Fact Service February 2022

Issue 8 (24/02/2022) - Unions castigate government over end of countermeasures and free testing; ILO/WHO guide to occupational health and safety for health workers; Match Girl's Strike remembered; UK records first pandemic budget surplus; New Royal Mail pension scheme almost here; Government 'falling behind on green jobs'; Migration regime won’t deliver high wages, report says; National care service 'could create 1 million jobs'

Issue 7 (17/02/2022) - Vacancies set new record as pay drops in real terms; UK inflation at 30-year high; Employers review pay and options to boost recruitment; Hospital pickets hit with injunction; Workers back green economy but have doubts; Defence spending 'puts price above UK jobs'; Cleaners allege safety violations at hospital

Issue 6 (10/02/2022) - Half of firms have workers who’ve had long Covid; Union calls on prince to halt fire and rehire at his dad's charity; TUC: 1.3 million more on Universal Credit than pre-pandemic; Call for pay restraint 'a sick joke'; Union member wins age discrimination case; SSP reform 'needed to tackle Covid'; ILO virtual forum on Covid crisis

Issue 5 (03/02/2022) - Unions welcome U-turn on compulsory vaccination; Food prices to rise alongside energy increases; Database offers global labour information; Closures would give green light to anti-social behaviour; RMT warns against privatising CalMac; Co-op workers in first win of comparability claim; Transatlantic merger a step closer; Youth employment up but some of it is insecure

Issue 8

Unions castigate government over end of countermeasures and free testing (576 words)

Unions in health, education and retail are some of those warning that the government’s “sweeping away” of Covid restrictions and free testing ...
Subscribers only

ILO/WHO guide to occupational health and safety for health workers (98 words)

United Nations bodies the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have published Caring for those who care, a ...
Open access

Match Girl’s Strike remembered (85 words)

English Heritage has announced that it is to honour the 1888 Match Girl’s Strike with a commemorative blue plaque at the former Bryant and May ...
Open access

UK records first pandemic budget surplus (377 words)

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures for January 2022 have recorded the first UK monthly budget surplus since the Covid pandemic began. ...
Subscribers only

New Royal Mail pension scheme almost here (296 words)

A new collective pension scheme is almost ready to be put in place at the Royal Mail Group following a successful consultation and joint efforts by ...
Subscribers only

Government ‘falling behind on green jobs’ (221 words)

The government is failing to help create new jobs, the TUC says, after studying figures from the ONS which show 28,000 (12%) fewer jobs in ...
Open access

Migration regime won’t deliver high wages, report says (304 words)

Migration has “significantly changed” the UK labour market, think tank the Resolution Foundation has said, but it believes that the move to a ...
Subscribers only

National care service ‘could create 1 million jobs’ (161 words)

Creating a universal care service could create a million new jobs and enable 1.9 million people to access publicly-funded care, according to research ...
Open access

Issue 7

Vacancies set new record as pay drops in real terms (767 words)

Average pay has picked up, while unemployment has fallen and job vacancies hit a new record high, but pay is still failing to match record inflation ...
Subscribers only

UK inflation at 30-year high (213 words)

Inflation in the UK reached a 30 year high in the 12 months to January, at 5.5% CPI (consumer prices index) and 7.8% RPI (retail prices index), ...
Open access

Employers review pay and options to boost recruitment (461 words)

Employers are set to make “record” pay awards of around 3% this year in order to recruit enough staff, HR institute the CIPD has found, but ...
Subscribers only

Hospital pickets hit with injunction (164 words)

The United Voices of the World (UVW) trade union reports that is has been served with a temporary injunction banning its striking security guard ...
Open access

Workers back green economy but have doubts (247 words)

Workers back a move to a greener economy, but only a quarter (25%) believe that the government’s climate action plans will create new jobs in their ...
Open access

Defence spending ‘puts price above UK jobs’ (177 words)

A new report from the specialists’ Prospect trade union sets out how the Ministry of Defence is failing to enforce a so-called “Social Value ...
Open access

Cleaners allege safety violations at hospital (144 words)

Outsourced migrant workers from the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) who clean at London Bridge Hospital are alleging bullying ...
Open access

Issue 6

Half of firms have workers who’ve had long Covid (401 words)

Nearly half of employers have staff who have experienced long Covid in the last year, according to HR institute the CIPD. ...
Subscribers only

Union calls on prince to halt fire and rehire at his dad’s charity (327 words)

The Unite general union has appealed to Prince Edward to intervene and halt plans by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme organisation to scrap its ...
Subscribers only

TUC: 1.3 million more on Universal Credit than pre-pandemic (244 words)

The TUC has said that the number of workers on Universal Credit (UC) increased by 1.3 million since just before the Covid-19 pandemic. And, it ...
Open access

Call for pay restraint ‘a sick joke’ (328 words)

The governor of the Bank of England triggered a furious union response after asking for “restraint” in pay talks during a BBC interview. ...
Subscribers only

Union member wins age discrimination case (237 words)

A worker has won not just his case for age discrimination but also national headlines for the issue it highlighted. ...
Open access

SSP reform ‘needed to tackle Covid’ (574 words)

The UK’s Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) system is jeopardising its ability to deal with Covid according to the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy ...
Subscribers only

ILO virtual forum on Covid crisis (51 words)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has announced that it will hold a virtual Global forum for a human-centred recovery, intended to improve ...
Open access

Issue 5

Unions welcome U-turn on compulsory vaccination (794 words)

Health unions have overwhelmingly welcomed the government’s U-turn on mandatory NHS vaccination ahead of its implementation, but attacked the fact ...
Subscribers only

Food prices to rise alongside energy increases (362 words)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that as the cost of living rises for households, increasing energy prices are ...
Subscribers only

Database offers global labour information (151 words)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched a one-stop information hub with the aim of “paving the way for a more human-centred ...
Open access

Closures would give green light to anti-social behaviour (149 words)

All four rail unions have written to Scottish council leaders warning that plans by train operator Abellio ScotRail to close or reduce the opening ...
Open access

RMT warns against privatising CalMac (105 words)

The RMT has called for a meeting with ministers in response to press reports that the Scottish government is planning to privatise the contract for ...
Open access

Co-op workers in first win of comparability claim (236 words)

The Co-op supermarket chain has conceded that shop floor staff can be compared to distribution centre employees, the first step in a claim by 1,600 ...
Open access

Transatlantic merger a step closer (128 words)

Transport union the TSSA reports that its workplace reps have overwhelmingly backed a merger with the US-based International Brotherhood of ...
Open access

Youth employment up but some of it is insecure (206 words)

Young people have returned to work rapidly, but some have done so to insecure work, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank. ...
Open access