News

Strikes continue over London weighting (370 words)

Unions involved in education and local government took strike action last month over London allowances. ...

Scottish unions back two-tier deal (252 words)

Last month the Scottish Executive and public service unions signed an agreement to end the two-tier workforce in future public private partnerships (PPPs) and ...

Insurance and telecoms jobs to go (115 words)

Insurance group Royal & Sun Alliance is to axe 12,000 jobs from its 50,000 worldwide workforce by 2004. ...

Union news

Union reps "resolve conflict" (310 words)

Workplace union reps spend much of their time resolving difficulties between individuals and their managers, according to a survey carried out for the TUC ...

BSkyB accused of dirty tricks (93 words)

Broadcasting union BECTU says BSkyB is conducting a "dirty tricks campaign" to avoid having to recognise the union. ...

GMB faces a high profile campaign (223 words)

Members of the GMB general union will be voting for a new general secretary early next year after current leader John Edmonds announced he ...

European news

Belgian unions face wage standstill (344 words)

Belgian unions face the possibility of an effective standstill in real wages over the next two years as a result of the country's laws ...

German pay clash looms (120 words)

Difficult negotiations are in prospect for the 3.2 million German workers covered by the pay agreement for the public sector. ...

French pensions (126 words)

Union concern over French government plans to change the pensions system led to demonstrations by electricity and railway workers last month. ...

Portugal set for general strike (255 words)

Portugal's largest union confederation, the CGTP-IN, has called a 24-hour general strike for 10 December. ...

Features

Fire union pushes equality agenda (287 words)

Despite taking the initiative on equality issues the FBU firefighters' union has faced some hostile press coverage on issues of culture and diversity in ...

PM and bosses enjoy 40% plus (296 words)

While the FBU firefighters' union has faced criticism for submitting a 40% pay claim a Labour Research analysis reveals that many company directors are ...

Government changes its tune (110 words)

The critical line taken by the government towards the Fire Brigades Union during the campaign contrasts with its view of the fire service as ...

Government takes hard line on firefighters' pay (464 words)

The government's attitude to public sector pay hardened last month, as it became clear that it was prepared to see firefighters on strike rather ...

FBU seizes initiative on modernisation (303 words)

The FBU firefighters' union has criticised the government-backed Bain review for being unable to grasp the concept of a "truly modern fire service". ...

Christmas? Humbug! say bosses (1321 words)

Christmas comes but once a year...and that's once too often for some employers, it seems. ...

Labour is desperate to boost private pensions (1711 words)

The government is trying to switch people away from state pensions just as private provision is collapsing. ...

Our judges: the usual suspects (2173 words)

Members of the judiciary are still overwhelmingly white, male and from the public-school and Oxbridge ranks. And the young fresh Labour government has not ...

Asylum law is UK's apartheid (1464 words)

The Labour government has stepped up its war on "illegal immigration" through accommodation centres and excluding asylum kids from mainstream schools. ...

Law queries (224 words)

At a factory down the road where there is no union we have discovered that they are working a 68-hour, five-day week with a ...

Law queries (172 words)

One of my members has been working on a series of fixed-term contracts over a number of years. Normally these are renewed for a ...

Law queries (152 words)

Our employer has announced that there are likely to be redundancies. There are a number of unions on site and although the company is ...

Law queries (216 words)

One of my colleagues has been dismissed after 34 years' service. The colleague was off work sick but the company hired an organisation to ...

Government consults on new equality laws (410 words)

Government plans for implementing new equality legislation have been broadly welcomed as a step towards creating a fairer society. However, unions and equality bodies ...

Union attacks failure to repeal section 28 (116 words)

Public services union UNISON is calling on the government to explain why it has left repeal of Section 28 - the Conservative government legislation ...

NHS takes lead on mental health at work (303 words)

New Department of Health guidance outlining best practice on mental health and employment in the NHS has been welcomed by the Disability Rights Commission ...

Law Matters

Top judges deliver key ruling on overtime bans (439 words)

Three of the UK's most senior judges have ruled that in certain circumstances an overtime ban does not necessarily amount to industrial action and ...

Tribunal cost (93 words)

Tribunals should not threaten employees with having to pay costs if they lose their claim, unless there is a real risk that they would ...

Legal elitism (77 words)

A report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, commissioned and funded by The Law Society, finds that the top law firms ...

NI labour relations (76 words)

In its latest annual report the Labour Relations Agency, the advisory and conciliation agency for Northern Ireland, reveals that it dealt with more than ...

Government considers timing of legal changes (216 words)

The government has just published a short document seeking views on whether there should be fixed dates in the year when employment law changes ...

Law Back-up

Unions want to see key changes to law at work (718 words)

In late July the government announced that it was to review the workings of the Employment Relations Act 1999 in line with a promise ...

Health & Safety Matters

Union survey exposes benefit office violence (338 words)

Nearly half the workers in benefits offices have been assaulted in the last year, according to new research by civil service union PCS. ...

Crackdown on long hours (73 words)

Around 770,000 more workers will be covered by the Working Time Regulations from next year. To comply with European law the government has until ...

Construction safety conference (79 words)

Over 40 people attended the Construction Safety Campaign (CSC) conference in November. Delegates from construction and other unions discussed the government's failure to deliver ...

USDAW's 'freedom from fear' campaign (84 words)

Shopworkers' union USDAW has launched a campaign to rid the high street of violent robbers and abusive customers. USDAW deputy general secretary John Hannett ...

Watchdog highlights safety executive's failings (271 words)

Workplaces are likely to be inspected only once every 20 years, according to a new report on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). ...

Health & Safety Back-up

TUC's stress MoT is new tool for safety reps (771 words)

Stress is a major cause of work-related ill-health and top of the list of safety reps' concerns in many industries. Back-up looks at a ...

Workplace Back-up

Unions and employers tackle basic skills gap (782 words)

The TUC and the CBI employers' organisation have published a new report on the basic skills challenge facing the UK. Back-up looks at its ...

Reviews

Britain's asylum apartheid - a Charter of Workers' Rights (95 words)

Edited by Keith Ewing and John Hendy, Institute of Employment Rights, 177 Abbeville Road, London SW4 9RL, 164 pages, paperback, £12.00 ...

Contesting the crisis - Aviation industrial relations and trade union strategies after 11 September (134 words)

Geraint Harvey and Peter Turnbull, International Transport Workers' Federation, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS, 44 pages, free ...

Diversity in Britain's labour market (194 words)

Robert Taylor, Economic and Social Research Council, 24 pages, A4 size, paperback, free, tel 0845 4560076, also available to download from www.esrc.ac.uk ...

E-views

Eviews (366 words)

The trade union movement is desperately in need young members. Some unions, but by no means all, are making good use of the web ...