Pay and prices

Pay fails to match prices (242 words)

Pay settlement levels continued to rise last month, reflecting higher inflation, while private sector pay freezes are becoming increasingly scarce, according to the Labour ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (74 words)

Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered). ...

Full-time weekly average earnings (16 words)

All workers£611.50All male£667.70All female£524.40Managers£895.80Professionals£811.40Associate professional£630.10Admin & secretarial£428.60Skilled/craft£504.90Services£362.80Sales£338.20Operatives£464.30Other manual£361.10 ...

Annual increase in average weekly earnings (AWE) including bonuses (51 words)

1 The latest three-month average. Source: National Statistics (r) revised, (p) provisional. ...

Other pay analysts (21 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end January 2011)2.0%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end December 2010)2.2% ...

Prices (14 words)

Retail prices index (RPI), Jan ’87=100% annual increasesRPIRPI excl. mortgages December 2009218.02.43.8January 2010217.93.74.6February219.23.74.2March220.74.44.8April222.85.35.4May223.65.15.1June224.15.05.0July223.64.84.8August224.54.74.7September225.34.64.6October225.84.54.6November226.84.74.7December228.44.84.7January 2011229.05.15.1 ...

Inflation forecasts (18 words)

Fourth quarter 2011 ...

Bargaining news

Teachers strike against academy conversions (741 words)

Members of the NASUWT and the NUT teaching unions at two schools took strike action in February against the conversion of their schools to ...

Graduate vacancies up but salaries remain stagnant (424 words)

Graduate salaries will remain static for an “unprecedented” third year, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), although vacancies are on the rise, ...

Plan to axe May Day slated (355 words)

Government proposals to cancel the May Day bank holiday and replace it with a UK day in October have gone down like a lead ...

Real disposable income set to fall even further (258 words)

Families had less “spending power” at the end of last year than a year earlier, according to the Asda Income Tracker produced jointly by ...

Better pay deals crucial for recovery, says TUC (432 words)

As the TUC called this month for better pay deals there are indications of a trend towards higher rises in some parts of the ...

Regulator checks defined contribution pensions (295 words)

The Pensions Regulator is consulting on how it can help deliver “good outcomes” for people with defined contribution (DC) pension schemes and give them ...

City airport workers get tough on pay (207 words)

Agency staff at London City Airport who have not had a pay rise since 2008, may be balloted for industrial action if talks at ...

British Airways 'legal blitz' on Election Reform Society (74 words)

Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, has accused British Airways of a “legal blitz” against the Electoral Reform Society (ERS), which oversaw a third cabin ...

Equality news

Disabled workers face double cuts trouble (373 words)

An alarmingly high number of disabled workers risk losing their jobs in public sector cut backs at the same time as disabled people face ...

Employers must plan for impact of ageing workforce (327 words)

The ageing of the population will have a far-reaching impact on the workplace, according to a discussion paper by conciliation service Acas. ...

Effects of cuts on charities monitored (158 words)

A project has been launched to keep track of voluntary groups experiencing reductions in public sector funding. Voluntary Sector Cuts, a collaboration between a ...

Guidance on equality duty published (143 words)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance that explains what public authorities in England and non-devolved bodies in Scotland and Wales have ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Reps honoured for work (192 words)

Hard-working union activists from retail and distribution union Usdaw were honoured at a glitzy awards ceremony last month. The annual event celebrates the work ...

Cleaners win recognition (96 words)

The RMT transport union has gained recognition for cleaners employed by Initial Transport Services at St Pancras and Ebbsfleet international stations. The Central Arbitration ...

Learning and training news

Goverment is ‘giving with one hand while taking away with another’ (468 words)

The government has been busy lauding its plans to increase apprentice numbers while at the same time quietly withdrawing an offer of a guaranteed ...

European news

Volkswagen pay outstrips inflation (549 words)

An inflation-busting pay deal at carmaker Volkswagen (VW) has underlined how unions are becoming able to push through pay increases on the back of ...

Belgian unions throw out agreement (499 words)

Two of Belgium’s three union confederations have rejected the national two-year pay deal which their own negotiators signed last month (see Workplace Report, January ...

Law - Discrimination

Discrimination — some basic legal rules (410 words)

From 1 October 2010, discrimination law is contained in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). All the cases in this edition of Workplace Report ...

Discrimination — the key developments (199 words)

f Where an employee is disabled and needs to have adjustments made to his or her role, the employer is responsible for suggesting what ...

Employer responsible for considering adjustments (631 words)

Where an employee suffers from a disability, the employer has a duty to make reasonable adjustments. This case looks at where an employee develops ...

Pay for partners on additional paternity leave (611 words)

A recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU — formerly referred to as the European Court of Justice) concerning ...

Age discrimination during redundancy objectively justifiable (525 words)

Mr Woodcock was chief executive of North Cumbria Primary Care Trust (PCT). Under a re-organisation of the NHS the number of PCTs in the ...

Volunteers unlikely to be protected from discrimination (767 words)

A disabled individual, referred to as X by the courts, with academic legal qualifications and practical legal experience, applied to work as a volunteer ...

Targeting services away from protected group was discriminatory (589 words)

This case indicates that, where services provided to a group with a protected characteristic are re-targeted at a broader group, the effect of that ...

Time limits and using the High Court (513 words)

Commencing litigation can be a daunting prospect — especially for the uninitiated. For an employee, the process of considering whether to lodge a claim, ...

Health & safety news

Workplace violence and bullying left unchecked (265 words)

Employers and national governments are failing to deal with increasing levels of violence, bullying and harassment in workplaces across Europe, according to a new ...

Retail violence down but not out (229 words)

Shopworkers’ union USDAW has welcomed the overall fall in shop crime and increased investment by retailers in crime prevention reported by the British Retail ...

Risks same for 20 years (187 words)

European workers remain as exposed to physical hazards as they were 20 years ago, according to the 5th European Working Conditions Survey. The survey, ...

CWU targets hearing damage (308 words)

The CWU communications union used National Tinnitus Awareness Week, which ran from 4-11 February, to highlight the problem of hearing damage resulting from the ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Environmental health services threatened (268 words)

Environmental health departments have lost an average of two full-time-equivalent front-line staff in the last six months as a result of local authority budget ...

Union challenges cuts at Coastguard Agency (202 words)

The PCS public services union has challenged the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to prove that its plans to cut coastguard stations would not ...

Workers memorial bank holiday claimed (184 words)

General union Unite is demanding a public holiday to commemorate Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April in its annual pay claim on behalf of ...

Accident reporting consultation begins (281 words)

A three-month consultation on proposed changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 was launched by the Health and ...

Features

Voluntary sector staff face job cuts and worsening conditions (2048 words)

Cuts are hitting the voluntary sector despite the government’s Big Society agenda. The charities, not-for-profit organisations, housing associations and other non-governmental bodies that make ...

Negotiating standby and call-out payments: factors to consider (1807 words)

Some industries, such as the emergency services and utilities, commonly require workers to be available for work outside their normal working hours on a ...