Press releases
Here you will find our press releases
IER Reaction to Government Axing of One Third of HSE Workplace Inspections
9 March 2011
Unannounced workplace inspections could be reduced by a third from 2011–12 onwards, according to a leaked letter obtained by the BBC’s File on 4 programme. An IER Briefing by Steve Tombs and David Whyte sets out the danger of deregulating health and safety.
IER Chair John Hendy QC on BBC Radio 4
6 January 2011
In a programme hosted by broadcaster Clive Anderson, the Chair of the Institute, John Hendy QC, is joined by David Reed QC, Sir Thomas Morrison and Bronwyn McKenna of Unison as they discuss how the law controls the actions of trades unions and employers during industrial disputes.
Press Release: Minimum Wage Freeze Would Make No Sense
14 October 2010
The Institute of Employment Rights (IER) has warned against any freeze in the minimum wage, claiming that such a move would be both economically and morally unjustifiable.
IER director Carolyn Jones explained that failing to increase the minimum wage – which currently stands at £5.93 an hour for over-21s – in line with inflation would deter some workers from spending their money at Britain’s retail outlets.
IER Health and Safety Report on Left Foot Forward
7 October 2010
The authors of IER’s recent report rebutting the myth of health and safety gone mad, have updated their comments on Left Foot Forward in response to statements by Cameron and Young.
IER Parliamentary Launch – Ruined Lives: Blacklisting in the UK Construction Industry
20 October 2009
MPs To Increase Efforts To Strengthen Blacklisting Measures
A group of Labour MPs have agreed to work with construction union UCATT to pressurise the Government to strengthen the draft regulations designed to outlaw blacklisting.
The MPs agreed to take this action at the parliamentary launch on 20th October 2009 of Ruined Lives: Blacklisting in the UK Construction Industry an academic report which reveals that the Government’s proposed anti-blacklisting regulations are inadequate.
How to Make Corporations Accountable
Balancing the scales of justice in the fallout from profit-driven decision making that led to the current financial downtrend.
Yes to a Referendum?
1 April 2008
As the debate on the European Reform Treaty enters the House of Lords, Bill Wedderburn, QC – an ex-President of the Institute of Employment Rights -offers his informed opinion on the Reform Treaty, the draft Constitution and the need for a referendum.
Non Unionised Workers Are More Vulnerable To Abuse At Work
9 December 2007
In a new publication from the Institute of Employment Rights – Anna Pollert, a Professor of Sociology of Work at the University of West of England – links the decline in the numbers covered by a union agreement with an increase in the vulnerability of workers. Pollert argues that ‘individualising’ work problems and ‘externalising’ possible solutions both fail to address the problems of isolated, vulnerable workers.
IER Briefing: The Health of Britain’s Working Age Population
29 November 2011
The workplace is too often the source of ill-health warns the Institute of Employment Rights
The Institute of Employment Rights has produced a Briefing in response to Dame Carol Black’s Review of the Health of Britain’s Working Age Population. The Black Review, announced in October 2007, was hailed as “the first ever review of the health of the working age population”. At the launch of the Review, Peter Hain MP said its aim was to “address how we can improve people’s health and support them to stay in or return to work”
IER Briefing: Equalities Update – Are we catching up?
27 September 2007
The last few years have seen major changes both in the framework of equality legislation and in the institutional structure of the enforcement agencies. New strands of discrimination have attracted legislative attention (age, religion, belief and sexual orientation) and new positive duties to promote equality have been placed on public bodies.
To mark the launch of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, the Institute of Employment Rights and the General Federation of Trade Unions] have brought together a timely collection of short but informed articles on the state of equalities in the UK.
IER Conference: Employment Law Update 2007 – Fairness at Work
26 September 2007
This conference – timed to coincide with the proposed introduction of new legislation – is also perfectly timed to discuss future strategies on labour law in the light of decisions at both the TUC and Labour Party Conferences.
