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Labour Research August 2015
Labour leadership – Labour Research interviews the candidates for the Labour Party leadership
Childcare conundrum - The government says it will extend free childcare. But its pledge is undermined by lack of funding
Housing and young people - The housing crisis affects young people in particular - so young trade unionists are mobilising around the issue
Qatar World Cup - Migrant workers building facilities for the 2022 Qatar World Cup continue to endure appalling conditions
News
Unions set little store by plans to reform Sunday trading laws (344 words)
Shopworkers could be forced to pay a heavy price if government plans to reform Sunday trading laws go ahead, unions in the retail sector have warned. ...
Subscribers only
Anger at ‘cruel’ welfare reform Bill (308 words)
Austerity measures stemming from Chancellor George Osborne’s summer Budget have angered unions and anti-poverty campaigners. The Welfare Reform and ... Subscribers only
Industrial news (237 words)
Members of the UNISON public services union working for the National Probation Service and a number of outsourced community rehabilitation companies ...
Open access
Plans for BBC lead to fears of ‘rump broadcasting service’ (325 words)
Media unions have expressed deep concern at government plans for the BBC, fearing that it could just become “a rump broadcasting service” that ... Subscribers only
Network rail privatisation looms (222 words)
Key sections of publicly-owned Network Rail are threatened by “creeping privatisation” warns the RMT rail union. The union said the government ... Open access
Living wage (125 words)
Government proposals to introduce a National Living Wage of £7.20 are seen as a deliberate attempt to undermine the efforts of unions and ... Open access
Prison service (130 words)
The PCS civil service union is calling on the government to invest in prison staff following the publication of a report stating that prisons in ... Open access
RPI inflation unchanged (73 words)
The annual rate of inflation under the Retail Prices Index (RPI) was unchanged in June at 1.0%. This rate is the preferred measure for union ... Open access
Number of unemployed increases (206 words)
Unemployment has risen for the first time in over two years. Under the Labour Force Survey count, it increased by 15,000 to 1.85 million in the three ... Open access
Key economic indicators
Key economic indicators (414 words)
Inflation +1.0%, Average earnings +2.6% ... Subscribers only
Union news
Membership remains stable (247 words)
The combined membership of TUC-affiliated unions has remained broadly stable over the past year at 5.8 million. ... Open access
Unite maintains Labour Party link (382 words)
General union Unite will maintain its commitment to the Labour Party despite concerns about the party’s future direction, it has announced. ... Subscribers only
Trade Union Bill (120 words)
Any public sector employer could be told to limit facility time afforded to trade union representatives under the Trade Union Bill published last ... Open access
TUC press awards (54 words)
Merchant navy union Nautilus International won the key award in the 2015 TUC Trade Union Communication Awards last month. ... Open access
GMB election (63 words)
Tim Roache, the Yorkshire and North Derbyshire regional secretary for the GMB general union, has become the first person to announce he is seeking ... Open access
European news
Greek measures include changes to bargaining rules (444 words)
Most of the measures prescribed for Greece at the emergency Eurozone summit on 12 July dealt with taxes and public spending, including higher VAT ... Subscribers only
German unions win substantial pay rises (230 words)
In most areas of the German economy, recent union-negotiated pay increases have seen an appreciable rise in earnings in real terms. ... Open access
Maternity directive withdrawn (146 words)
As was expected, the European Commission has decided to withdraw its proposal for a directive to improve maternity leave (seeLabour Research, June 201 ... Open access
Polish membership stable (79 words)
Union density in Poland remains broadly stable, according to the latest figures from the public opinion research institute CBOS. ... Open access
Features
Who is best for the unions? (2,540 words)
Labour Research interviews the candidates for leadership of the Labour Party on a range of issues of concern to unions and their members. ... Open access
Childcare plan doesn’t add up (2,242 words)
The Conservatives say that their Childcare Bill will extend free childcare for working families. Yet, as Pete Morgan reports, this pledge exposes a ... Subscribers only
