Workplace Report July 2017

Pay in engineering - to the backdrop of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions conference, Workplace Report surveys 2017 pay settlements in the engineering sector; School teachers’ pay - teachers in England and Wales will suffer another real-terms pay cut even though their pay review body appeared to recommend a rise that would break the government’s 1% pay cap; Latest case law on contracts of employment and tribunal procedures

Pay and prices

Settlements stick at 2.4%
 (103 words)

The median percentage increase for settlements from LRD’s Payline database of collective agreements was 2.4% for the third consecutive month. At ...
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Labour Research Department’s Payline Database (233 words)

Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered)
 ...
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Average weekly earnings (AWE)
 (254 words)

Regular pay excluding bonuses. Percentage annual increases
 ...
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Full-time weekly average earnings
 (42 words)

ASHE 2016 median uprated by AWE. ...
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XpertHR (19 words)

Median increases for three months to June 2017 ...
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Prices (77 words)

1 Retail Prices Index (RPI), 
Jan ’87=100 ...
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2017 forecasts (38 words)

1 Fourth quarter ...
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Bargaining news

Real terms fall in pay but small rise in incomes
 (714 words)

There was further evidence this month of the cost of living squeeze that workers are continuing to endure, as well as the damaging impact of the ...
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Bentley workers agree multi-year pay deal
 (469 words)

General union Unite has reached what it calls a “groundbreaking, multi-year pay deal”, including a reduced working week, with luxury car maker ...
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Will firefighters’ deal breach pay cap?
 (303 words)

The FBU firefighters’ union is consulting its members on an offer of an immediate 2% pay rise from employers that would break the public sector pay ...
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BT facilities deal favours lowest paid
 (178 words)

Members of the CWU union working for BT’s in-house facilities services provider BTFS have voted to accept a pay deal weighted towards the lowest ...
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Bank of England strike
 (115 words)

Staff at the Bank of England have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action — the first for 50 years. 
 ...
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Union reps under attack in Northern Ireland
 (456 words)

Prominent union officials in Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities (DfC) have been told they must give up their full-time union posts, in ...
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Flat pay rise and extra holiday for further education support staff in Scotland
 (271 words)

Support staff in further education colleges in Scotland are being asked to back a pay proposal for this year of a flat rate pay rise of £425 with ...
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Cinram job cuts
 (164 words)

A redundancy package for workers at the Cinram multimedia distribution company who recently lost its major contract with Universal Pictures to rivals ...
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Workers accept revised BMW pension offer
 (107 words)

After a long-running dispute, members of general union Unite making Mini and Rolls-Royce motor cars have accepted a revised offer from owner BMW to ...
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Equality news

Women suffer as gender pension gap grows 
 (293 words)

The gap between women’s and men’s annual average expected retirement income has grown by £1,000 in the past year, according to an annual study ...
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Tiny fraction of higher paid job ads offer flexibility
 (419 words)

Only one in 10 jobs paying £20,000 or more is advertised with flexible working options and the higher the salary the less likely it is that flexible ...
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Landmark pension ruling
 (166 words)

A man has won his five-year legal battle to secure equal pension benefits for his husband in a landmark victory for LGBT rights.
 ...
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Data on gender pay gap
 (140 words)

The Department for Education (DfE) has become the first government department to publish its gender pay gap figures. 
 ...
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Learning and training news

Taylor review
 proposals on skills in gig economy
 (642 words)

The Apprenticeship Levy should be developed to “work better for those working atypically”, says the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, ...
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Recruitment and organisation news

Tribunal backs rep’s right to time off
 (246 words)

A health and safety activist with the GMB general union has won the right to time off for training against the wishes of his employer at an ...
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European news

Changing nature of work highlighted by Eurofound
 (419 words)

New light is shed on the development of non-standard forms of employment in Europe and particularly on the growth of some forms of self-employment ...
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Union urgency for pay deal
 (232 words)

Spain’s two main union confederations, CCOO and UGT, are pressing hard for the employers to finally agree a deal on pay for this year. The two ...
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Law - Contracts

Contracts - 
the law (416 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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More than three-month gap breaks series of deductions requirement
 (584 words)

Mr Fulton and Mr Baxter were employed by Bear Scotland as road workers. They received basic pay plus overtime and payments for being on stand-by. 
 ...
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Claims for minimum wage while on call or sleeping in (927 words)

These three appeals relating to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 were heard together: Focus Care Agency v Roberts, Frudd and another v Partington ...
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College marked down on strike pay deduction calculation 
 (418 words)

Members of the NASUWT teachers’ union were involved in lawful industrial action in 2011 at King Edward VI College in Stourbridge. The College ...
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Were lorry drivers employees or independent contractors?
 (608 words)

Although this was a case pursued in the tax tribunal, it has relevance to the issue of employment status as it revolved around whether the drivers ...
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Law - Tribunal procedures

Employment tribunals - 
the 
law (482 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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Claim rejected over significant differences in respondent’s name 
 (406 words)

Mr Giny resigned from his employment with SNA Transport (SNA) and then decided to pursue various claims against them, including constructive ...
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Tribunal entitled to award costs despite damages-based agreement
 (405 words)

Servisair, an airport baggage handling firm, lost its contract with Thomson Airways to rivals Swissport. 
 ...
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Health & safety news

Call for counsellors and mental health first-aiders
 (439 words)

Unions across a range of public services are calling for action on mental health. 
 ...
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Postal delivery staff still face vicious dog attacks 
 (306 words)

Communication workers’ union, the CWU, has called for stronger sentences and stiffer penalties for irresponsible owners of out-of-control dogs ...
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Water down the Tube
 (157 words)

Transport unions Aslef and RMT have condemned moves by Transport for London (TfL) to remove drinking water units from tea points and locations where ...
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Asbestos in schools
 (142 words)

Unions held their first national conference to discuss the protection of children and staff from the dangers of asbestos in schools and colleges was ...
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Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Reported work fatalities just tip of deadly iceberg
 (288 words)

Official figures showing the annual toll of work-related deaths, released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) earlier this month, are the tip of ...
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Bring in legal maximum temperature at work
 (396 words)

Hot weather in many parts of the country over recent weeks has prompted renewed union calls for a legal maximum temperature at work.
 ...
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Opposition to break up of specialist railway police 
 (219 words)

Transport union TSSA says its campaign to save the British Transport Police (BTP), which is being broken up by the Scottish government, has the ...
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Construction inspections
 (79 words)

The number of unannounced inspections in the construction industry fell by 14% between 2015-16 and 2016-17, according to the results of a freedom of ...
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Features

Third of settlements win bigger increase in 2017 than in 2016
 (2,426 words)

That was the mixed picture that emerged at this month’s conference of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions — Unite, GMB, ...
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Another real-terms pay cut for those who educate our children
 (2,237 words)

The report of the School Teachers Review body (STRB) earlier this month appeared to advocate breaking the government’s cap of 1% on public sector ...
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