[IER] News Brief

Mon Jan 12 09:35:49 GMT 2015

News Brief 12 January 2015

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/node/2303>  <http://www.ier.org.uk/node/2303> View in your browser

By Claudia O’Brian

In the news this week

Heading into the new year the news of the reprehensible sackings at City Link dominated the headlines. Frances O’Grady responded: “The fast track sackings at City Link are a prime example of the unacceptable face of casualised Britain, with workers denied even basic rights to proper consultation. But there is nothing inevitable about this company going bust. Too many employers are using insolvency to take the money and run, leaving the taxpayer to foot the redundancy bill”.

The first Prime Ministers Questions of the New Year concentrated on the A&E crisis, with the Tories having fully reneged on their promises to reduce waiting times. As Ed Miliband pointed out, “If you divert £3 billion out of patient care isn’t it blindingly obvious this will have a big impact on A&E?” Lisa Nandy MP presented a shocking yet unsurprising statistic – only 4 percent of nurses think David Cameron is doing a good job.

We’ve gone into more depth on a wide range of stories this week. Click through on the stories below to read more.

Forthcoming Events

Employment law after the election: what kind of laws do we want?, Unison Center, London

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/sites/ier.org.uk/files/EmploymentLawAfterTheElection_0.pdf> 

Wednesday 11th February 2014
As we rapidly approach the next general election, Britain’s working population and, in particular, its 61⁄2 million trade unionists need to know how their economic wellbeing is going to improve under a new government. It has been said that the next general election will be won or lost on the issue of employment rights. The conference will be a key event in the run-up to the general election for trade unionists, academics, lawyers and anyone with an interest in workers’ rights and trade union freedoms.

What laws do you want after the election? Let us know on Twitter:#whatwewant

Blogs

If only we could return to the 1930s…

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/blog/if-only-we-could-return-1930s-%E2%80%A6> 

By Sue Konzelmann, a Reader in Management at Birkbeck, University of London and Frank Wilkinson, a founder member of the Institute for Employment Rights and Emeritus Reader, University of Cambridge.

Both Government and Opposition spokespersons offer the same dire warning. They claim that anything other than persistent austerity will “return the country to the 1930s”. Such claims demonstrate their complete ignorance of what was actually achieved in the 1930s. In the economic recovery of 1932 to 1938, real GDP increased by 24%, employment grew by 14%, unemployment fell by 36%, the current accounts balance of payment improved by £48 million and real wages increased by more than 4%. Over the same period, national debt as a % of GDP, fell from a peak of 178 in 1932 to 146 in 1938, indicating the advantage of increasing prosperity over austerity for settling debts…

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/blog/if-only-we-could-return-1930s-%E2%80%A6> Read More…

 News

Workers priced out of justice

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/workers-priced-out-justice> 

On 7 January 2015 the Guardian published an open letter submitted by a number of leading representatives from academia, the legal profession and the labour movement. The letter called for the employment tribunal fees introduced by the Coalition Government to be abolished due to the adverse effect of those fees on access to justice and on employment practices.

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/workers-priced-out-justice> Read the letter here…

 Fat Cat Tuesday

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/fat-cat-tuesday> 

This Tuesday was Fat Cat Tuesday, the day on whichFTSE 100 CEOs will have earned more by than the average worker will earn in the whole of 2015. The think tank High Pay Center, which examines corporate governance and pay at the top of the income distribution, calculated that the average annual earnings of a FTSE 100CEO is £4.72m per year. This works out at £1,200 an hour, on the “generous assumption” that he or she works 12 hours a day, including for every three out of four weekends, and takes only 10 days of holiday per year. This day comes even sooner than last year, where the FTSE100 CEO had to work until Wednesday to surpass the average UK worker’s salary. The average salary for the CEO has risen by £500,000 since last year, whereas the average UK salary has risen by only £200, to £27,200.

