Workplace Report January 2017

Performance management - performance management systems have become a fact of life for many workplaces, but some large private sector employers have dropped them; Pay and prices across Europe - EU states in Western and Northern Europe witnessed moderate pay rises last year. There were better deals for workers in Central and Eastern European states; Latest case law on industrial action, contracts and tribunals

Pay and prices

Inflation hits pay rises
 (98 words)

With retail price inflation rising to its highest level for two-and-a half years, pay increases have fallen behind in real terms.
 ...
Open access

Labour Research Department’s Payline Database 
 (225 words)

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

Full-time weekly average earnings
 (42 words)

ASHE 2016 median uprated by AWE. ...
Open access

Average weekly earnings (AWE)
 (249 words)

Regular pay excluding bonuses. Percentage annual increases
 ...
Open access

XpertHR (19 words)

Median increases for three months to December 2016 ...
Open access

Prices (77 words)

1 Retail Prices Index (RPI), 
Jan ’87=100 ...
Open access

2017 forecasts (38 words)


1 Fourth quarter ...
Open access

Bargaining news

Unite welcomes new minimum pay rate on London buses 
 (775 words)

Years of union campaigning against pay disparities among London’s private bus operating companies bore fruit last month as London mayor Sadiq Khan ...
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Real-term pay rises in transport but also air and rail strikes 
 (475 words)

Rising inflation is putting pressure on pay, not least in the transport sector where employers are having to increase pay, or risk industrial action. ...
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Firm fails to bypass union
 (311 words)

Members of the Unite general union are celebrating a landmark tribunal victory over unlawful inducement.
 ...
Subscribers only

Existing school support staff won’t lose out 
 (159 words)

A “slow motion” pay cut for school support staff at Swindon Borough Council has been avoided under an agreement negotiated by the GMB general ...
Open access

It’s £10 an hour for some on the buses
 (156 words)

A number of collectively agreed deals recently added to the LRD Payline database ensure that some if not all of the workers covered can earn at least ...
Open access

Labour market czar to stamp out exploitation
 (440 words)

Sir David Metcalf’s appointment as the new labour market “czar” is being seen by some unions as a broad opportunity to tackle exploitation and ...
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Debate and demo on NHS pay cap
 (323 words)

On 30 January, the squeeze on NHS staff pay will once again be centre stage. A petition started by community nurse Danielle Tiplady, has been signed ...
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Break-up of probation service leads to decentralised bargaining
 (271 words)

Privatisation of parts of the probation service has led to a break up of the National Negotiating Council (NNC), but collective bargaining continues ...
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Equality news

More government help needed over childcare
 (426 words)

Working parents need more support from the government and employers as research from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development finds that ...
Subscribers only

Staff with mental health issues an economic asset
 (288 words)

The value that people with mental health problems bring to the economy is far greater than the costs arising, states a new report by the Mental ...
Subscribers only

Gender pay gap tool
 (117 words)

An interactive tool has been developed that allows the public to find out the gender pay gap for their occupation. 
 ...
Open access

Take part in TUC’s racism at work survey 
 (142 words)

Racism is on the rise and for many black and minority ethnic (BME) workers racism in the workplace is part of their everyday life. 
 ...
Open access

Learning and training news

Modern apprenticeships framework developed by Scotland and OECD
 (217 words)

Skills Development Scotland (SDS), in collaboration with the OECD think tank, has developed a framework that will help identify the long-term ...
Open access

Defence contractor commits to young 
 (98 words)

BAE Systems has committed to train a record number of apprentices and take on over 500 new apprentices this year. 
 ...
Open access

Recruitment and organisation news

Unions hope to secure new agreement at publisher 
 (266 words)

General union Unite and the NUJ journalists’ union are hopeful of reaching a new collective agreement at Penguin Random House (PRH) in what is a ...
Subscribers only

Recognition for Community rep 
 (140 words)

A regional organiser for the Community union, Sayid Ali Ashar Moullin, has won a major award for his contribution to the black, Asian and minority ...
Open access

Course for union admin staff
 (60 words)

The TUC is offering a three-day course for union admin and support staff to help their union with organising. The TUC Organising Academy Award in ...
Open access

European news

Pay rises for Belgian private sector in 2017 and 2018 agreed
 (502 words)

