Labour Research April 2017

BME talent is blocked and underutilised - Discrimination exists at every stage of BME workers’ careers, says a government commissioned report. What can be done to change this? Curb on exit payments for public sector workers - The Tories’ cap on redundancy and other exit payments for public sector workers will hit long-serving public servants with modest earnings. Tories’ slash and burn on benefits continues - Low-income families and disabled people on benefits face increased hardship as further "reforms" to the welfare system get underway.

News

Government’s ‘Brexit confusion’ threatens jobs, says McCluskey
 (376 words)

Unions have expressed alarm at the government’s “Brexit confusion”, with the Unite general union warning that hundreds of thousands of jobs are ...
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Public sector pay growth hamstrung
 (316 words)

Public sector workers’ pay is expected to fall back below 2004-05 levels by the end of this Parliament, according to the Resolution Foundation (RF) ...
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Centenary news (247 words)

The April 1975 issue of Labour Research reported on a Runnymede Trust pamphlet, Trade unions and immigrant workers, which gave information on black ...
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New funding formula poses budget crisis for schools across England
 (373 words)

All schools in England are likely to face real-term cuts to funding by 2019-20, according to a new report by the independent research body, the ...
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Zero hours treatment decried
 (170 words)

Bosses are able to treat workers like “disposable labour” thanks to zero hours contracts (ZHCs), said TUC general secretary Frances O’ Grady ...
Open access

Poll finds racist abuse (259 words)

Over a third of Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) people witnessed or experienced racial abuse in the seven months following the Brexit vote in ...
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Unemployment continues to fall
 (210 words)

UK unemployment has continued to fall and is now at its lowest level for 11 years, official figures show.
 ...
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Update for inflation items (64 words)

Non-dairy milks, such as almond and soya milk, are among items that have been added to the basket of goods used to calculate inflation.
 ...
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Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (412 words)

Inflation +3.2%; Average earnings +1.7% ...
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Union news

Teaching superunion a reality after successful merger ballots
 (302 words)

A UK teaching union of almost half a million members is to be formed following successful merger ballots in two of the country’s largest teacher ...
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No consultation on facility time regs
 (349 words)

The TUC has slammed the government for publishing regulations requiring public authorities to publish information on trade union facility time — ...
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E-balloting review underway (197 words)

A call for evidence on electronic balloting for strike ballots has been issued by the government. 
 ...
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European news

Italian government retreats over employment arrangements (452 words)

CGIL, Italy’s largest and most militant union confederation, has forced the Italian government to retreat in the face of its campaign against new ...
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Builders must speak French
 (189 words)

The Île de France region around Paris has become the latest French region to require that builders working on publicly-funded construction sites ...
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Fewer strike days recorded in Germany
 (139 words)

New strike statistics show that just over a million workers in Germany took strike action in 2016 — a similar number to previous years — but that ...
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No progress on Greek talks
 (107 words)

The Greek government and the European institutions plus the International Monetary Fund have still not reached agreement on a new package of ...
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Features

Entrenched inequality still exists
 (2,523 words)

A new review of race in the workplace finds that race inequality stubbornly persists. And unions warn that real progress will continue to be elusive ...
Open access

Tories slam door on exit payments
 (2,125 words)

The government’s ongoing attack on the public sector has seen it turn its attention to redundancy and other exit payments, as Sally Buffard reports. ...
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Tightening the screw on the poor
 (2,300 words)

Billions of pounds worth of welfare “savings” and cuts will have been brought in by the Tory administration and the previous Tory-led coalition ...
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Law Matters

Union wins over scope of bargaining rights
 (393 words)

The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has recently won an important Court of Appeal case against Jet2.com Ltd in what is a highly ...
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Holiday pay and commission issue is finally concluded
 (228 words)

Public services union UNISON’s hard-fought, five year battle to establish that commission should be reflected in holiday pay has finally come to an ...
Open access

Headscarf ruling (268 words)

In a controversial ruling with the potential to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has decided that it is ...
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Law Queries

Tribunal award limits (221 words)

Q. Do compensation limits for employment tribunal awards change very often? ...
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Alcohol policies (293 words)

Q. Can employers stop employees from having an alcoholic drink during their lunch break? ...
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Disciplinary meetings (183 words)

Q. If a member secretly records disciplinary meetings with their employer, can s/he use the recordings as evidence in employment tribunal proceedings? ...
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Law Back-up

Unions highlight dangers of reforms to tribunals
 (850 words)

The government is pressing ahead with its programme of radical reform of the courts and tribunals system. Back-up sets out the government’s ...
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Health & Safety Matters

Women’s health and safety priorities aired
 (610 words)

Delegates to last month’s TUC Women’s Conference highlighted a range of health and safety problems faced by women workers and called for ...
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Rail strikes
 (131 words)

Rail union RMT’s long-running dispute over the introduction of driver-only operation on trains escalated last month. Union members at Arriva trains ...
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Commemoration
 (128 words)

Unions last month took part in commemoration events to mark the 30th anniversary of the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster. The disaster saw 193 ...
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Health & Safety Back-up

Long-hours culture puts workers at risk
 (905 words)

Marking its 13th Work Your Proper Hours Day at the end of February, the TUC warned that working time protections are at risk from the referendum vote ...
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Equality news

Gender pay gap varies according to ethnicity
 (449 words)

The gender pay gap in Britain varies according to ethnicity, with some minority ethnic groups making great strides while pay for others lags far ...
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Universities urged to give support to staff from EU
 (197 words)

The UNISON public services union’s higher education (HE) conference last month called on HE employers to give practical support to university staff ...
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Survey will examine LGBT workers’ experience
 (233 words)

The TUC has launched a major new survey into how lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) people find working life in the UK.
 ...
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Workplace Back-up

Post-brexit status of EU nationals in limbo
 (964 words)

Following last month’s parliamentary vote giving the government the go-ahead to launch negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, ...
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Reviews

They can’t kill us all
 (237 words)

The story of Black Lives Matter
 ...
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Modern women
 (162 words)

52 pioneers ...
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E-views

e-views (409 words)

It’s often difficult for an organisation to be impartial when judging where they are and how they are progressing. This especially applies to their ...
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