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Labour Research October 2018
What do unions say about a vote on the Brexit deal? - The People's Vote campaign is calling for a public vote on the final Brexit deal. So where do UK trade unions stand on this issue?; Unions and equality measures - What do TUC equality audits reveal about unions’ attempts at ensuring the proper representation of women and minorities in their structures?; Evaluating the Working Time Regulations - Twenty years after the Working Time Regulations were introduced, Labour Research assesses the legislation
News
Corbyn ‘on the right track’ with plans to tax media-tech firms (216 words)
Plans to tax leading media-technology firms, set out in a recent speech by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, would finance much-needed greater diversity ...
Open access
Workloads and drastic cuts see school staff buckling under pressure (402 words)
School support staff are buckling under their workloads as drastic cuts, staff restructuring and rocketing stress levels become the norm in UK ...
Subscribers only
Industrial news (266 words)
Members of the Unite general union at three TGI Fridays restaurants walked out for three days of strikes over the August bank holiday weekend. The ... Subscribers only
TUC could back public vote if terms of Brexit fail to deliver for workers (326 words)
If the government fails to secure a Brexit deal that delivers on jobs and workers’ rights and does not call an election, the TUC will throw its ... Subscribers only
Carillion requires criminal probe (262 words)
General union Unite has called for an immediate criminal investigation into the key individuals involved in the collapse of Carillion.
... Subscribers only
Warehouse jobs (159 words)
The GMB general union has slammed a distribution deal which will mean hundreds of job losses in the warehouses that serve beleaguered retailer House ... Open access
UCU strike (104 words)
Members of the UCU college and lecturers’ union working across 110 colleges in England and 147 UK universities are being balloted for strike action ... Open access
Unemployment continues to fall (205 words)
Unemployment continued on its downward path, official figures show.
... Open access
Living standards (80 words)
Workers’ are still seeing their living standards being cut, even though the gap between growth in average weekly earnings and retail price ... Open access
Key economic indicators
Key economic indicators (412 words)
Inflation +3.2%, Average earnings +3.1% ... Subscribers only
Union news
New UNISON guidance provides support and information for its EU members (397 words)
Public services union UNISON has launched guidance for its 80,000 members who are EU citizens about the new requirements on them for living in the UK ... Subscribers only
Factory’s ‘bully boy’ tactics condemned by union (282 words)
The GMB general union has slammed the “bully boy tactics” of a factory in Preston which has begun to derecognise the union.
... Subscribers only
Unite defeats Tata Consultancy Services derecognition (67 words)
The Unite general union has fought off a derecognition attempt at Tata Consultancy Services through the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). The firm ... Open access
European news
Wide-ranging labour plans firmed up by French government (361 words)
The shape of further changes to the French government’s plans affecting labour is becoming clearer.
... Subscribers only
Austrian working time laws changed (272 words)
The new right wing Austrian government has changed the country’s working time laws, increasing the maximum length of the working week.
... Subscribers only
Austerity hits Finnish women hardest (121 words)
A new report, produced by a research unit based within the Finnish prime minister’s office, finds the government’s own policies of cuts and ... Open access
Opel outsources R&D work (134 words)
Opel, now part of the PSA French car maker following its sale by the US General Motors in 2017, says it will transfer 2,000 staff in its research and ... Open access
Features
Casting a vote on the final deal? (2,576 words)
Unions are united in condemning the Tory government’s inept handling of the Brexit negotiations. But where do they stand on calls for a ... Open access
Auditing for union equality (1,806 words)
The union equality agenda has seen a push for greater efforts towards better representation of women and minorities over the last 15 years.
... Subscribers only
Regulating our working time (2,323 words)
The Working Time Regulations were introduced 20 years ago. Labour Research examines the Regulations’ provisions as they have developed through case ... Subscribers only
Law Matters
Outsourced workers’ case goes to high court (382 words)
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has been granted the right to pursue its case in the High Court to gain recognition for ... Subscribers only
Treatment, while poor, was not disability discrimination (268 words)
While the handling of an employee’s application for ill health retirement by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was “incompetent”, it was not ... Subscribers only
Flexible working (256 words)
Research by risk assessment industry body Group Risk Development has found that smaller employers are more inclined to offer flexible working as a ... Subscribers only
Law Queries
Disciplinary hearing (240 words)
Q. I’ve been called to a disciplinary hearing but my union rep is on holiday for two weeks. Can HR refuse to delay the hearing until she gets back? ... Open access
Change in contractual terms (202 words)
Q. Our employer has told us that if we refuse to accept new terms and conditions of employment we will be dismissed and re-engaged on new terms. Can ... Open access
TUPE (207 words)
Q. My employment is to be transferred to another employer under TUPE and I have been asked to relocate. The new workplace is 10 miles away, which ... Open access
References (104 words)
Q. Does my former employer have to provide me with a reference? ... Open access
Law Back-up
Workplace monitoring: what rights do you have? (915 words)
New research commissioned by the TUC and published in summer reveals that more than half of working people (56%) think they are being monitored at ... Subscribers only
Health & Safety Matters
Warning raised over possible asbestos risk (301 words)
The NASUWT teaching union is calling on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to name two companies that supplied schools with Bunsen burner gauze ... Subscribers only
Bill attacks injury claims (262 words)
Unions have stepped up their campaign against government proposals they say will seriously undermine access to justice as the Civil Liability Bill ... Subscribers only
Talks demanded over safety breaches (140 words)
The RMT rail union has demanded urgent talks with South Western Railway after the safety regulator, the Office of Road and Rail (ORR), confirmed what ... Open access
New TUC resources (84 words)
TUC Education has published a second edition of its workbook Mental health and the workplace. This has more emphasis on the importance of prevention ... Open access
Health & Safety Back-up
Regulations bolster rights to inspections (828 words)
Forty years ago in October, the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (SRSCR) came into effect. Back-up looks at safety ... Subscribers only
Equality news
Police staff plagued by sexual harassment (366 words)
Police chiefs have pledged to act after high levels of sexual harassment among police staff were revealed in a report published by public services ... Subscribers only
Ethnic minorities suffer higher unemployment (258 words)
People from a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background suffer a higher unemployment rate than those from a white background according to ... Subscribers only
Generational pay gap more than doubles in 20 years (260 words)
The pay gap between young and older workers in the South West region has increased by more than half in the last 20 years, according to recent ... Subscribers only
Workplace Back-up
Union input central to democratised economy (898 words)
The Commission on Economic Justice (CEJ), set up by the centre left IPPR think tank to examine the challenges facing a UK economy which is “not ... Subscribers only
E-views
e-views (413 words)
It will be interesting to see how, over the coming years, unions grasp the opportunities around what’s known as low-code development.
... Subscribers only