Workplace Report November 2017

ASHE 2017 - Each year the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings provides a snapshot of how workers are faring in the fight for better working conditions; 2016-17 pay round - Union negotiators have been successful in winning improvement to workers’ terms and conditions on top of pay rises; Latest case law on contracts of employment and tribunal procedures

Pay and prices

Boost for deals in October
 (97 words)

Pay settlements showed something of a revival in October.
 ...
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Labour Research Department’s Payline database 
 (224 words)

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

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

ASHE 2017 median uprated by AWE. ...
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XpertHR (19 words)

Median increases for three months to October 2017 ...
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2017 forecasts (38 words)

1 Fourth quarter ...
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Prices (77 words)

1 Retail Prices Index (RPI), 
Jan ’87=100 ...
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Bargaining news

Tories sleep-in scheme a ‘slap on the wrist’
 (812 words)

A new compliance scheme for social care providers that may have incorrectly paid workers below legal minimum wage rates for sleep-in shifts has ...
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Industrial action by British Airways cabin crew wins concessions 
 (462 words)

The long-running dispute between British Airways (BA) and mixed fleet cabin crew on long-haul and short-haul flights out of Heathrow came to an end ...
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BALPA polls fed-up Ryanair pilots 
 (282 words)

Last month, the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) launched a survey among Ryanair pilots in response to growing dissatisfaction with the ...
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Aslef agrees deal with Southern Rail
 (184 words)

Members of the ASLEF train drivers’ union have voted to accept a deal to end the union’s long-running dispute with Southern Rail. 
 ...
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Living Wage at Securitas
 (115 words)

An agreement has been reached between the GMB general union and Securitas to ensure that all staff at the security company will be paid the real ...
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Pay cap stands but NHS staff may get extra
 (388 words)

Chancellor Philip Hammond stopped short of relaxing the 1% public sector pay cap in his Budget speech on 22 November. He promised additional funding ...
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Pay growth expected to be higher in 2018 
 (332 words)

Recruitment difficulties have intensified, alongside continued modest employment growth, according to the Bank of England’s latest survey of ...
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Ford offers two-year deal worth 6.5%
 (200 words)

Around 9,000 Ford production workers have been offered an inflation-busting pay deal which guarantees at least 6.5% in a two-year package. Unite ...
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Mitie cleaners at Manchester Airport
 (97 words)

Two hundred cleaners employed by Mitie Cleaning and Environmental Services at Manchester Airport have called-off industrial action after concluding a ...
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Equality news

Pay gap is widening for some groups of women
 (542 words)

The 10th of this month marked Equal Pay Day — the day in the year when women start to work for free and, according to women’s campaigning group ...
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Just half feel financially secure enough to retire
 (251 words)

Half of all workers between the ages of 40 to 64 — nearly eight million people — do not expect to have enough money to stop work and retire when ...
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Statutory bereavement leave for parents
 (155 words)

Parents who lose a child under the age of 18 will be legally entitled to an extra two weeks paid leave to allow them time to grieve under a proposed ...
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Black workers take a big hit from austerity
 (142 words)

Black workers have been hit harder by austerity according to an equalities survey conducted by public services union UNISON.
 ...
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Learning and training news

How unions support workplace learning
 (311 words)

Union-led learning activities raise awareness of learning opportunities and increase workers’ interest in joining a union, the 2017 unionlearn ...
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Recruitment and organisation news

Contract changes subvert chances of workers’ rights
 (372 words)

Food delivery platform Deliveroo has wriggled out of recognising a union by making a last-minute change to riders’ contracts to make them legally ...
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Prospect gain recogniton at Gatwick (65 words)

Specialists’ union Prospect has reached a voluntary recognition agreement with Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International for supervisors, ...
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CWU campaign target is 100%
 (151 words)

The CWU communications union is about to start a campaign to get 100% union membership in its union-recognised workplaces in telecoms and financial ...
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European news

