Latest News
RMT v United Kingdom: Sympathy Strikes and the European Court of Human Rights
24 April 2014
In RMT v United Kingdom the European Court of Human Rights held that the ban on secondary action in the United Kingdom was a justified interference with the right to freedom of association in Article 11 of the ECHR.
Does the judgment in RMT v UK 'represents nothing short of an appeasement by the ECtHR of the UK government’s threats to withdraw from European Convention and its repeated attacks on the ECtHR'?
Here the lawyers in the case, John Hendy, QC and Michael Ford QC, provide a summary of the main findings.
EDM calls for changes to TUPE Regulations to be annulled
14 March 2014
On 1st march 2014 Ed Miliband tabled an EDM calling for the recent changes to the TUPE Regulations to be annulled.
ACAS early conciliation
14 March 2014
The ACAS early conciliation service will launch on 6 April 2014. Under the scheme, employment tribunal claimants will be required to first notify details of their claim to ACAS, who will then attempt to conciliate a settlement without litigation. Notification to ACAS will be through completion of a form – which, according to recent speakers at IER conferences, is not as easy as it sounds - or by telephone.
Zero hour contracts – the power factor!
14 March 2014
On 10th March the Guardian ran a story exposing the huge rise in zero hour contracts. According to the lastest official statistics from the Office for National Statistics, nearly 583,000 employees – more than double the government's estimate – were forced to sign up to the exploitative conditions last year.
Government to consult Parental Leave Regulations draft
14 March 2014
The government has decided to consult the draft, Shared Parental Leave Regulations. This draft will allow parents to share the leave after the birth of a baby in whichever proportions they see fit.
Blacklist the blacklisters!
The Scottish affairs committee has said that any construction firms that blacklist or have not made appropriate amends for past blacklisting should be denied public contracts.
Real wages have been falling since the 1970s and living standards are not about to recover
31 January 2014
Two pieces of research published today (31 January 2014) show that real wages have been falling since Thatcher's era in the 1980s, while weak economic recovery under the Coalition does not mean that living standards will recover just yet.
Home Office dishes out £6.5m in bonuses following mass redundancies
31 January 2014
The Home Affairs Committee has published a report on the work of the Permanent Secretary, which showed that the Home Office has paid huge bonuses to its staff despite the government making hundreds of thousands of people redundant due to the ‘financial situation’.
New TUPE regulations come into effect
31 January 2014
The Coalition's new TUPE regulations came into effect today (31 January 2014), weakening protection for workers whose jobs are being transferred to a new employer.
Labour demand apology from Tory reaction to miners’ strike
30 January 2014
Labour is asking the government to issue an apology on behalf of Margret Thatcher's administration during the 1984-85 miners' strike.
