Paul Sellers
A new study published today reaffirmed the link between long working hours and depression. As the evidence of serious health risks continues to pile up, why on earth do the Government and the CBI continue to oppose strengthening the Working Time Directive?
It seems to have become like an article of faith, making their stance difficult to shift with even the most rational argument.
Paul Sellers
On a lighter note, a study of working practices in offices commissioned by the Mars company is reported in the Daily Mail.
The tone of the piece is that we are all working longer but that we are reasonably happy about it. However, reading between the lines there is a more interesting story here – “the average worker …. is made to feel angry by bosses once a day.” – sounds like there is still a strong need for trade unions here!
Rob Holdsworth
Depressed about your return to work? I don’t want to make things worse but there’s a one in five chance you’ll effectively be working for free until the 24th of February.
Every year the TUC number crunches the amount of unpaid overtime worked by employees across the UK and calculates at what point of the year they would effectively start getting paid if they did all their unpaid hours from the first of January.
The effective pay date for 2012 is Friday 24th February and we’ve named it in Work Your Proper Hours Day in honour of the five million workers who give the economy a huge – but often unrecognised – boost by regularly doing unpaid overtime.
Richard Exell
Before it all ended so badly, the Prime Minister used to boast that part of the price he would demand for agreeing to a revision of the Lisbon Treaty was a relaxation of the Working Time Directive. This has become something of a totem for de-regulationists but you have to ask yourself: why?
Thursday’s report on Hours Worked in the Labour Market showed that average hours worked in Britain have been coming down in good times and bad.
Howard Reed
In the current environment of fiscal austerity, most areas of government spending – including financial support from the government for work-related training – are under unprecented scrutiny. The training policy which carries the highest costs to the Exchequer – much more than subsidies for apprenticeships, for instance - is tax relief on employer-provided training. This consists of relief on employees’ training costs and foregone wages for corporation tax (for incorporated businesses) and income tax (for businesses run by self employed people), plus self-employed people’s own training costs.
At Today’s TUC/unionlearn “Skills Investment” seminar in Congress House, I will be outlining the results of a recent research project carried out by Landman Economics, funded by unionlearn, which looks at the extent of current tax relief on training and the options for the future.
David Ashton
The recent announcement by the government of a pilot project to “give employers power over skills training” raises new challenges for the union movement.
In a presentation I will be giving at the TUC unionlearn “Skills Investment” seminar on 1st December I will draw on my research in this field to show what such a system that gives power to employers might look like here in the UK. I will also highlight some of the key implications for the union movement.
Chris Ball
The papers today are full of reports that the government is going to back some of Adrian Beecroft’s proposals to curb workers’ rights. The Independent reports that Vince Cable is unveiling a number of measures, including increasing the qualifying period for workers to be able to claim unfair dismissal from one to two years.
Seemingly, the Business Secretary is also set to confirm that the government will introduce ‘protected conversations’ between an employer and a worker to discuss issues such as poor performance without this being used later in any tribunal claim.
The Indy also carries a sceptical editorial arguing that there is “little evidence that [such measures] would result in any meaningful economic improvement” and warning that they would be “unacceptably open to abuse”.
Paul Sellers
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates will increase again on Saturday 1 October. We have strong arguments for a more generous increase, especially in these time of relatively high inflation, but we should perhaps also just take a moment to celebrate the fact that every increase that has been achieved has been fought for by the trade union movement. The Low Pay Commission (LPC) estimates that the latest rise will benefit around 890,000 employees – certainly worth a quick cheer.
Sarah Veale
It may sound like a chapter from a dry history book but the “Swedish” derogation caused some interest at Congress today. Reference was made to it in an Emergency Motion from Unite, who are concerned about its impact on agency workers, and indeed other workers, in the UK. So what is it?
Hugh Robertson
The Government is to press ahead with the reforms to civil claims, including personal injury claims, which were proposed last year by Lord Justice Jackson. These proposals, contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, will seriously damage access to justice for many working people.
While attention has focused on those sections of the bill dealing with Legal Aid and sentencing, other parts could also prove to be disastrous for those people seeking compensation because of an injury at work caused by the employers’ negligence.
Union members will be among the millions who are deprived of the ability to claim compensation, or who will lose damages. As many as 25% of injury claims will not be brought. Those that proceed might lose up to 25% of damages for the success fee and further substantial reductions for required legal expense insurance.
