Features

Lawyers give cautious optimism on recognition (571 words)

Over 100 delegates attended last month's Labour Research Department (LRD) conference "Winning recognition - using the new law" to hear about the opportunities and ...

Unions report rise in membership (114 words)

The latest issue of Building Worker, the magazine of construction union UCATT, reports a 10% rise in membership during 1999. At the end of ...

TUC builds on links to students (180 words)

The TUC is to help students get advice from trade unions. From the start of the next academic year the TUC "Know your rights" ...

Rolls-Royce axes jobs as sales rise (314 words)

UK aerospace giant Rolls-Royce is facing the threat of strike ballots after one of its unions accused the company of a cover up over ...

Former minister takes Al Fayed shilling (314 words)

Another former government minister can be added to the list, published in the April issue of Labour Research, of senior Conservative MPs boosting their ...

Bank and oil bosses strike gold (182 words)

The company annual reporting season is now in full swing and has brought with it the usual crop of huge pay rises for fat ...

Net for lay tribunal members widens (136 words)

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) minister Alan Johnson has hailed the nationwide recruitment campaign to attract a more diverse pool of individuals to ...

Positive action can be lawful (300 words)

Positive action aimed at addressing past discrimination has been declared lawful by the European Court of Justice. In this important ruling the judges have ...

Discrimination claims live on (77 words)

Discrimination claims do not die with the death of the claimant, according to the Court of Appeal which has reversed an earlier ruling of ...

Rise in tribunal claims (62 words)

There was a 30% jump in employment tribunal cases in 1999, according to new research from the Engineering Employers' Federation. Discrimination cases rose overall ...

New rights for strikers (30 words)

Strikers now have some protection from dismissal when taking lawful industrial action. For full details of the new law, which gives this protection, turn ...

Equal pay limited (99 words)

Women who win equal pay claims only have the right to be paid at the same level as their male comparator even if they ...

Contract restrictions (110 words)

A 12-month restriction on former employees from having dealings with the company's clients was lawful, according to the High Court. ...

New commission starts to tackle disability bias (292 words)

The new Disability Rights Commission (DRC) started work at the end of last month with powers to assist individuals in employment tribunal cases under ...

Women academics face £8,000 pay gap (330 words)

Universities are breaking the equal pay laws by paying women academics up to £8,000 less than men doing the same jobs, according to research ...

Gay equality code planned (77 words)

The government plans to issue in autumn a code of practice on discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. A draft code, which has been ...

Government ponders paid parental leave (68 words)

Paid parental leave is being considered by trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers, who is said to be sympathetic to the idea. Rights to ...

NUT helps teacher in race slur victory (199 words)

English teacher Chris Hassan, suspended in January for refusing to teach a 12 year-old pupil who called him a "black maggot", has been reinstated ...

Victory for campaigns on workplace deaths (301 words)

Safety campaigners have won two unprecedented judicial reviews into work-related deaths. ...

Passive smoking (137 words)

The GMB general union has called on tobacco giant Philip Morris to invest its profits in cleaning up smoking-related problems instead of covering up ...

Accident damages increased (154 words)

A specially constituted Court of Appeal hearing has ruled that the level of damages awarded for pain, suffering and loss of amenity in many ...

Stress blamed for teacher suicides (75 words)

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) reported that 1,000 calls are coming into its stress helpline every week as a result of excessive ...

Irish trade unionists back new deal (44 words)

Following a series of membership votes, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has backed the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness pay deal (see Labour ...

German bank merger falls apart (112 words)

The merger between Germany's largest and third largest banks, which would have cost 16,000 jobs worldwide (see Labour Research April 2000), has collapsed. The ...

French employers push programme (147 words)

The main French employers' association, Medef, has continued to press for major changes in France's system of industrial relations and social protection (see Labour ...

German unions settle (109 words)

The last few weeks have seen a series of key pay settlements in Germany covering more than five million workers. The metal, chemical and ...

Italian unions hail strike restrictions (348 words)

The Italian parliament has passed a new law aimed at limiting the impact of strikes which affect the public. The legislation, which was adopted ...

Spanish union sees membership growth (157 words)

The CCOO, one of Spain's two national trade union confederations, which held its four-yearly congress last month, announced that it had grown in membership ...

South West Trains dispute stepped up (330 words)

The RMT rail union was conducting an industrial action ballot of all drivers and guards on South West Trains as Labour Research went to ...

Happy birthday (28 words)

Labour Research would like to wish a happy 90th birthday to Noreen Branson, who was the magazine's editor from 1945 to 1972 and still ...

MUSING A MANUFACTURING MERGER (1513 words)

Protagonists talk of forming "a dynamic, fully resourced union to be proud of", while opponents fear a lack of lay power and sidelining of ...

BRITAIN'S NEED FOR IMMIGRANTS (1647 words)

Amid the media shrill about "bogus" asylum seekers it has been forgotten that the UK, along with the rest of the developed world, has ...

MAPPING OUT PARTNERSHIP (1591 words)

Projects receiving government funding for increasing partnership at work show that unions and employers are taking a step-by-step approach to co-operation. And job security, ...

UNIONS GEAR UP FOR CAPITAL POLL (1257 words)

Public services have emerged as the key issue for trade unionists in this month's historic London elections. ...

GETTING THE TUBE BACK ON TRACK (1679 words)

The outcome of this month's London assembly elections will reverberate around the country because the critical issue of the future of the London Underground ...

Equal rights for posted workers (801 words)

Since 16 December 1999 all workers temporarily working in a European Union (EU) state have had the right to the same minimum terms and ...

The role of safety reps in the branch (943 words)

The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 set out the rights and functions of safety reps. These include: workplace inspections; investigating accidents, hazards ...

New rights for striking workers (891 words)

Since 24 April 2000, anyone taking industrial action will benefit from new legal protection against unfair dismissal. Backup explains what the new rights entail. ...

Manufacturing - where have all the jobs gone? (752 words)

Thousands of jobs are under threat in the car industry, with BMW's break-up of Rover, and in the clothing industry as retailers like Marks ...

Encyclopaedia of British and Irish political organisations (145 words)

Peter Barbaris et al, Pinter, 562 pages, hardback, £90.00 ...

Spaces of hope (188 words)

David Harvey, Edinburgh University Press, 293 pages, paperback, £14.95 ...

British trade unions and industrial politics: volume 1, the post-war compromise, 1945-64; volume 2,the high tide of trade unionism 1964-79 (324 words)

Edited by Alan Campbell, Nina Fishman, John McIlroy, Ashgate, vol 1 352 pages, hardback, £49.50; vol 2 384 pages, hardback, £49.50; both vols £90.00 ...

Retail prices (196 words)

In March the retail price index rose by 0.5% over the previous month to stand at 168.4 (January 1987=100) and the annual rate of ...

Average earnings (190 words)

Average weekly earnings for the whole economy, seasonally adjusted, rose by 5.5%, down from the revised rate of 6.5% for January. However, the headline ...

Unemployment (602 words)

In the three-month period December to February unemployment as defined by the International Labour Organisation was 1,715,000 or 5.8%. The figure was 22,000 down ...

Reviews

Britain's secret propaganda war 1948-1977 (221 words)

Paul Lashmar & James Oliver, Sutton Publishing, hardback, £25.00 ...

A thing of the past? child labour in Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries (146 words)

Editor Michael Lavalette, Liverpool University Press, 278 pages, ...