Pay and prices

Bonuses boost growth in earnings (225 words)

The latest figures from LRD's Payline database show a three-monthly median pay rise of 3.3% to March. This represents a slight fall from the ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (217 words)

Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered) ...

Full-time weekly average earnings (28 words)

All workers £527.10 ...

Average earnings indices (158 words)

Dec 03 (r) 113.5 3.5 3.3 3.5 3.3 4.3 ...

Other pay analysts (23 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end March 2005) 3.3% ...

Prices (59 words)

February 04 183.8 2.5 2.3 ...

Inflation forecasts (29 words)

Fourth quarter 2005 ...

Bargaining news

Retirement age rise for public sector is shelved (328 words)

Following the threat of a strike by around 1.5 million local government and civil service employees, the government has shelved proposals to raise their ...

Lecturers get pledges on pay and redundancy (197 words)

One of the UK's largest further education (FE) colleges has agreed to increase lecturers' pay and avoid compulsory redundancies following strike action by lecturers' ...

Pay deals at Royal Mail and Post Office (290 words)

Communication workers' union the CWU has reached a deal at Royal Mail, increasing pay from this month. The deal is worth £11.50 a week ...

BBC privatisation victims accept 3.5% from Siemens (420 words)

Outsourced BBC employees have voted to accept a 3.5% pay increase from their new employer. ...

Amicus achieves a new partnership in print (262 words)

Print industry negotiators have taken a further step in updating their national agreement, with the conclusion of a draft partnership agreement and joint code ...

Job cuts and pay deals in a mixed month for motoring (473 words)

The British motor industry is currently in turmoil, with MG Rover's collapse coming soon after news of job losses at Peugeot. However, unions were ...

Civil service unions submit joint national pay claim (265 words)

PCS and Prospect, the two largest civil service unions, have submitted a joint pay claim as part of their campaign to re-establish a national ...

Sunday shows form part of West End deal (259 words)

Theatre technicians and front-of-house staff have voted in favour of a pay and conditions offer that paves the way for Sunday performances in the ...

Equality news

Regulations will cover civil partners (130 words)

The government is consulting on changes to the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, to take account of new civil partnerships for same-sex couples. ...

Plan ahead for disability monitoring, advises TUC (447 words)

Monitoring can be a vital tool for employers looking to develop effective policies on disability equality and to measure progress towards equality targets - ...

MPs and EOC demand action to end occupational segregation (281 words)

Employers are not doing enough to attract women into jobs traditionally carried out by men, according to a report from the House of Commons ...

Recruitment and organisation news

T&G campaign produces steep rise in recruitment (223 words)

The first 250 target workplaces in the T&G general union's "100% Membership Campaign" have put on over 3,000 members, the union says. ...

Unions urged to seize organising opportunity (113 words)

Informed, Consulted, Organised! Is the title of an interactive CD-ROM produced by the TUC in the light of the Information and Consultation of Employees ...

USDAW raises the pressure on M&S (133 words)

Shopworkers' union USDAW last month stepped up its campaign for a role at Marks & Spencer, holding a conference for the retail chain's employees. ...

Learning and training news

Ethnic minorities are not being offered training (222 words)

Black and minority ethnic (BME) workers are being denied opportunities for job-related training that help their white colleagues to progress at work, according to ...

National Learning at Work Day (73 words)

This year's National Learning at Work Day, co-ordinated by the Campaign for Learning (CfL), is Thursday 26 May. ...

European news

Pressure pays off in French public sector (259 words)

Ongoing pressure from unions has led the French government to increase its pay increase for workers in the public sector by 0.8% this year. ...

Unions hold their own at start of Dutch pay round (589 words)

The first results of the 2005 pay round in the Netherlands seem broadly positive for the unions. In the face of industrial action, employers ...

Spanish unions sign deal on domestic violence (151 words)

Spanish unions at the car-maker PSA Peugeot-Citroen have signed an agreement providing a practical framework to a recent law on violence against women. ...

Law - Tribunal procedures

Tribunal law (315 words)

This month's developments include decisions on the timing of an appeal and amendments to claims ...

Delay to decisions (199 words)

Yaya Bangs made a successful claim of race discrimination, but the tribunal did not send its decision until a year after the case was ...

