Fact Service January 2021

Issue 4 (28/01/2021) - Unemployment four-year high shows need for furlough extension; Record 795,000 job losses planned last year; TUC: one in 10 threatened with fire and re-hire; Figures identify jobs with highest Covid death rates

Issue 3 (21/01/2021) - Plea to retain furlough through 2021; Unions slam reported rights rollback; Millions in danger due to economic insecurity; Employers pull out of Covid duties deal; Strike threat over campus teaching; Union sounds alarm over latest centralisation news; New strike at British Gas; Inflation rises from previous low

Issue 2 (14/01/2021) - UNISON elects first woman leader; Union support for vaccination; Unions slate 'dangerous confusion' over school attendance; Health coalition wants staff thanked with pay rise, not just clapping; BMA demands vaccination within two weeks; Morrisons to be first to pay £10 an hour; Union urges councils to take back control

Issue 1 (07/01/2021) - Schools U-turn follows union pressure; TUC 'replace outdated Covid safety rules'; Top CEOs 'earned average salary in three days'; Treasury announces relief package; Call to furlough parents during school closures; Minimum wage non-payers shamed; Call to improve shop safety; 2020 worst year for retail job losses

Issue 4

Unemployment four-year high shows need for furlough extension (929 words)

Unemployment hit 5% - 1.72 million people – its highest level since 2016 in the three months to the end of November according to the Organisation ...
Subscribers only

Record 795,000 job losses planned last year (242 words)

Employers planned to make a record 795,000 job cuts last year, according to Insolvency Service figures obtained by the BBC via a Freedom of ...
Open access

TUC: one in 10 threatened with fire and re-hire (310 words)

A tenth of workers have been told to re-apply for their jobs on worse terms and conditions during the pandemic, according to a TUC poll. ...
Subscribers only

Figures identify jobs with highest Covid death rates (961 words)

New figures from the ONS show that those in caring and low-paid jobs are at increased risk of dying from Covid-19. Care workers, restaurant staff, ...
Subscribers only

Issue 3

Plea to retain furlough through 2021 (511 words)

The TUC has called for the CJRS furlough scheme to be extended to the end of this year to protect the economy and assist its post-Covid recovery. ...
Subscribers only

Unions slam reported rights rollback (419 words)

Unions have reacted angrily to a Financial Times (FT) report that the government may be planning to remove workers’ rights previously guaranteed by ...
Subscribers only

Millions in danger due to economic insecurity (273 words)

Millions of workers in the UK are putting themselves and others at risk from Covid-19 because of inadequate sick pay and pressure from their ...
Subscribers only

Employers pull out of Covid duties deal (248 words)

The FBU firefighters’ union has accused fire and rescue service employers of unilaterally scrapping an agreement which enabled firefighters to ...
Open access

Strike threat over campus teaching (264 words)

The UCU university and college lecturers’ union has threatened industrial action if its pleas for university teaching to remain online for the rest ...
Subscribers only

Union sounds alarm over latest centralisation news (137 words)

Communications workers’ union the CWU has announced the “grim” news that half of the grade employees it represents in BT’s Corporate Units HR ...
Open access

New strike at British Gas (145 words)

Thousands of British Gas workers will strike for a second time this week as the company faces seven days of action. ...
Open access

Inflation rises from previous low (190 words)

Inflation rose to 0.6% CPI in December, up from 0.3% the month before. RPI was 1.2%, up from 0.9%. ...
Open access

Issue 2

UNISON elects first woman leader (309 words)

Public services union UNISON has chosen Christina McAnea as its general secretary. She takes over from retiring general secretary Dave Prentis and ...
Subscribers only

Union support for vaccination (391 words)

The TUC and Labour Party are encouraging trade unionists to sign up as volunteer stewards at vaccination sites. ...
Subscribers only

Unions slate 'dangerous confusion' over school attendance (786 words)

Unions with members across the education sector have sounded a warning that confused government guidance has increased pupil numbers to dangerous ...
Subscribers only

Health coalition wants staff thanked with pay rise, not just clapping (348 words)

Fourteen unions with members in the health sector used International Thank You Day on 11 January to call for pay rises for health workers. They were ...
Subscribers only

BMA demands vaccination within two weeks (139 words)

Doctors’ union the BMA has demanded that frontline health and social care staff be vaccinated within the next two weeks. ...
Open access

Morrisons to be first to pay £10 an hour (138 words)

Usdaw has negotiated a £10 per hour basic rate for shopworkers at Morrisons. The offer, if approved by a ballot of members, will increase the ...
Open access

Union urges councils to take back control (141 words)

General union Unite has called on local authorities to take gyms, swimming pools and sports halls operated by Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) back under ...
Open access

Issue 1

Schools U-turn follows union pressure (738 words)

Unions across the education sector are welcoming the UK government’s U-turn on cancelling school reopenings, which followed their sustained ...
Subscribers only

TUC: ‘replace outdated Covid safety rules’ (467 words)

Workplace safety rules must be urgently updated to protect essential workers, the TUC has said. ...
Subscribers only

Top CEOs ‘earned average salary in three days’ (159 words)

CEO’s at Britain’s top companies earned as much in the first three days of this week as the average worker will in a whole year, according to ...
Open access

Treasury announces relief package (104 words)

The Treasury promised a £4.6 billion support package on Tuesday intended to help companies survive in sectors that will be hardest hit by the new ...
Open access

Call to furlough parents during school closures (178 words)

The TUC has urged employers to offer furlough leave to parents affected by the school closures that dominated the news before and after this week's ...
Open access

Minimum wage non-payers shamed (224 words)

The government has named 139 employers found to have failed to pay 95,000 staff the national minimum wage between 2016 and 2018. The underpayments ...
Open access

Call to improve shop safety (202 words)

Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has called for retail staff to be prioritised for vaccination and Covid testing. It also urged retailers to reinforce ...
Open access

2020 worst year for retail job losses (84 words)

Last year was the worst for retail job losses for a quarter of a century according to the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). Almost 180,000 UK retail ...
Open access