News

Unions urged to recruit more migrant workers (314 words)

TUC deputy general secretary Francis O'Grady said last month that unions need to take up the challenge of recruiting and organising migrant workers. ...

Disabled staff set for pay strike (162 words)

Unions at Remploy, the government-supported employer of disabled people, are to ballot staff for industrial action over pay. A second offer was rejected last ...

Royal Mail faces dispute (96 words)

A dispute over London Weighting is brewing at Royal Mail, where the CWU communications union is balloting for industrial action. ...

Foundation hospitals plans diluted (244 words)

Public services union UNISON has vowed to continue its opposition to foundation hospitals, despite a commitment from the government last month that the hospitals ...

Unions strike over pensions cutback (306 words)

Workers at the Rhodia chemicals company took a day's strike action on 18 July in opposition to their employer's plans to close the final ...

M&S workers turn to unions (223 words)

Retail giant Marks and Spencer, which does not recognise unions, last month backtracked on plans to cut premium payments. ...

Teachers pay row looming (205 words)

The government is proposing inflation-only pay rises for school teachers in England and Wales, with a multi-year pay deal and increased emphasis on performance ...

Union news

"Moderate" wins shock victory in ASLEF ballot (210 words)

The leftward shift among union leaderships went off track last month when train drivers' union ASLEF took a right turn in its general secretary ...

Lyons to step down (50 words)

Roger Lyons, joint general secretary of the giant Amicus union, has announced he is to retire from January 2005. This will leave the MSF ...

RMT may affiliate to other parties (221 words)

Last month saw the most severe breach of union-Labour Party relations since Tony Blair came to power when the RMT rail union decided it ...

GMB sells assets to pay staff (99 words)

The UK's fourth largest union, the GMB general union, hit serious financial difficulties last month just as new general secretary Kevin Curran took the ...

European news

Collapse of strike over shorter hours leaves IG Metall in leadership crisis (526 words)

Klaus Zwickel, president of IG Metall, Germany's second largest union with 2.6 million members, unexpectedly resigned at the end of last month. ...

French pensions passed (203 words)

The French government was on the point of successfully pushing through its changes to the country's pension structure as Labour Research went to press. ...

Berlusconi unclear on social spending (146 words)

The Italian government's plans for pensions and social spending remain unclear after a meeting between union leaders and Italy's senior politicians, including prime minister ...

Features

Can "help firms" really stop staff stress? (1814 words)

Originating in the US but growing in popularity here, employee assistance programmes provide counselling and advice to stressed employees. Union reps need to know ...

The problem with telework (1663 words)

Teleworking from home is growing as a way of working but is still small scale. Which is just as well, say unions, as many ...

Fat cats court backlash (1397 words)

Despite growing public and shareholder disapproval of excessive executive pay, top company directors are still awarding themselves massive bonuses and pay rises. ...

Staff get closer to consultation (1436 words)

Draft regulations were published last month which "could lead to the biggest change in workplace relations for a generation," according to TUC general secretary ...

Dispute procedures are too basic - TUC (306 words)

Last month the employment relations minister Gerry Sutcliffe published the government's proposals to establish new procedures to settle employment disputes at work. ...

Recognition claims (108 words)

The latest annual report from the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the body with responsibility for statutory trade union recognition, says that the number of ...

Minimum wage (56 words)

The National Minimum Wage is a gross rate, not a net rate according to a ruling of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The EAT ...

Equal pay (107 words)

New time limits for presenting equal pay cases came into force last month. These make it clear that employees working under a series of ...

Tribunal says pregnant women have right to full probation (245 words)

Employers who are about to dismiss probationary employees while they are on maternity leave have to extend the probation instead, according to a recent ...

Holiday rights (271 words)

We work a five-day week and have 22 days' holidays a year. One of our members booked two weeks' holiday and fell ill half ...

Industrial action (119 words)

If one of our members on a picket line asks employees who are not in the union but who work with us not to ...

Time off rights (280 words)

I have just been appointed as a magistrate. I am really pleased to have been asked to do this important job but when I ...

Redundancy pay (75 words)

We have heard that as from September 2003 there will be a new European law that will give every worker the right to at ...

Hatfield crash firms face prosecution (259 words)

Executives and engineers from Network Rail and rail maintenance contractor Balfour Beatty appeared in court in July to answer manslaughter charges over the Hatfield ...

UNIFI wins more roving reps (73 words)

Banking union UNIFI has agreed with Barclays bank to extend its roving safety reps scheme. Two new full-time health and safety reps will cover ...

Bullying investigation (76 words)

A committee of MPs led by Baroness Gibson is to investigate widespread staff bullying within the NHS, following a string of complaints to a ...

ISTC inspection scheme launched (92 words)

The ISTC community union is launching a union inspection notice (UIN) scheme designed to get employers to deal with safety concerns. The union has ...

Public "at risk" from untested chemicals (182 words)

The government is putting lives at risk by failing to test thousands of chemicals, according to a report by the Royal Commission on Environmental ...

Working time safety net widened for some (823 words)

More workers will be given some protection from long working hours from this month. Back-up sets out who gets what. ...

Law Back-up

Age bias plans pose retirement problem (876 words)

Last month the government published its proposals for outlawing age discrimination. Back-up examines them, highlighting areas of concern and suggesting that the proposals may ...

Equality news

Report urges new strategy on disabled employment (254 words)

The government must commit itself to a much more ambitious long-term strategy for getting more of the "missing million" disabled people into work or ...

Same-sex partners set to gain legal rights (223 words)

Legal recognition for same-sex couples came a step closer with the publication last month of the government's proposals for civil partnership. ...

Section 28 finally repealed (79 words)

Last month's vote by the House of Lords to repeal Section 28 - the law prohibiting local authorities from "promoting" homosexuality - was hailed ...

Commission looks into job segregation (101 words)

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is to carry out a formal investigation into job segregation. Using powers under Section 53(1) of the Sex Discrimination ...

Forum challenges ageist ads (53 words)

The Employers' Forum on Age (EFA) launched a campaign to challenge ageist job advertisements last month as the government announced plans to ban age ...

Workplace Back-up

Plans address poor literacy and numeracy (825 words)

The UK has a much lower proportion of workers trained to skilled craft levels than France and Germany, and poor basic skills into the ...

Reviews

Forces of labor - Workers' movements and globalization since 1870 (175 words)

Beverly J Silver, Cambridge University Press, 240 pages, paperback, £16.95 ...

Ministry of enthusiasm - Centenary essays on the Workers' Educational Association (157 words)

Edited by Stephen Roberts, Pluto Press, 326 pages, paperback, £16.99 ...

Market-driven politics - Neoliberal democracy and the public interest (140 words)

Colin Leys, Verso, 280 pages, paperback, £12.00 ...

E-views

E-views (280 words)

Last month saw the launch by the TUC of unionreps.org.uk, a web portal for trade union reps. ...