Labour Research January 2011

The year ahead - Huge job losses and deep cuts to public services will dominate the union agenda over the next 12 months

Union officials and disputes - A new survey examines the approaches used by union offi cials in handling and resolving disputes

Europe's workers clobbered - Across Europe workers are having savage pay cuts and worse employment conditions imposed on them

Eco-friendly government? - The government said that it would be "the greenest ever". So what is its record to date on environmental issues?

News

Pay review does not focus on real fat cat villains say unions (452 words)

The interim Hutton report on fair pay has called for a maximum pay multiple that would keep the pay of top executives in the public ...
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Student anger continues to be felt (262 words)

Following last month's huge student demonstrations over the raising of university tuition fees, students continued to protest across the ...
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Redundancy watch (262 words)

In the public sector, huge job cuts continue in local government. The GMB general union has been monitoring these, and reports that the ...
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Coalition backs off from private sector pensions payout changes (626 words)

Confusion over pension payments continues with the Department for Work and Pensions announcing a U-turn on proposals to change the way ...
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Cuts watch (280 words)

The UNISON public services union has hit out at real terms funding cuts of more than 15% to police forces in England and Wales over the ...
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Joblessness passes 'grim milestone' (225 words)

Unemployment is on the rise again, according to official figures. Under the Labour Force Survey count, unemployed numbers were up by ...
Open access

Inflation rate is pushed up (71 words)

Higher food prices and dear clothing and footwear pushed inflation higher. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI), the rate of inflation ...
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Key economic indicators

Key economic indicators (385 words)

1 Increases in average weekly earnings across industrial sectors in Great Britain, seasonally adjusted, as monitored by National Statistics. ...
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Union news

Organising strategy will be tool for success says Unite leader (216 words)

In contrast to the hard-fought campaign for the top position in the Unite general union, two other union general secretaries have ...
Open access

Fightback campaigns set up (286 words)

The unions currently facing the brunt of attacks on public services have launched initiatives to help the anti-cuts campaigns. ...
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Recognition wins (121 words)

Airline pilots' union BALPA has won the right to bargain on behalf of 279 pilots employed by low-cost airline Jet2.com, following a long ...
Open access

UNISON agreement with College for Social Care (82 words)

Public services union UNISON has agreed in principle to an arrangement with The College for Social Care for the union to represent ...
Open access

Advert award (40 words)

A union has achieved an unusual plaudit - from the advertising industry. Public service union UNISON's Million voices for public ...
Open access

European news

German unions press hard for large pay increases (332 words)

German unions in the flourishing manufacturing sector are putting in for large pay increases in forthcoming negotiations. While ...
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Retirement age to rise in Spain (332 words)

The Spanish government has confirmed that it plans to raise the normal retirement age beyond the current age of 65. However, it still ...
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Maternity leave proposals rejected (229 words)

The European council of ministers, which is composed of representatives of the governments of EU member states, has rejected proposals ...
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Features

Goodbye jobs and services (2,821 words)

Despite an extra day off for April's royal wedding, and the search for a "happiness index" by the Office for National Statistics, 2011 ...
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If all else fails, ballot for action (1,696 words)

Industrial disputes are likely to balloon over the next year given the coalition government's onslaught on workers in the public sector ...
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Pay and conditions pulverised (1,964 words)

This month, those receiving a public sector pension in Ireland will get on average 4% less than they received in December. The cut in ...
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Is the coalition living up to green promises? (1,325 words)

The government pledged that it would be 'the greenest ever'. So what is its record so far in this area? ...
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Law Queries

Discrimination (266 words)

Q. A member is facing disciplinary action. We think that the manager is picking on them because he doesn't like the fact that our ...
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Maternity pay (267 words)

Q. Our member is due to be going off on maternity leave soon. We are not sure that she is being offered the right amount of ...
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Pregnancy (271 words)

Q. A member, who works in a warehouse, is pregnant. Her duties include physically demanding tasks, such as occasionally lifting heavy ...
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Law Back-up

Staff shouldn't lose out over snow show (992 words)

When an employer responds to bad weather by closing its business temporarily, it will be responsible for continuing to pay the salaries ...
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Health & Safety Matters

Campaign survey over asbestos in schools (328 words)

Education unions have stepped up their campaign against asbestos with a survey of their members about the management of the deadly dust ...
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Safety rep is victimised (250 words)

Members of the RMT rail union on the Bakerloo London Tube line were due to take a day of industrial action as Labour Research went to ...
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Rehab falls short of meeting needs (97 words)

Rehabilitation service provision continues to be "patchy, with the quality of service provided often falling far short of the known ...
Open access

'Fixed grin' over cuts (145 words)

A bleak picture on the back of the public spending cuts is painted in the latest employment outlook survey from the Chartered Institute ...
Open access

Health & Safety Back-up

When workers blow the whistle over safety (938 words)

Unions fear that public spending cuts will mean even fewer workplace safety inspections by the regulatory authorities. Yet a report ...
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Equality news

Con-Dem job cuts will hit women in pocket (359 words)

Women's incomes will be disproportionately hit by public sector job losses and welfare cuts, a new TUC report warns. ...
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Child poverty at a high in working households (313 words)

The number of children of working parents living in poverty has increased to 2.1 million - the highest on record - according to research ...
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Diversity in the BBC (148 words)

The BBC is trying to gauge the views of the general public on what it should be doing about promoting equality and diversity. ...
Open access

Civil service pay (120 words)

The pay gap between male and female employees in the civil service has increased for part-time workers, according to data released by ...
Open access

Workplace Back-up

2010 - a false dawn to closing of pay divide? (870 words)

Each year a snapshot of the earnings of UK workers in April is produced by the government statisticians at the Office for National ...
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Reviews

A history of the American worker (315 words)

A history of the American worker 1920-1933 ...
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The iron man (109 words)

Ted Hughes, Walker, 96 pages, hardback, £15 ...
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E-views

e-views (385 words)

Advances in technology have made it easier than ever before to collect and organise information. ...
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News from LRD

LRD invites nominations for the LRD executive committee (82 words)

The Labour Research Department (LRD) would like to invite nominations for the LRD executive committee for the period from April 2011 to ...
Open access