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/fat-cat-tuesday> Read More…

Employers evading minimum wage regulations

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/employers-evading-minimum-wage-regulations> 

The TUC has highlighted employer scams to avoid payment of the national minimum wage. To counteract improvements to enforcement, new ways of evading the minimum wage have emerged, according research published by the TUC; Enforcing the National Minimum Wage – Keeping up the Pressure. The methods adopted by some employers include under-recording hours, bogus self-employment, misusing interns and volunteers, charging for uniforms, not paying for travel between work sites during the working day, clocking workers off when there are no customers in the store or cafe, and employers vanishing to avoid minimum wage fines only to reappear under another name.

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/employers-evading-minimum-wage-regulations> Read More…

Infrastructure Bill 2014-2015

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/infrastructure-bill-2014-2015> 

The Infrastructure Bill [HL] 2014-2015 has reached committee stage in the House of Commons. The Committee is expected to report to the House by Thursday January 15. The Bill contains six parts; Strategic Highways Companies, Powers of British Transport Police Force, Environmental Control of Animal and Plant Species, Planning Land and Buildings, Energy, and General Provisions.

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/news/infrastructure-bill-2014-2015> Read about the Bill here…

IER Manifesto for Collective Bargaining

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/resources/reconstruction-after-crisis-manifesto-collective-bargaining> 

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/resources/ten-point-collective-bargaining-manifesto> Read the ten-point manifesto

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/reconstruction-after-crisis-manifesto-collective-bargaining> Buy the book

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/resources/watch-experts> VIDEOS: Watch the experts

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/resources/listen-experts> PODCASTS: Listen to the experts

New on the Coalition Timeline

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/resources/coalition-timeline> 

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/resources/coalition-timeline> Click here to see the Coalition Timeline

Equality

*         Legal aid cuts are ‘crippling’ justice system (9/1/2015)

Pay and Benefits

*         Bus workers to strike over pay discrepancies (7/1/2015)

Public Sector

*         A&E in total crisis (7/1/2015)

*         Private firm pulls out of contract to run NHS hospital

*         UK Rail most expensive in Europe (2/1/2015)

Economy

*         UK provide fossil fuel loans despite pledge (6/1/2015)

Other

*         Ex-Tory whip benefits from privatised healthcare (9/1/2015)

Publications

  <http://www.ier.org.uk/sites/ier.org.uk/files/images/trade%20unions%20and%20economic%20inequality.img_assist_custom.png> 

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/trade-unions-and-economic-inequality> Trade Unions and Economic Inequality

By Dr Lydia Hayes and Professor Tonia Novitz

What is the point of trade unions? What do they deliver? Are trade unions relevant in 21st century modern society? These and many other questions are answered by the authors of this timely and well presented report. Order your copy <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/trade-unions-and-economic-inequality>  here

  <http://www.ier.org.uk/sites/ier.org.uk/files/images/re-regulating%20zero%20hours%20coontracts%20cover_0.img_assist_custom.png> 

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/re-regulating-zero-hours-contracts> Re-regulating Zero Hours Contracts

By Zoe Adams and Simon Deakin

ZHCs are highly profitable for employers, but lead to insecurity of income and low pay for workers. The authors point to rigidities in employment law and the operation of the tax-benefit system as being responsible for the rise in zero hours contracting. Order your copy <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/re-regulating-zero-hours-contracts> here

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/labour-migration-hard-times-reforming-labour-market-regulation> 

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/labour-migration-hard-times-reforming-labour-market-regulation> Labour migration in hard times: Reforming labour market regulation?

Edited by Bernard Ryan

A collection of papers by the UK’s leading experts on labour migration on the exploitation of migrant workers and the need for labour law reform.

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/tupe-2014> 

 <http://www.ier.org.uk/publications/tupe-2014> TUPE 2014

By Richard Arthur

A collection of papers by the UK’s leading experts on labour migration on the exploitation of migrant workers and the need for labour law reform.

Our mailing address is:

Institute of Employment Rights

4th Floor

Jack Jones House

1 Islington

Liverpool

L3 8EG

 <mailto:office at ier.org.uk> office at ier.org.uk

To unsubscribe, please follow the instructions in the footer.  If you are unable to see the footer or have problems unsubscribing, please click here or email  <mailto:unsubscribe at ier.org.uk> unsubscribe at ier.org.uk.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/ier-elist/attachments/20150112/3dd9ed2d/attachment.html>