European news

M&S sells up (169 words)

Marks and Spencer has reached agreement to sell its 18 stores in France to the French retail group Galeries Lafayette. ...

Parliament bolsters consultation rights (306 words)

The European Parliament has toughened up the proposed directive providing new rights for employees to be informed and consulted (see Labour Research August 2001 ...

Features

Key Economic Indicators (319 words)

FULL-TIME AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS ...

How the US crisis hit UK jobs (2242 words)

Tens of thousands of jobs have already been axed in the UK airline industry and many more could follow suit in aerospace, tourism and ...

Why the UK has to open its doors (1868 words)

The government has announced plans for a new "green card" system to help plug high and low skills gaps with foreign workers. It will ...

Child support handbook (157 words)

Jacqui McDonald, Child Poverty Action Group, 94 White Lion St, London N1 9PF, 436 pages, paperback, £15.95 ...

Understanding European trade unionism (170 words)

Richard Hyman, Sage Publications, 196 pages, hardback £55.00, paperback £18.99 ...

From reassurance to radicalism (157 words)

Challenges facing trade unions in Labour's second term ...

Law Q&A (737 words)

* One of my members has been off work on long-term stress. She had made a formal complaint through the grievance procedure, prior to ...

Who bothers to listen to the CBI? (1368 words)

The CBI employers'organisation, which meets this month, is proud of the influence it has continued to wield over government despite Labour's historical link with ...

Work-life deals - staff get a say (1520 words)

Public services are under pressure to be open all hours, so where does that leave staff? Labour Research visits a project trying to turn ...

Events (193 words)

November ...

Targeted recruiting "works" (153 words)

Unions are showing some signs of success from targeted recruitment drives, according to a TUC report. ...

Musical chairs (77 words)

The Musicians' Union has almost come to the end of a troubled period in which its national executive fell out with general secretary Derek ...

Friendly new union (72 words)

The merger of the AEEU engineering union and MSF manufacturing and finance union will finally be completed on 1 January 2002, the unions say. ...

Morrison's deal (85 words)

Managers and supervisors at supermarket chain Morrisons have gained their own collective agreement which they say will help union recruitment at the retailer. SATA, ...

ISTC wins recognition after 10-year struggle (296 words)

Community union ISTC has notched up a significant victory by winning recognition for over 200 workers at the Sheerness steel plant formerly owned by ...

Making partnership work "requires trust" (783 words)

Partnership has become a byword in the union negotiating dictionary, signifying a collaborative relationship with the employer that goes ...

Female academics blocked from senior pay grades (211 words)

Research by lecturers' union NATFHE shows that women academics are paid 16% less than men on average and that the reason is because they ...

Nurses going unpaid after career breaks (255 words)

Public services union UNISON is challenging the conditions under which nurses are re-employed after a career break, whereby they are often required to pay ...

Lone fathers lose out at work (232 words)

Becoming a lone father can damage work prospects, according to research by lone-parent group Gingerbread. ...

E-views (275 words)

Following the closure last February of the customer services department of Amazon.com in Seattle, the company has continued to relocate operations in what they ...

Berlusconi takes on unions (255 words)

The Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi seems prepared to take on Italy's largest union confederation with the publication of a white paper on reform ...

Negotiations on telework (85 words)

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) as well as the employers' bodies at European level, UNICE (private sector) and CEEP (public sector), last month ...

Scots MPs say consultation law "must come in now" (360 words)

The government should implement the European Union information and consultation directive immediately, according to a report from the Scottish Parliament European Committee. It should ...

Equal pay claims in civil service (80 words)

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) is planning to lodge a series of sex discrimination and equal pay cases following the merging of ...

Government raises transfer protection (341 words)

Employees whose work is transferred to a new employer could gain enhanced protection under government plans currently out for consultation. ...

Leave improved (97 words)

Workers with contracts of less than three months now have the right to paid holidays in line with the provisions in the Working Time ...

Plans stepped up to improve RSI prevention (769 words)

The government's health and safety watchdog is planning a programme to improve the prevention of work-related upper limb disorders, just as important new research ...

Sacking "unfair" (113 words)

Eighty electricians, sacked because they refused to work wearing damp protective clothing, were unfairly dismissed, an employment tribunal has ruled. ...

Rail restructuring "good for safety" (245 words)

Only weeks after rail unions had criticised Lord Cullen's report into railway safety for failing to address the industry's structural problems caused by fragmentation ...

Inflation falls below target (47 words)

The headline rate of UK inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, fell in September from 2.1% to 1.7%. ...

The quiet before the storm (185 words)

The September unemployment count surprised analysts, showing the 11th monthly fall in succession. ...

Ethnic bias in labour market studied (215 words)

Work has begun on a project sponsored by cabinet office minister Barbara Roche which will examine the complex issues surrounding ethnic minority unemployment, access ...

Skills blueprint includes unions (189 words)

Unions' role in helping to tackle skills shortages has been acknowledged in a new skills development blueprint announced by the government. ...

Widespread sectors see pay disputes (328 words)

The well publicised dispute between footballers and the Premier League is just one of a number of potential industrial actions. ...

Jobcentre strike goes national (92 words)

A national strike involving 4,000 staff in 57 Jobcentre Plus staff in "Pathfinder" offices is underway following a vote by members of civil service ...

Learning scheme riddled with fraud (200 words)

Widespread fraud has been exposed in the operation of Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs), the flagship government scheme which pays individuals up to £200 towards ...

US attacks deepen manufacturing gloom (323 words)

The flow of manufacturing job losses continued last month, exacerbated by the effects of the 11 September attack on the World Trade Centre (see ...

Service sector pay falls (151 words)

Pay awards in service sector firms have fallen, according to the latest pay databank survey from the CBI employers' organisation. ...

Law Back-up

TUC calls for improved law on strike action (701 words)

The TUC is calling for a review of the Employment Relations Act 1999. Back-up outlines its demands for changes to the law on industrial ...

Health & Safety Matters

More regulation is needed to cut airline risks (186 words)

Market forces have not and will not deliver safe skies without a fundamental reform of safety and security standards, according to the International Transport ...

Leave improved (121 words)

The Working Time Regulations have been amended to give workers the right to paid annual leave from their first day of employment. The 13-week ...

News from LRD

News from LRD (282 words)

Jack Moss, who passed away on 25 September at the age of 87, was one of the longest serving members of the Labour Research ...