Pay and prices

Public sector freeze hits (242 words)

The gap between inflation and pay settlements has widened again. ...

Labour Research Department three-monthly pay figures (73 words)

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

Full-time weekly average earnings (16 words)

All workers£610.90All male£667.00All female£523.90Managers£894.90Professionals£810.60Associate professional£629.40Admin & secretarial£428.20Skilled/craft£504.40Services£362.50Sales£337.80Operatives£463.80Other manual£360.70 ...

Annual increase in average weekly earnings (AWE) including bonuses (50 words)

1 The latest three-month average. Source: National Statistics ...

Other pay analysts (21 words)

Industrial Relations Services (median, three months to end April 2011)2.0%Incomes Data Services (median, three months to end March 2011)2.5% ...

Prices (13 words)

Inflation forecasts (18 words)

Fourth quarter 2011 ...

Bargaining news

Big-company chiefs paid 145 times average (785 words)

Boardroom pay seems to be “immune” from the financial problems of recent years, and the gap between it and average pay is widening, according ...

Improvements at Eddie Stobart down to ‘strong union structure’ (385 words)

An improving industrial relationship between the Unite general union and haulier Eddie Stobart has seen agreement on a 4% pay rise for warehouse workers ...

Family court dispute looms (342 words)

Chaotic workload management seems to be driving staff at the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) towards industrial action. There is ...

Company pay settlements continue to diverge (280 words)

Highinflation coupled with labour market uncertainty continues to produce a very wide spread of settlements. There have been some notable cost-of-living rises in manufacturing ...

BA settlement ‘will resolve staff travel issue’ — Unite (512 words)

The long-running dispute between British Airways (BA) and the Unite union for cabin crew looked set to be settled as Workplace Report went to ...

Crow hails Olympics deal (263 words)

Rail union RMT has secured a “ground-breaking pay and rewards package offer” for Network Rail staff during the 2012 Olympic games. ...

Big firms in pensions assault (268 words)

Private sector giants Unilever, GE (General Electric) and Bombardier Transportation have announced pension changes in the face of union opposition. These range from higher ...

London minimum up by 5% (336 words)

Earlier this month it was announced that the London Living Wage will increase by more than 5% to £8.30 an hour, making it the ...

Equality news

Equalities staff strike over plan to slash staff by half (458 words)

Members of civil service union PCS at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have held two lightning walkouts in a dispute over cuts ...

Health questions during recruitment (114 words)

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has published a guide to which questions can no longer be asked about health and disability during the recruitment ...

Red tape challenge (198 words)

Strong criticism has been levelled at the equality section of the government’s “red tape challenge” website which is asking the public to comment on ...

Discrimination compensation threatened by government (283 words)

Compensation for unlawful discrimination could be capped under plans being considered by the government as part of its “wholesale review” of employment laws. ...

Recruitment and organisation news

Spread of collective bargaining diminishes (286 words)

The proportion of employees whose pay is influenced by collective bargaining fell from 32.7% to 30.8% last year, according to National Statistics. ...

University unions derecognised at Robert Gordon (115 words)

Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University has ended recognition of the UCU and UNITE unions. The derecognition means that staff union representatives can no longer take ...

Learning and training news

Unskilled fall out of adult learning (250 words)

This year’s National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) survey of current and recent adult participation in learning is bad news for anyone over ...

Union victory for intern pay (234 words)

The NUJ journalists’ union has won a significant victory at the employment tribunal in its campaign to ensure interns are paid. ...

European news

Ireland reverses cut in national minimum wage (358 words)

The new Irish government is to reverse the 12% cut in the national minimum wage introduced as part of last November’s austerity package but ...

Belgian national level agreement (258 words)

The Belgian government has passed legislation implementing the national level agreement on terms and conditions over the next two years, opening the way to ...

Dutch deals keep up with price rises (284 words)

Unions representing two of the biggest groups of employees in the Netherlands have reached pay agreements for the next two years, and both provide ...

German deals (146 words)

NGG, the union representing Germany’s food workers, has recently signed two deals, both above inflation (2.4%, April 2011). ...

Law - Discrimination

Discrimination — the basic legal rules (287 words)

Since 1 October 2010, discrimination law has been contained in the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010). All the cases in this edition of Workplace ...

Discrimination - The key developments (244 words)

f Whether an employer is legally responsible for acts of discrimination carried out by an agency worker will generally depend on the amount of ...

Liability for the discriminatory acts of an agency worker (625 words)

Mr Mahood, a Protestant man of Irish national origin, worked for Irish Centre Housing Ltd (ICH), a charity providing supported housing for vulnerable individuals, ...

Offering ill-health retirement is not a “reasonable adjustment” (513 words)

Mr Mylott brought a tribunal claim alleging unfair dismissal and disability discrimination arising out of treatment at the hands of his managers at the ...

Sickness absence and disability (609 words)

Ms Ashton started work for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in 1989, becoming a branch manager in 2000. In 2006, she developed a ...

Equal pay claims are about sex equality, not fairness (905 words)

The claimants in this case were nine female inspection and information officers (IIOs) working within the Housing Inspectorate, part of the Audit Commission. Their ...

Preferential treatment for women on maternity leave (640 words)

Mr de Belin was one of a team of two solicitors in the real estate department of Eversheds’ solicitors, based in their Leeds office. ...

How to award for loss of future earnings (514 words)

Mr Wardle was employed by Calyon, the investment banking unit of French bank Credit Agricole, in its risk management division. Wardle applied to be ...

Health & safety news

Pleural plaques victory ‘must be extended’ (292 words)

Scottish workers diagnosed with pleural plaques can now claim compensation without waiting until they contract full-blown asbestos-related disease. This is the outcome of a ...

Long hours hurt hearts (434 words)

People working more than 11 hours a day have a higher incidence of heart disease, a major study has confirmed. ...

Jobs and cancer (164 words)

Results from a major Scandinavian study have enhanced understanding of the link between occupation and certain cancers. ...

Compensation reforms ‘wrong’ (110 words)

The government’s reforms to the way compensation and costs are calculated in no win, no fee personal injury cases is “plain wrong” according to ...

Health & safety - HSE Monitor

HSE plan puts innovation ahead of safety (388 words)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Delivery Plan 2011-12 has been slammed by a union leader for its undue focus on promoting business opportunity. ...

Public bear brunt of Potters Bar fine (317 words)

Government-owned Network Rail is to pick up the tab for the negligence of private track-maintenance company Jarvis in causing the fatal train crash at ...

Poor health and safety record in Scotland examined (248 words)

The House of Commons’ Scottish Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry into the country’s poor health and safety record. ...

Features

Union involvement helps make fit notes fitter (2204 words)

It is now a year since the introduction of the “fit note” — a GP’s statement of a patient’s fitness to work — which ...

Bereavement and compassionate leave: detailed agreements help (2636 words)

The loss of someone close to you is always going to be a very difficult time and the last thing you need is difficulty ...