News

TUC delegates call for pensions demonstration (346 words)

The crisis in the UK occupational pensions system spurred delegates to this year's TUC Congress to call for a demonstration and rally in co-operation ...

Postal workers vote narrowly against industrial action on pay (142 words)

Last month members of the CWU communications union in Royal Mail voted by a small majority against national industrial action over pay. ...

Rally backs Scottish nursery nurses (159 words)

Public services union UNISON organised a march and rally in Edinburgh last month in support of the long-running nursery nurses dispute. ...

Report confirms 20,000 job relocation target (210 words)

Last month saw the publication of an interim report on relocation of public sector jobs away from London and the south east. ...

Survey shows that jobs lost in manufacturing are not replaced (301 words)

Skilled manufacturing jobs, once lost, are never replaced, according to a survey by manufacturing union, Amicus. The union says the findings explode the myth ...

Shopworkers' campaign targets violence and abuse (138 words)

Home secretary David Blunkett joined the leaders of shopworkers' union USDAW and the chief executive of the Co-op Group to launch the first National ...

Union news

Congress gets support for anti-BNP campaign (271 words)

Unions that expel members of the British National Party will have the backing of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), commission chair Trevor Phillips ...

Unions face increase in workers who have never been members (256 words)

The rising proportion of workers who have never had any connection with the trade union movement at any point in their working lives is ...

Unions launch political fund body (218 words)

At last month's TUC Congress, 20 unions came together to launch the Trade Union Co-ordinating Committee (TUCC), combining their resources in fighting political fund ...

European news

German bargaining faces attack (486 words)

German unions are preparing to defend their system of collective bargaining, which has long faced attack from employers but now could be undermined by ...

Italian unions consider joint action on pensions (246 words)

Italy's three major union confederations seem to be taking a more unified attitude towards the government of Silvio Berlusconi, after being divided for months ...

French health to be next flashpoint (145 words)

Changes in the financing of the health service looks set to be the next major flashpoint in France following the major dispute earlier in ...

Features

Correction (57 words)

Last month's article on pensions (pages 10-11) included a table featuring five directors of the BP oil group. The figures were taken from the ...

Who's paying the piper? (1148 words)

The Labour Party is increasingly financed by rich individuals, according to a Labour Research analysis of party funding. The Tories, meanwhile, are dependent on ...

When the inspector won't call (1615 words)

A funding crisis at the Health and Safety Executive is putting workers' health and safety at risk, say unions. Accident investigations are to be ...

Is HR good for today's workplace? (1949 words)

A decade or so after "personnel management" lost its soft face and became the more employer-oriented "human resource management", has it lost its role ...

Time to drop the debt (1438 words)

September's World Bank and IMF meetings in Dubai were eerily quiet compared with the massive "drop the debt" protests of three years ago. But ...

Regrading and "red-circling" (206 words)

We have recently changed to a new pay system. Some workers who were already at the top of their grade have been told they ...

Apprentices' rights (224 words)

We have a number of people on Modern Apprenticeships (MAs). One has been dismissed because the employer says there is not enough work for ...

Redundancy pay (58 words)

Can you please confirm whether redundancy pay is calculated using the salary paid on the day of leaving or whether it is that being ...

Tribunal applications (163 words)

I recently submitted a tribunal application, claiming unfair dismissal. I knew I was close to the deadline and so I took it personally to ...

Bullying and sickness (106 words)

One of my members has been dismissed for sickness absence. He has been off work for some nine months with a stress-related illness which ...

Case law generates holiday pay confusion (935 words)

The Working Time Regulations appear to give every worker the right to four weeks' paid holiday a year. However, recent rulings have thrown the ...

Major restaurant chain is first to ban smoking (232 words)

Restaurant chain Pizza Hut has banned smoking in all its UK restaurants - the first nationwide chain to make the move. ...

Hazards conference sets safety agenda (310 words)

Around 500 delegates representing 26 national unions and nearly 300 local organisations attended the annual national Hazards Campaign conference in September. ...

Workers say mobiles cause stress (80 words)

Sixty percent of mobile workers think that mobile technology is causing them stress, according to a survey by health and safety consultants Croner. The ...

Union exposes bullying at the BBC (88 words)

Bullying is rife at the BBC, according to a survey carried out by media union NUJ. In a nationwide survey of broadcasting journalists, 87% ...

Vibration white finger pay out (67 words)

A former railway worker who developed vibration white finger after years of using power drills and jackhammers won a six-figure pay out in August. ...

Safety week focuses on dangerous substances (701 words)

The theme for this year's European health and safety week is "dangerous substances". Back-up looks at what reps can do in their workplaces. ...

Safety week inspections (130 words)

A number of unions are asking reps to organise inspections during the European week. ...

Law Matters

Congress calls for much tougher recognition laws (197 words)

Delegates at last month's TUC Congress called for tougher laws to strengthen recognition rights, particularly in small firms. ...

On-call staff win key working time case (256 words)

The GMB general workers' union has won an important legal victory which it argues could have major implications for many on-call workers. ...

Minimum wage changes (79 words)

National minimum wage laws are to be changed to give enforcement officers more power. The changes will make it clear that enforcement orders cover ...

Derecognition (98 words)

In one of the first cases on the issue, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) has ruled in favour of a company's claim to end ...

Italian worker wins race case (77 words)

Print union GPMU won an important race discrimination case when an employment tribunal ruled that an Italian worker had the right to protection under ...

Equality news

EOC starts pregnancy discrimination study (386 words)

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has launched a major investigation into pregnancy discrimination at work. ...

Employers back work-life balance initiatives (193 words)

Two new surveys reveal that most employers accept the benefits of introducing work-life balance policies. ...

Campaigners want more HELP for domestic workers (209 words)

Around half of the 14,000 domestic migrant workers legally entering the UK each year are cast into "immigration limbo" because their passports have been ...

Workplace Back-up

TUC and employers back teleworkers guidance (671 words)

Last month the Department of Trade and Industry published new guidance on teleworking. Back-up looks at some of the main issues covered by the ...

E-views

E-views (329 words)

Suddenly everyone is talking about weblogs - or "blogs" as the practitioners are calling them. So what are they? ...