Fact Service June 2020

Issue 25 (25/06/2020) - Study exposes workplace 'ethnic penalty'; Unions join to sound distancing warning; 12.5 million report financial hit from Covid; CWU plaudits for maternity move; Usdaw welcomes demise of Sunday trading plan; Union reports membership surge

Issue 24 (18/06/2020) - Numbers on payroll plummet, claimants double, pay falls; Inflation hits new low; 'Massive welcome' for probation U-turn; Plea to extend health fee exemption; Quarter of pregnant women 'faced discrimination';

Issue 23 (11/06/2020) - EHRC announces race and coronavirus inquiry; Plea for aid to crisis-hit childcare sector; New guide to employment law; Rejection for Sunday trading scheme; Unite demands action on aviation; Union federations call for EU deal; Figures reveal household income growth – and disparities; Return to work grows

Issue 22 (04/06/2020) - 50 years after Equal Pay Act, inequality remains; Ex-industrial areas facing double jobs blow; Test and trace 'needs sick pay increase'; RMT threatens strike; Union membership hits 6.44 million

Issue 25

Study exposes workplace ‘ethnic penalty’ (742 words)

By 2011 the job prospects of some ethnic minorities had improved since the 1970s but still lagged behind the white majority, according to a new study. ...
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Unions join to sound distancing warning (333 words)

Transport unions Aslef, the RMT and TSSA have spoken out in favour or retaining the two metre social distancing rule on public transport, even as it ...
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12.5 million report financial hit from Covid (806 words)

With lockdown loosening and other countries beginning to experience a second wave of infections, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has released ...
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CWU plaudits for maternity move (202 words)

Postal union the CWU has applauded a “groundbreaking” move by Santander to provide additional paid maternity leave to female employees whose ...
Open access

Usdaw welcomes demise of Sunday trading plan (170 words)

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has welcomed the reported abandonment of government plans to deregulate Sunday trading (see Fact Service issue 23). ...
Open access

Union reports membership surge (161 words)

Public services union UNISON has announced a significant rise in membership, even ahead of a planned recruitment campaign. Some 90,000 people have ...
Open access

Issue 24

Numbers on payroll plummet, claimants double, pay falls (1,533 words)

The latest official figures on jobs and pay show the grim effects on the economy of the pandemic lockdown – and sound an alarm for what is likely ...
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Inflation hits new low (151 words)

The UK’s annual inflation rate has dropped again, reaching an almost four-year low of 0.5% for May, down from 0.8% the previous month. Announcing ...
Open access

‘Massive welcome’ for probation U-turn (197 words)

The government’s decision to abandon the 2014 part-privatisation of the probation services in England and Wales and return to them to public ...
Open access

Plea to extend health fee exemption (226 words)

Four organisations representing health workers have written to the prime minister to ask for all overseas health and care staff and their families to ...
Open access

Quarter of pregnant women ‘faced discrimination’ (269 words)

One in four pregnant women have been unfairly treated at work during the pandemic, according to TUC questioning. ...
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Issue 23

EHRC announces race and coronavirus inquiry (214 words)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has announced it will use its legal powers to hold an inquiry into the impact of coronavirus on ...
Open access

Plea for aid to crisis-hit childcare sector (203 words)

The TUC has backed a call for emergency aid for the childcare industry with the release of a report arguing that it would allow nurseries, ...
Open access

New guide to employment law (184 words)

LRD is about to release Law at Work 2020, the trade unionist’s must-have guide to employment law. Now in its 32nd edition, it is designed to ...
Open access

Rejection for Sunday trading scheme (245 words)

Plans reported by The Times newspaper to relax Sunday trading laws for a year to stimulate a recovery in the retail sector have been criticised as ...
Open access

Unite demands action on aviation (317 words)

The Unite general union has set out a series of demands for action to save the aviation industry. It says that the government has an immediate ...
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Union federations call for EU deal (324 words)

As UK-Japanese trade talks take place this week, the TUC has joined with its Japanese equivalent to warn that that country’s investment in the UK ...
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Figures reveal household income growth – and disparities (135 words)

Gross disposable household income (GDHI) grew by 4.6% in the UK from 2017 to 2018, according to figures examining regional differences released by ...
Open access

Return to work grows (688 words)

Figures from the ONS charting the social impacts of coronavirus show increasing numbers of people going to work – but a lack of confidence about ...
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Issue 22

50 years after Equal Pay Act, inequality remains (122 words)

On the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act 1970 the TUC has warned that many women are still in low-paid and insecure jobs. The pandemic has shown, ...
Open access

Ex-industrial areas facing double jobs blow (162 words)

Coastal and industrial legacy areas are experiencing higher unemployment and lower vacancies during the coronavirus crisis, according to analysis by ...
Open access

Test and trace 'needs sick pay increase' (230 words)

The TUC has warned that, without extra financial support, those advised to self-isolate under the NHS test and trace scheme may choose not to do so. ...
Open access

RMT threatens strike (65 words)

The RMT transport union is warning of strike action over government plans to recruit volunteers to assist with social distancing at railway stations. ...
Open access

Union membership hits 6.44 million (1,703 words)

Trade union membership rose to 6.44 million people in 2019, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). As reported in the last issue, this ...
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