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Labour Research December 2023
Criminal justice system in state of disarray Privatisation, together with poor pay and unmanageable caseloads for workers, is seeing the justice system falling apart, say unions
Job flexibility or job insecurity? Lack of alternatives means the growth in insecure employment is not a choice for the millions who undertake this kind of work
Climate change and collective bargaining There are arguments for the politics of climate change to be put onto an industrial footing. So what are unions doing to achieve this?
News
ILO rebukes UK government (135 words)
The TUC and the RMT and Nautilus maritime unions have warned that there is nothing to stop another P&O Ferries scandal from happening again under ...
Open access
Union wins for workers (111 words)
Following a “long-running battle”, the Unite union announced a win for the “Murphy 4” — four fitters and welders working for the Murphy ... Open access
Strike action sees major gains for workers in Scotland (437 words)
Workers in Scotland have won more than £4 billion in pay and pensions through industrial action during the cost-of-living crisis, the Scottish ...
Subscribers only
Rwanda judgment welcomed (220 words)
Unions repeated their call for safe passage as a compassionate alternative after the Supreme Court ruled the government’s Rwanda asylum plan is ... Open access
Chancellor fails to fix '13 continued years of failure' (315 words)
Unions have warned workers not to be fooled by chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement, which they say fails to fix the damage the Tory ... Subscribers only
Starmer out of step on Gaza (226 words)
Labour leader Kier Starmer’s stance on Gaza is out of step with unions, with many joining calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. ... Open access
Make Amazon pay: Black Friday action (136 words)
More than 1,000 workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse were set to take a 28th day of strike action last month in their dispute over low pay, ... Open access
Unions celebrate ticket office victory (83 words)
Rail unions RMT and TSSA have celebrated the government’s “complete withdrawal” of its plans to close ticket offices. ... Open access
Prices rise more slowly (80 words)
Prices rose a bit more slowly in the year to October than we have been used to. The Retail Prices Index (RPI) is now 6.1% higher than 12 months ago, ... Open access
Labour market indicators (205 words)
With just under 33 million people in employment, the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) put the employment rate among ... Open access
Key economic indicators
Key economic indicators (422 words)
Inflation +6.1%, Average earnings +8.3% ... Subscribers only
Union news
Special TUC Congress will plan resistance to new laws (352 words)
This month will see an unusual “Special Congress” convened by the TUC to discuss the next stage of union campaigning against the government’s ... Subscribers only
Workers in Wales back unions (288 words)
Workers in Wales back trade unions by a ratio of eight to one, according to a recent poll conducted for the Wales TUC by independent research company ... Subscribers only
PCS elections (87 words)
Balloting is under way in the PCS public and commercial services union for a general secretary to succeed Mark Serwotka who is retiring in the new ... Open access
CWU deputy (39 words)
Karen Rose has been elected as the next deputy general secretary of the CWU communication workers’ union’s 60,000-strong Telecoms & Financial ... Open access
Young workers (97 words)
Unions must embrace digital strategies, streamline their processes and broaden the scope of issues they address to connect better with young workers, ... Open access
European news
Minimum wage (125 words)
The national minimum wage in Germany will go up by 3.4% to ¤12.41 (£10.80) in January and by the same amount again to ¤12.82 (£11.15) in January 2 ... Open access
Profits rise (130 words)
New figures produced by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) show that while wages have been falling in real terms, profits have been rising. ... Open access
Wave of strikes aims to get government to change course (468 words)
Finnish unions in both the public and private sectors have continued with their campaign of political strikes against government plans which, the ... Subscribers only
Demonstrations and strikes in Italy (185 words)
Italian unions were on the streets last month, calling on the government, led by Giorgia Meloni of the right-wing populist Fratelli d’Italia party, ... Open access
Features
Justice system: locked into a crisis (2,532 words)
Justice secretary Alex Chalk recently announced an early release scheme for some low-level offenders and new laws to increase community sentences for ... Subscribers only
Job security continues to elude millions of workers (2,065 words)
When right wing economists talk about “flexible labour markets”, what they really mean is insecure work — seen as self-evidently a good thing. ... Subscribers only
The green bargaining agenda (2,097 words)
A new report on trade unions and climate change argues that while a collective response to the crisis is vital, the movement has been generally slow ... Subscribers only
Law Matters
Charity exposes modern slavery in care sector (326 words)
Unseen, the charity that runs the UK’s Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline, has published a report on the rise in calls from workers coming ... Subscribers only
New guidance on workplace monitoring issued by ICO (275 words)
The data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has published new guidance for employers, calling on them to consider ... Subscribers only
Discrimination claim was vexatious (244 words)
A claimant had his discrimination claims ruled against him as he had not genuinely intended applying for or taking up an advertised job, ruled the ... Open access
Law Queries
Q&A (800 words)
Time off for union activities ... Subscribers only
Law Back-up
When can a dismissal be considered unfair? (929 words)
The concept of unfair dismissal was first introduced in 1971 and the essential features of the law have not changed since then. The current law is ... Subscribers only
Health & Safety Matters
Violence against shopworkers (143 words)
Last month, the Usdaw retail union launched “shocking statistics” on work-related violence to mark November’s annual Respect for Shopworkers ... Open access
Safety plan for journalists (85 words)
The NUJ journalists’ union has welcomed an updated national action plan for the safety of journalists. ... Open access
Action demanded on sexual harassment (303 words)
The RCN nurses’ union has told a committee of MPs that sexual assault and harassment within the NHS workforce requires action, not slogans. ... Subscribers only
Government proposals will impact on workplace health (176 words)
The BOHS occupational hygiene charity has raised serious concerns about government proposals for “a tax giveaway” to provide occupational health ... Open access
Health & Safety Back-up
Unions respond to inquiry revelations (855 words)
The independent UK Covid-19 inquiry is examining the UK’s response to, and impact of, the Covid-19 pandemic in order to learn lessons for the ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Law is ‘big step forward’ in preventing sexual harassment (242 words)
A new law will create a requirement that employers prevent sexual harassment from happening in their workplaces. ... Open access
Disabled people at risk due to benefits shake-up (338 words)
The EHRC equalities watchdog has written to the government raising concerns that proposed changes to the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) could place ... Subscribers only
BME women are far more likely to work zero hours (289 words)
New TUC analysis reveals that Black and minority ethnic (BME) women are nearly three times more likely to be on zero hours contracts than White men. ... Subscribers only
Workplace Back-up
Will new law assist atypical workers? (952 words)
The UK government is promising that millions of workers will, in future, have a say over their working patterns as a result of the Workers ... Subscribers only