chemical industries which are likely to set a ... Subscribers only
European Parliament calls for stronger rights (348 words)
The European Parliament has backed a call for greater powers to be given to European works councils (EWCs). ... Subscribers only
Employment law - Case reports
Serious and imminent danger (870 words)
An employee had not provided enough evidence to establish a belief of serious and imminent danger during the Covid pandemic and his dismissal was not ... Subscribers only
Employer’s attempt to strike out privacy claim fails (919 words)
The High Court rejected an employer’s attempt to strike out an employee’s privacy claim after it obtained 18,000 of her private WhatsApp messages. ... Subscribers only
Marital and partnership status (470 words)
Poor treatment of an employee after the breakdown of her marriage to the former managing director was not discrimination because of marital or ... Subscribers only
Dismissal for long-term sickness was not discrimination (1,543 words)
The dismissal of a disabled employee on long-term sickness absence was not discrimination arising from disability. ... Subscribers only
Failure to provide separate toilet was sex discrimination (742 words)
A council’s failure to provide women’s toilet facilities was sex discrimination. ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Only a fifth of safety reps are women (259 words)
Despite women making up a majority of union members, TUC research shows that only 20% of union safety reps are women. Last year, the TUC held a ... Subscribers only
TUC responds to consultation (177 words)
In its response to the ICO information commissioner’s office consultation on employment practices and data protection regarding information about ... Open access
TUC responds to consultation (212 words)
“Wellbeing washing really is a thing”, the IOSH institution of occupational safety and health has reported after more than 400 respondents in a ... Open access
EAT: inadequate toilet provision is direct sex discrimination (201 words)
In Earl Shilton Town Council v Miller [2023] EAT 5, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that inadequate toilet provision is direct sex ... Open access
Union condemns abuse (107 words)
The NUJ journalists’ union has strongly condemned the online abuse of Irish Times journalists Kitty Holland and Dara Mac Dónaill following their ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
Health and safety bodies in ‘call to arms’ over scrapping of EU laws (155 words)
A group of health and safety leaders issued “a call to arms” for the government to scrap the arbitrary deadlines of the Retained EU Law ... Open access
Union says regulator shares its concerns (115 words)
The RMT rail union described Network Rail’s modernisation maintenance programme as “a catastrophe waiting to happen” and said that ... Open access
£4.4 million fine levied (243 words)
Civil engineering company Kier has been handed down a “significant” fine of more than £4.4 million after its workers struck overhead powerlines ... Open access
HSE issues warning after four deaths working under cars (213 words)
The HSE has issued a warning about the life-threatening dangers of working under vehicles after four workers in the motor vehicle repair industry ... Open access
Alert issued on diacetyl vapour (218 words)
A new HSE safety alert warns that exposure to diacetyl vapour, often used as a flavouring and a by-product of coffee roasting, can lead to severe and ... Open access
Features
Unions and neurodiversity (3,014 words)
Around one in seven people, more than 15% of people in the UK, are neurodivergent, according to the Acas employment service (see Box 1 for ... Subscribers only
Making occupational health work for workers (2,137 words)
At a recent TUC webinar on sickness absence, the first question asked was about potential differences between the recommendations of occupational ... Subscribers only