Features

Rio Tinto shareholder concerns ignored (375 words)

Directors of mining giant Rio Tinto last month brushed aside calls from unions and its own shareholders to respect international conventions on rights at ...

Drugs firm directors get high on cash (229 words)

Executives of pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beecham (SB), which merged with rival Glaxo Wellcome earlier this year, enjoyed a very lucrative final year of SB. ...

Friends Provident extends ethical role (154 words)

Financial services group Friends Provident, which recently announced that it is going to de-mutualise and get a stock market listing, has announced that it ...

Public rejects bias against homosexuals (247 words)

A TUC poll has revealed strong public support for the equal treatment of lesbian and gay workers. Nearly three-quarters of people questioned in research ...

Black workers meet (67 words)

Around 400 delegates met for this year's TUC Black Workers' Conference which was held under the slogan "New agenda - driving change". They debated ...

Disability stereotyping (101 words)

Newspapers are misrepresenting disabled people by using inaccurate stereotypes and outmoded language, according to Stop Press! a recent report by disability charity Scope. ...

Disability rights to be debated (91 words)

The TUC is holding its annual disability conference at Congress House in London on Friday 14 July. ...

Maternity rights (104 words)

The TUC has produced a free guide which explains both the new and continuing maternity rights. ...

Disability bias can start early (245 words)

Disabled people's attempts at gaining employment are often frustrated by the lack of support services for work experience, casual jobs and voluntary work. These ...

Employers ready to take on agency staff (288 words)

After considerable delay European employers have agreed to begin talks aimed at producing new rules on the employment of temporary agency workers. The unions ...

France pledges moves on EU social issues,LR Jun 00 (218 words)

The French government, which takes over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU next month, has promised to give social issues a higher priority. ...

Danish unions back Euro (129 words)

Denmark's largest union confederation, LO, is backing the country's participation in the single currency. In a statement issued last month the general council of ...

Union discontent in Portugal (192 words)

The growing trade union hostility to the policies of the centre-left government in Portugal, led by Antonio Guterres, is likely to reach a new ...

Some light in union membership figures (172 words)

Two major union confederations in Europe have published membership figures recently, with the trends going in opposing directions. The CFDT, one of France's two ...

Dome May Day success (82 words)

London's Millennium Dome was unusually full on May Day with attendance boosted by trade unionists and their families taking advantage of a cheap entrance ...

Northern Ireland unions (133 words)

Trade union membership in Northern Ireland rose by around 6% in 1998, the latest year reported by the Northern Ireland certification officer, although this ...

Unions good for black workers (154 words)

Unions are particularly good news for black and Asian workers, according to a report published by the TUC. ...

Recruitment successes (113 words)

The IPMS professionals' and specialists' union started the year well with 1,495 new recruits in the first quarter, up from the 1,416 who joined ...

TUC sets up institute to help partnership (182 words)

The TUC is to deepen its commitment to partnership at work still further with the promised establishment of a Partnership Institute to provide consultancy, ...

MSF proceeds with AEEU merger plan (146 words)

The manufacturing, science and finance union MSF is to press ahead with merger plans with the AEEU electrical and engineering union after a vote ...

Record work-related stress payment (215 words)

The NUT teachers' union has secured a £300,000 payout for a teacher who suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of work-related stress, in ...

TUC calls for return-to-work policies (421 words)

The TUC has called on the government to create a new legal duty for employers to develop a back-to-work policy to deal with workplace ...

Young workers leaflet (74 words)

The general union GMB has produced a leaflet aimed at helping to protect young people in the workplace. ...

Five million suffer from stress (167 words)

Around five million workers, one in five of the workforce, suffer from high levels of stress at work, according to a research report published ...

Skychefs dispute ends after 18 months (557 words)

The long-running dispute at Skychefs ended in April after 18 months. The company, part of the Lufthansa group, had sacked 270 members of the ...

Union recognition rights finally arrive (365 words)

The new law on union recognition will at last be in place by 6 June 2000. The law, the centrepiece of the Employment Relations ...

TUC slams racist talk on asylum (164 words)

Politicians and media outlets have been condemned for encouraging racist attitudes towards asylum seekers at a recent meeting of the TUC executive committee. ...

UK skimps on higher education teaching (285 words)

Almost every UK university and college spends less on its academic staff than institutions in leading countries abroad, according to a new report by ...

Don't bother telling the workers (1882 words)

The Rover car crisis highlighted the fact that UK employees have fewer rights to information about their employers' plans than European workers. But the ...

UNIONS RESTORE FINANCIAL HEALTH (1489 words)

The early 1990s were difficult times for many unions. The TUC had seen membership fall by more than a quarter over the previous decade ...

MODERNISING HEALTH WORKERS'PAY (1370 words)

The government's plans for the modernisation of the health service include two key elements - a new pay system and a partnership approach. NHS ...

FACTORY CLOSURES HIT HEARTLANDS (3287 words)

Last month had good news and bad news on the jobs front for the UK motor industry, with the saving of Rover in the ...

Mayor pledges a clean, green capital city (733 words)

The environment, and particularly transport, was one of the key issues for Londoners voting in last month's elections for a mayor and Greater London ...

A safe haven or hardship for refugees? (748 words)

As the media and politicians attempt to make capital out of the plight of refugees, Back-up explains what makes people become asylum seekers and ...

Zero tolerance of violence at work (943 words)

Recently published figures have revealed the shocking extent of violence endured by employees in the course of their work, particularly by workers in the ...

Unions are a force for pay equality (914 words)

Recent academic research confirms that unions are a force for pay equality in the workplace. Where there are differences based on gender, race or ...

Employment rights: building on fairness at work (148 words)

Institute of Employment Rights (IER) and Press for Union Rights, IER, 177 Abbeville Road, London SE4 9RL, 24 pages, paperback, £5.00 ...

Scotland - land and power: the agenda for land reform (119 words)

Andy Wichtman, Luath Press, 126 pages, paperback, £5.00 ...

Labouring for rights: unions and sexual diversity across nations (138 words)

Edited by Gerald Hunt, Temple University Press, 1,601 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122-6099, USA, 302 pages, paperback, $27.95 ...

Global trade, labour and human rights (147 words)

Conor Foley, Amnesty International, 99-119 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RE, 76 pages, £9.99 plus £2.00 p+p ...

THE ECONOMY THIS MONTH (992 words)

KEY INDICATORS ...

Law Matters

Step closer for recognition law (98 words)

Implementation of the long-awaited trade union recognition law came nearer last month as codes of practice on union access to workplaces and on collective ...

Equal treatment comparisons (123 words)

The European Court of Justice has issued its latest ruling on equal treatment rights. In a case concerning restrictions on doctors in Denmark, where ...

Part-time judges (74 words)

Changes have been made to the appointments procedure for part-time judges. They are in response to a recent court ruling which suggested that part-time ...

Agency fined (117 words)

Employment agency Fast Tec International, based in the South West, has been fined £2,000 and ordered to pay another £4,400 in compensation after a ...

Consultation on new code (71 words)

The government has published a new consultation document for a code of practice on industrial action ballots. The code amends a current code to ...

Time off refusal "was race victimisation" (218 words)

An employee who was refused the right to take a short amount of time off work to meet with an advisor from the Racial ...

Self-employed to gain from part timers' rights (267 words)

Regulations clarifying the rights of part-time workers will come into force on 1 July 2000. They are based on an EU directive, which said ...