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Labour Research April 2014
Race discrimination - Black and minority ethnic workers still face an uphill struggle in trying to further their career prospects
Ethnic monitoring - TUC race policy officer Wilf Sullivan says it time for renewed action on ethnic monitoring
Still benefiting? - There have been a huge number of changes to the benefits system, with still more in the offing
Older women - There are more older women in the workforce, but are the needs of this group being adequately addressed?
News
More cuts — and a pensions surprise from George Osborne (405 words)
Chancellor George Osborne’s busy 2014 Budget may come to be remembered most for two things: its continuing commitment to austerity that can only ...
Subscribers only
Unions pay tribute to Tony Benn (281 words)
The death of former Labour minister and left wing figurehead Tony Benn on 14 March brought tributes from across the trade union movement. The boast, ... Subscribers only
Zero hours review under fire (238 words)
The government’s consultation on zero hours contracts that concluded last month was a missed opportunity to scrutinise this form of employment, ...
Open access
Minimum wage rise is welcomed, but TUC says bolder moves are needed to help the low paid (493 words)
A 3% rise in the adult National Minimum Wage has been welcomed as the first step in a series of hopefully bolder increases in years to come. ... Subscribers only
Government has failed to manage contracts (208 words)
A damning report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has pointed to government failures to manage the performance of out-sourced public ... Open access
UK unemployment posts a fall (219 words)
Unemployment fell by 63,000 in the three months to January to 2.33 million, according to the Labour Force Survey count. The number of unemployed men ... Open access
Inflation measures (73 words)
Every March, the Office for National Statistics updates the representative items in the nation’s shopping basket which is then used to measure ... Open access
Key economic indicators
Key economic indicators (404 words)
Inflation +2.7%, Average earnings +1.7% ... Subscribers only
Union news
Unite halves affiliation fee to Labour following levy changes (395 words)
The largest Labour-affiliated union, general union Unite, responded quickly to the party’s decision on individual union member affiliation last ... Subscribers only
Young workers (215 words)
The TUC is exploring the idea of a “gateway” service to make it easier for young people who work where there is no union organisation to join one. ... Open access
Bob Crow (61 words)
Tributes last month poured in for RMT transport union general secretary Bob Crow (below) who died suddenly, aged 52, on 11 March. ... Open access
Teacher unions’ unity conference (134 words)
A conference on unity among teaching unions organised last month by the largest, the NUT, was officially supported by five of the UK’s school ... Open access
Rights demanded for Qatar workers (105 words)
The International Trade Union Confederation (ICTU) has demanded that workers building Qatar’s World Cup stadia must be allowed to join a trade ... Open access
European news
Transparency measures could help close gender pay gap (437 words)
The European Commission has adopted new recommendations on pay transparency, which it hopes will help to close the gender pay gap — the difference ... Subscribers only
Greek unions face new curbs on organisation and industrial action (214 words)
The Greek government is considering new legislation which will hit unions’ ability to organise and make it more difficult for them to take ... Open access
Posted workers (122 words)
The European Parliament and the European Council, which brings together representatives of national governments, have reached a compromise deal on ... Open access
Responsibility pact (122 words)
French unions and employers have reached a deal setting out what the employers must do to benefit from cuts in government charges and other changes ... Open access
Features
It’s still a struggle to move on up (2,479 words)
Despite progress in combating racism in the workplace in recent years, black and minority ethnic workers still face a battle when it comes to ... Subscribers only
Time to take action to renew ethnic monitoring (1,548 words)
The fight for ethnic monitoring needs to be reinvigorated, writes TUC race policy officer Wilf Sullivan. ... Subscribers only
Increasing misery for the poor (2,038 words)
What has been the effect of welfare reforms introduced since last April? And what changes are coming into effect from this month? Labour Research ... Subscribers only
Equality must come of age for older women (1,760 words)
The needs of older women workers are being overlooked, despite their increased numbers in the workforce. ... Open access
Law Matters
Important development in recognition battle (406 words)
The continuing battle for union recognition of the Pharmacists’ Defence Association Union (PDAU) by high street store Boots has taken another twist. ... Subscribers only
Early conciliation is a free, voluntary service (190 words)
The Acas employment advisory and conciliation service has been in touch in response to our item in the March issue of Labour Research on the early ... Open access
TUPE changes (126 words)
Labour has unexpectedly tabled an Early Day Motion calling for the Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) ... Open access
Tribunal fees (148 words)
Quarterly tribunal statistics published by the Ministry of Justice for October to December 2013 show a dramatic 79% collapse in the number of new ... Open access
Law Queries
Redundancy and maternity (310 words)
Q. I have been made redundant four months after going on maternity leave. Do my employers have to offer me another suitable job? ... Subscribers only
Suspension from work (318 words)
Q. I have been suspended from my employment after I had a heated argument with another colleague at work. I’m worried that my employers might sack ... Subscribers only
Overpayment of wages (128 words)
Q. Last month, I received an extra £300 on top of my regular, monthly salary. My employers have told me that they overpaid my salary by mistake and ... Open access
Law Back-up
Discrimination procedure replaced by new guidance (900 words)
The statutory discrimination procedure is abolished from 6 April 2014. Back-up asks whether what replaces it is really so very different. ... Subscribers only
Health & Safety Matters
Dramatic fall in rates of sickness absence (321 words)
There has been a dramatic fall of more than 25% in the number of working days lost to sickness absence over the last 20 years, figures from the ... Subscribers only
Domestic violence guidance (230 words)
The UNISON public services union has responded to a call by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for greater awareness of ... Open access
Overworked teachers clock up 60 hours a week (225 words)
The latest Department for Education (DfE) Teachers workload diary survey 2013 shows how hard teachers are working. ... Open access
Health & Safety Back-up
Tackling bullying and harassment at work (833 words)
While trade unionists continue to campaign against bullying — which can be deep-rooted in some workplace cultures — bullying nevertheless remains ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Independent Living Fund closure slammed (378 words)
Unions have condemned the government’s announcement that it will axe the Independent Living Fund — which enables disabled people to live, work ... Subscribers only
BME women hardest hit by austerity measures (233 words)
General union Unite says that a human rights and equality impact assessment of public spending cuts on black and minority ethnic (BME) women in ... Open access
Government must act on youth joblessness (253 words)
The TUC last month called for the government to act on long-term youth unemployment ahead of the first ever National Union of Students’ Students ... Subscribers only
Workplace Back-up
Childcare costs are prohibitive for many (933 words)
The excessive cost of childcare has recently hit the headlines. Back-up reports. ... Subscribers only
Reviews
Respect yourself (217 words)
Stax records and the soul explosion ... Open access
The enemy within (226 words)
The secret war against the miners (30th anniversary edition) ... Open access
e-views (433 words)
Domain names have become very important to companies and organisations including unions. They are used to host websites and run email systems, and ... Subscribers only
News from LRD
Phil Evans (1946-2014) (89 words)
The Labour Research Department is sorry to report the death in March of cartoonist Phil Evans. ... Open access
Labour Research Department annual general meeting (47 words)
The annual general meeting of the Labour Research Department is on Monday 19 May, 2014 at Jerwood Space, Union Street, London SE1 0LN from 2.00pm. ... Open access