ETUC rejects negotiations on written contract statement
 (372 words)

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has decided not to begin formal negotiations with the European employers’ associations on changes to ...
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Key Finnish settlement sets pattern
 (396 words)

The Finnish Industrial Union (Teollisuusliitto) and the employers’ association for the technology industries have reached a pay agreement for some 1 ...
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Above-inflation rise for Austrian metalworkers
 (133 words)

unions in Austria’s metalworking industry, PRO-GE representing manual and GPA-djp representing non-manual workers, have reached agreements with the ...
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Dutch rail settlement 
 (167 words)

Dutch rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) has signed an agreement with unions providing a 5.8% stage increase over 30 months, plus a commitment ...
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Law - Contracts

Contracts - the law (345 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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Uber drivers are ‘workers’ not independent contractors
 (1,070 words)

The GMB general union and the IWGB union supported Uber driver members in bringing various claims against Uber based on the assertion that they were ...
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Teacher’s suspension too hasty and breach of contract
 (447 words)

Ms Agoreyo is a teacher and at the relevant time had around 15 years of teaching experience. She had worked with children with special needs, but did ...
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Voluntary overtime should be included in holiday pay
 (439 words)

Mr Willetts and the other claimants were employed by Dudley Metropolitan Council as “quick response operatives” who carried out repair work on ...
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Law - Tribunal procedures

Employment tribunals (638 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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Employment tribunal fees are unlawful, rules Supreme Court
 (667 words)

In 2013, the public services union UNISON applied for judicial review of the employment tribunal fees regime introduced by the Conservative-Liberal ...
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Multiple claims can only be made on single form if based on same set of facts
 (819 words)

In this case, 48 claimants brought equal pay claims against Birmingham City Council and did so on the same claim form. 
 ...
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Acas certificate valid despite naming two respondents 
 (165 words)

Mr De Mota included two respondents on his ET1 claim form. The first was ADR Network, a supplier of professional LGV drivers. The second was The ...
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Health & safety news

Abuse and violence faced by workers on the rise
 (482 words)

Three unions have revealed that staff continue to face unacceptable levels of violence and abuse at work. 
 ...
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Protections for night staff 
 (240 words)

The TUC has called for strong rights and protections to safeguard the health and safety and work-life balance of night workers, whose numbers are on ...
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Work stress handbook
 (97 words)

The trade union-backed UK National Work Stress Network has published a new edition of its Work stress handbook. The handbook makes clear that the ...
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Firefighter numbers fall by almost a quarter
 (157 words)

The fire and rescue service is in crisis, according to the FBU fire brigades union, as new official figures show that the number of firefighters has ...
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Health & safety - HSE Monitor

Rail regulator ‘failing in its duty’ on public safety
 (401 words)

Rail union RMT has accused the rail regulator Office of Rail and Road (ORR) of “failing in its duty to maintain public safety during industrial ...
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CWU calls on employers to work with unions on safety
 (211 words)

Dave Joyce, national health and safety officer at the CWU communication workers’ union, has called for employers to invest in health and safety and ...
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Work exposure limits
 (38 words)

The HSE is consulting on introducing new and revised workplace exposure limits (WELs) for 31 chemical substances in order to implement the ...
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Poor police response to modern slavery crimes
 (118 words)

Thousands of men, women and children in the UK are the victims of modern slavery and human trafficking and are being degraded and dehumanised, and ...
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Corporate manslaughter
 (126 words)

Earlier this month, waste company Master Construction Products (Skips) became only the 26th company to be convicted under corporate manslaughter ...
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Features

Average earnings growth lags behind inflation in 2017 
 (3,114 words)

The Office for National Statistics does a sterling job in producing the largest pay survey in the UK — the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. It ...
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It’s not just pay that’s on the bargaining agenda for unions
 (2,116 words)

The fight for better pay has not stopped negotiators tackling a wide range of bargaining issues including holidays, work-life balance and family ...
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