Unions home in on housing (1,716 words)
Young trade unionists are on the frontline of the housing crisis and are ensuring that the issue is rising to the top of their unions’ agendas. ... Subscribers only
Under construction: a human rights catastrophe (1,632 words)
The building of facilities for the Qatar World Cup in 2022 continues to highlight the desperate plight of migrant construction workers in the Gulf ... Subscribers only
Law Matters
Another key ruling on holiday and sickness (348 words)
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has delivered a new ruling on holiday pay and sickness absence, tackling two key issues. ... Subscribers only
EU negotiation places rights under threat (272 words)
The position of unions in the promised EU referendum is starting to crystallise. ... Subscribers only
Clarification on pay deduction for striking teachers (251 words)
We have been asked to clarify last month’s coverage of a recent Court of Appeal ruling about pay deductions for strike action — Hartley v King ... Subscribers only
Law Queries
Contractual sick pay (276 words)
Q. I was off sick for a day last week with a bad cold. My manager says he doesn’t believe my sickness was genuine and my employer refuses to pay me ... Subscribers only
Redundancy consultation (246 words)
Q. Our employer carried out 25 redundancies without realising that they were obliged to consult collectively with employee reps (no union is ... Open access
Disciplinary hearing (212 words)
Q. I have been summoned to a disciplinary hearing but the stress and anxiety is making me very ill. Can I be dismissed if I miss the hearing because ... Open access
Law Back-up
Trade union bill aims to silence voice of unions (915 words)
Unions have lined up to condemn the government’s Trade Union Bill, which, the TUC says, will fundamentally tip the balance of power in the ... Subscribers only
Health & Safety Matters
Unions call for law to eradicate asbestos (214 words)
Unions marked Mesothelioma Action Day last month with calls for an asbestos eradication plan. The Unite general union demanded a new asbestos ... Open access
London’s safety impaired through spending cuts (272 words)
The FBU firefighters’ union has challenged claims by the London Fire Brigade that firefighters are well prepared for another 7/7-style terror ... Subscribers only
Death blamed on deregulation (149 words)
The safety campaign group, Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK), has blamed the death of 16-year-old apprentice Cameron Minshull “at least ... Open access
Injury compensation (81 words)
The public and commercial services PCS union has reported that its lawyers recovered more than £3 million last year in compensation for members (and ... Open access
Health & Safety Back-up
How to deal with drug tests in the workplace (857 words)
In advance of new “drug-driving” limits introduced in England and Wales in March 2015, the TUC warned of a big increase in drug testing at work, ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Greater awareness of depression needed (320 words)
At any one time, around one in six people of working age are experiencing a common mental health condition such as depression or anxiety, claims a ... Subscribers only
Disabled employees face a series of barriers (267 words)
A lack of skilled and confident line managers is a major barrier to the retention of disabled employees, reveals a report by the Business Disability ... Subscribers only
Graduates (126 words)
The latest graduate employment figures, published last month, show that nearly one in three (32%) graduates is doing non-graduate jobs. ... Open access
Male working environments (108 words)
Women are deterred from applying for jobs in male-dominated sectors, such as the military, construction and breweries because of these sectors’ ... Open access
Workplace Back-up
TUC welcomes plan for apprenticeship levy (939 words)
The TUC has welcomed the apprenticeship levy proposal for large employers announced in July’s Budget, although employers are already urging caution. ... Subscribers only
Reviews
Them and us (193 words)
Fighting the class war 1910-1939 ... Open access
The dignity of Chartism (160 words)
Dorothy Thompson, Verso, 206 pages, 14.99 ... Open access
E-views
e-views (423 words)
Recently, I’ve been looking at the sizes of union websites as a benchmarking exercise to inform a union website redesign project. The analysis ... Subscribers only
News from LRD
Sam Apter (187 words)
The Labour Research Department was saddened to hear news of the death of Sam Apter, a very long-serving member of the LRD’s executive committee. ... Open access