Unions and employers in Belgium have reached agreement on a deal which sets pay increases across the whole of the private sector for the next two ...
Subscribers only

Four-year deals signed at Polish General Motor plants
 (266 words)

US car maker General Motors has signed two four-year deals for its two plants in Poland, which provide for increases well above current inflation ...
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Ireland: increase brought forward to April
 (108 words)

The Irish government has agreed that a €1,000 increase in the annual pay of public sector workers, due to be made in September 2017 as part of the ...
Open access

Italian electricity deal
 (108 words)

Unions have signed a deal covering 53,000 workers in the electricity industry. The agreement, which runs from the 2016 to 2018, provides for an ...
Open access

Cyprus: pay tied to growth
 (90 words)

The two main union confederations, SEK and PEO, have signed an agreement linking pay rises in state-owned companies to economic growth. The deal ...
Open access

Law - Other Law News

Appeal court refuses injunction against Southern rail strikes 
 (1,053 words)

The first case this month does not fit neatly into any of the regular topics but as a landmark case on industrial action it merits reporting.
 ...
Subscribers only

Law - Contracts

Contracts - 
the law
 (325 words)

Employment rights depend, as a minimum, on the presence of an “employment relationship”. There are important legal distinctions between an ...
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Company was not liable over managing director’s assault
 (467 words)

Mr Bellman was employed as a sales manager by Northampton Recruitment Ltd (Northampton). 
 ...
Subscribers only

Express refusal to grant rest break not fundamental to claim
 (426 words)

Mr Grange was initially employed by Abellio as a bus driver from September 2009. Then, from June 2011, he was employed as a relief roadside ...
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Law - Tribunal procedures

Employment tribunals - the law 
 (672 words)

Nearly all tribunal claims must be brought within three months less one day of the matter complained of. Tribunals can extend the time limit in an ...
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Wrong to impose deposit orders on woman with no ability to pay
 (637 words)

Ms Hemdan brought various claims against her employers, Ishmail and Al-Megraby. These claims related to Hemdan being a trafficking victim. She made ...
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No compensation for safety rep’s injury to feelings
 (664 words)

Mr Rowe works as a tube train operator employed by London Underground (LU). 
 ...
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Health & safety news

Rise in small claim limit will hit injured workers
 (324 words)

Nearly one million people could lose their right to free or affordable, independent legal advice if they are injured at work or elsewhere if the ...
Subscribers only

Lorry drivers ‘caught short’ by lack of toilets
 (208 words)

The government should take urgent action to ensure that lorry drivers, whose workplace is the UK road network, have adequate parking and eating ...
Open access

Benefits of a shorter working day
 (171 words)

A two-year trial of a six-hour working day at an elderly care home by the Swedish city of Gothenburg has found that employees were happier and ...
Open access

Hazardous pesticides
 (88 words)

Many of the 300 pesticides on the Pesticides Action Network’s (PAN’s) newly updated list of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) are still in ...
Open access

Compensation gains
 (169 words)

The £600,000 in compensation secured by the Scottish education union EIS last year demonstrates that “there is still a long way to go towards the ...
Open access

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Disappointing European commission
 response to health and safety review
 (299 words)

The European Commission’s response to a review of all 24 European health and safety directives contains “almost nothing practical”, according ...
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Exposure limits for carcinogens
 (139 words)

The Commission has also come in for criticism from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). It says five new binding occupational exposure ...
Open access

Stiff sentences handed down
 (252 words)

The courts have handed down more prison sentences and million-pound-plus fines to offending company directors and companies as the stiffer Sentencing ...
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Call for investigation into ASOS warehouse
 (181 words)

The GMB general union has called on the newly-appointed director for labour market enforcement, Sir David Metcalf, to investigate allegations about ...
Open access

Hillsborough
 (93 words)

The Crown Prosecution Service has announced that it is examining files of evidence relating to 23 suspects in order to decide whether to bring ...
Open access

Features

Successful union campaign shows how to yank the ranking
 (3,356 words)

Performance management systems, often linked to pay awards, have become an increasingly prevalent feature of the workplace in recent years. They are ...
Subscribers only

Real pay increases last year but rising inflation a threat in 2017
 (1,855 words)

The bargaining picture across Europe last year shows modest pay increases in the countries of Western and Northern Europe, higher deals in Eastern ...
Subscribers only