Appeal sent by fax (117 words)

An employer lodged its appeal against a tribunal decision by faxing the documents to the tribunal office. The fax started transmitting just before the ...

Amending tribunal claims (132 words)

In the course of his hearing for unfair dismissal, an employment tribunal suggested to Neil McClaren that he add a claim of sex discrimination, ...

Costs orders (271 words)

Mr Morrison claimed that he had been unfairly and constructively dismissed for whistleblowing. The tribunal dismissed his claim and awarded £10,000 in costs against ...

Health & safety news

Abuse and violence "still unacceptably high" in NHS (206 words)

More than a quarter of NHS staff (27%) were harassed or abused by patients or their relatives last year, according to a large-scale survey ...

Government accused of fire safety complacency (248 words)

The most important safety research carried out in the fire service for 50 years has been buried by the Office of the Deputy Prime ...

Union launches pregnancy risk assessment checklist (102 words)

Employers have a legal duty to protect pregnant women from work-related risks, but many do not carry out a risk assessment when told that ...

Belt up (90 words)

It is now illegal for drivers and passengers in vans and goods vehicles not to use seat belts. ...

Employers are still failing on bullying (91 words)

Anti-bullying policies are failing to work and employers must take action to stop bullying, according to a new guide from the Chartered Institute of ...

Occupational health can reduce sickness absence (85 words)

Occupational physicians are best equipped to manage stress, an article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has claimed. ...

Features

Transfer law (334 words)

This month's developments include decisions on the date of a transfer, and whether the TUPE regulations apply to seafarers and agency workers ...

Date of a transfer (302 words)

In the early 1990s, a number of civil servants were seconded to a newly established training and enterprise council, NEWTEC (later to become Celtec), ...

Refusal to transfer (199 words)

Mr Hope worked as a machinist in a small machine shop, PGS. PGS told him that his employment would be transferred to a new ...

Employee status and TUPE (155 words)

Mr Summers was employed as a packer for agency Drivertime Derby, which supplied him to another company. Drivertime Derby then went out of business, ...

Pensions under TUPE (198 words)

A number of part-time employees in the electricity industry were transferred under TUPE following privatisation. They later brought equal pay claims on the grounds ...

Relevant transfers (416 words)

When Cheshire County Council contracted out its architectural services, the employees involved were transferred to a contractor under TUPE. ...

Employment contract law (409 words)

Among this month's cases are decisions on implied contractual terms, from trust and confidence to the need for discretion to be exercised genuinely ...

Discretionary payments (172 words)

Steven Horkulak, a senior managing director, successfully brought a claim of constructive wrongful dismissal on grounds of bullying and abusive behaviour by his company's ...

Implied terms - trust and confidence (215 words)

W, a part-time schoolteacher, resigned on the grounds that his employers had destroyed trust and confidence over the way it had dealt with complaints ...

Employee status (162 words)

Mrs Kendal and her colleagues worked as scallop-cutters, a job in which the amount of work varied from day to day and week to ...

Illegal contracts (160 words)

Geoffrey Nunoo and Rahim Vermani worked for a US-based software company which planned to set up business in the UK. They were paid from ...

Normal working hours (153 words)

Mrs Unwin worked as a cleaner. She initially worked 20 hours per week, but these were increased to 35 per week under a verbal ...

Affirmation of contract (144 words)

Ruth Simms resigned and claimed constructive dismissal after her employer failed to rectify a shortfall in her wages. However, she waited for several weeks ...

Review gives expanded role to HSE (344 words)

The role of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to be expanded, after the government accepted the recommendations of a report published last ...

Construction regulations are reviewed (131 words)

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has begun a consultation on proposals to revise the Construction (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 and the ...

Legal changes to COSHH and work at height (152 words)

New regulations on hazardous substances and work at height came into force on 6 April. ...

HSC's public safety U-turn (212 words)

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has been forced to revise its policy on public safety issues after legal advice stated that the policy ...

The pace of pay deals picks up (3037 words)

Part-way through the pay round, it is clear that settlements have been increasing, particularly in the private sector. Underpinned cash rises, inflation-plus deals, a ...

Employers are slow to develop policies on flexible working (2204 words)

The flexible working provisions of the Employment Act 2002 came into effect on 6 April 2003. They give the parents of children under six ...