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Workplace Report December 2023
PAY AND PRICES
BARGAINING Energy sector keyworkers poised to strike 'Biggest strike' in NI schools This month's top deals Psychologists strike Minimum wage to rise to £11.44 per hour
EQUALITY Equality bodies welcome workers' protection law
LEARNING AND TRAINING Switching careers incurs wage penalty
RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISATION National agreement won, while solicitors are urged to unionise
EUROPE Negotiations on working from home collapse
LAW AT WORK Employment law — the latest cases
HEALTH AND SAFETY Violence prompts strikes and demands for action Fifth of workers could be exposed to too high noise levels
AS THE MEDIAN HITS NEARLY £35,000 HOW DO EARNINGS COMPARE? Another year of high inflation has seen union action pushing pay increases up to their highest in decades, but how does this translate into actual earnings?
THERE'S MORE TO WORK THAN JUST PAY Despite pressure to shore up living standards, other terms and conditions were not neglected during the 2022-23 pay round. Taken together, the deals done were a testament to what can be achieved where negotiators set out to address workforce needs and priorities
Pay and prices
Median pay and RPI converge (132 words)
The median pay rise achieved in unionised workplaces in the three months to October was 6%, according to LRD Payline. This figure was roughly the ...
Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (33 words)
... Open access
XpertHR (21 words)
Median increases for three months to end of October 2023 ... Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline database (270 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered) ...
Subscribers only
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (204 words)
(r) revised, (p) provisional ... Open access
Prices (65 words)
... Open access
2023 Forecasts (37 words)
Source: HM Treasury, Forecasts for the UK economy, November 2023. 1Fourth quarter 2Calendar year
... Open access
Bargaining news
Government tries to curb four-day week (877 words)
Top-down politics were on show last month as the UK government tried to force local authorities to abandon or rule out the four-day working week. ... Subscribers only
Unions respond to fall in inflation (150 words)
As RPI inflation fell to 6.1% and CPI to 4.6% in November, major unions responded to the announcement by saying that many workers and communities ... Open access
First Bus engineers win £5K+ rise (146 words)
Engineers at First Bus Glasgow called off a planned November strike after voting to accept a new offer from their employer which their union, Unite, ... Open access
Energy sector keyworkers poised to strike (351 words)
More than 3,000 workers at energy plants, oil refineries and nuclear power stations have voted for industrial action, with more set to be balloted. ... Subscribers only
'Biggest strike' in NI schools (443 words)
Schools in Northern Ireland face more disruption as both teachers and school support staff continue their disputes over pay. In November, teachers ... Subscribers only
This month's top deals (559 words)
The highest pay awards last month as recorded by LRD’s Payline database saw workers achieve around 14% on an annual basis, although in some cases ... Subscribers only
Psychologists to strike (317 words)
Educational psychologists (EPs) in England and Wales paid on the Soulbury pay scale are to take strike action again this month over pay, workload, ... Subscribers only
Christmas chocolate shortage possible (118 words)
More than a dozen staff at the Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate factory in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, who supply confectionery products including the ... Open access
Minimum wage to rise to £11.44 per hour (184 words)
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced last month that the National Living Wage (NLW) would be going up to over £11 per hour next year. This will fulfil ... Open access
Equality news
Young job hunters punished for lack of connections (152 words)
Nepotism is damaging young people’s career prospects according to a study from charity UK Youth and food giant KFC, which revealed that nearly ... Open access
Regional bias hits pay (117 words)
Women workers in “white-collar jobs” are being underpaid due to gender and regional bias, a survey by recruitment company Robert Walters has ... Open access
'Urgent action needed' to shrink pay gap (283 words)
The Fawcett Society has called for “urgent action” from government and employers to close the gender pay gap as new figures reveal a “glacial ... Subscribers only
Equality bodies welcome workers' protection law (186 words)
The UK’s equality watchdog was just one of many organisations that welcomed the passing of the Worker Protection Bill into law at the end of ... Open access
BAME women 'trapped' by zero hours contracts (142 words)
BAME women are three times more likely to be on zero-hours contracts than White men, according to analysis by the TUC which says “structural racism ... Open access
Learning and training news
Switching careers incurs wage penalty (469 words)
The Learning and Work Institute (L&W) is calling for more financial and practical help for people switching careers – particularly those on ... Subscribers only
Half of adults learnt for leisure (169 words)
Almost half of adults took part in learning for leisure in the last three years, the highest rate since in 1996, but the gap in participation between ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
National agreement won, while solicitors are urged to unionise (297 words)
The Unite general union has reached a national recognition agreement with the giant Mears housing and social care group, giving the union access to ... Subscribers only
European news
Dutch local government workers get 6% (112 words)
Unions representing municipal workers in the Netherlands have agreed a 15-month pay settlement which provides them with an above-inflation 6.0% pay ... Open access
Austrian bakers settle (172 words)
While negotiations for Austria’s larger collective agreements, such as those covering retail and metalworkers, seem blocked, PRO-GE, the union ... Open access
Negotiations on working from home collapse (189 words)
Negotiations at European level between the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the main European employers’ organisations on new ... Open access
Minister promises new bargaining law this year (495 words)
Hubertus Heil, Germany’s labour minister, has assured the unions that the government will introduce legislation supporting collective bargaining ... Subscribers only
Employment law - Case reports
Barrier to work showed employee was disabled (534 words)
Mrs Williams was employed by Newport City Council (NCC) as a social worker in their fostering team. Her role had not usually required that she attend ... Subscribers only
Comparator must be in same circumstances (522 words)
Mr Hughes started work for Virgin Active Limited in 2012 and in 2017 became the manager of their Mayfair club. ... Subscribers only
Claim of victimisation to be reconsidered (470 words)
In November 2018 Mr Meshram applied for a role with Entserv. He had previously been employed by Tata, which he had left three months earlier and was ... Subscribers only
Strike out order overturned (541 words)
Mr Davey was made redundant by Harrods and brought a claim of unfair dismissal claiming that the redundancy was a sham and the real reason for ... Subscribers only
Costs order should not be automatic (515 words)
Ms Stevenson worked for Edenbeck Ltd as a personal assistant from June 2016 until resigning in June 2019. ... Subscribers only
Mutual termination was not a dismissal (651 words)
Ms Habib made claims against Dave Whelan Sports Ltd (DWS) of discrimination, harassment and victimisation related to age, sex and religion or belief, ... Subscribers only
Doctor suspended for promoting conspiracy theories (589 words)
Mr Adil worked as a consultant colorectal surgeon. In 2020, outside of work, he posted YouTube videos in which he identified himself as a doctor and ... Subscribers only
EAT gives guidance on intention to resign (551 words)
Mr Omar was employed by Epping Forest District Citizen Advice (EFDCA) from 2016 to 2020 as an advice session supervisor. ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Violence prompts strikes and demands for action (298 words)
Members of the NASUWT and NEU teaching unions have taken strike action over violent and abusive pupil behaviour at Caldicot comprehensive school in ... Subscribers only
Green bargaining guide (116 words)
Wales TUC has launched a trade union bargaining guide for greener, healthier and fairer travel, exploring why sustainable travel is an important ... Open access
Maritime union wants workers involved in safety (228 words)
A resolution carried at the Nautilus International maritime union’s general meeting highlights the threats posed by the toxicity, flammability and ... Open access
Union releases wellbeing data for National Stress Awareness Day (184 words)
Only around a third of male (38%) and a quarter of female (26%) players said they would feel comfortable sharing concerns about their mental ... Open access
Union highlights safety concerns in report (99 words)
A new report on health care and adult social care shows staff are “overworked, exhausted and stressed”, said the BMA doctors’ union. ... Open access
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
No investigation despite 'mental health crisis' at job centre (151 words)
A former worker at a job centre in Oxford has told the Disability News Service the HSE refused to launch an investigation into stress after he raised ... Open access
Transport police cuts 'will cost lives' (113 words)
TSSA transport union general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust has called on transport secretary Mark Harper to halt an instruction to the British ... Open access
Fifth of workers could be exposed to too high levels (317 words)
The HSE health and safety regulator is urging employers to consider “the shout test” to manage noise at work after a recent report showed that ... Subscribers only
TUC calls for restored funding (190 words)
The TUC has called on the government to restore HSE funding following research showing there has been no progress in reducing preventable physical ... Open access
Inspectors target farms (207 words)
People on farms are 21 times more likely to be killed in a workplace accident that other sectors and the HSE is calling on farmers to change their ... Open access
Features
As the median hits nearly £35,000 how do earnings compare? (2,396 words)
The latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) was released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in November. It provides a snapshot of ... Subscribers only
There's more to work than just pay (1,921 words)
In a year spent chasing inflation, with some impressive deals and median pay rises of 6.5% to 7.2%, negotiators did not overlook other terms and ... Subscribers only