'Times are hard' is the message employers are receiving from the news these days. And there are daily reports of job losses as the economy tightens, with talk of another 'winter of discontent' as pay budgets become less flexible in both the public  More...
21 November 2008 18:15

Doctors, nurses and other NHS staff are being called on to develop new standards to measure and improve the quality of care in the health service. Local NHS organisations are being encouraged to engage with staff to help develop a framework for new   More...
20 November 2008 13:01

The Metropolitan Police Service has denied it has reached an out-of-court settlement with assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur over his allegations of race discrimination. Reports in the Daily Mail claimed that Ghaffur would receive a £300,00  More...
14 November 2008 14:45

Law firm Hammonds has become the latest casualty of the credit crunch as it has announced a redundancy consultation process. Managing partner Peter Crossley said: "Unfortunately, difficult market conditions have made it necessary for us to review   More...
06 November 2008 13:55

JCB staff have voted for a cut in their working week in a bid to save 500 jobs under threat because of falling sales in the economic crisis. Shop-floor workers at the construction equipment manufacturer gave the green light to a 34-hour week by a tw  More...
24 October 2008 07:32

Union members are protesting at Ascot race course this morning against Hewlett-Packard's (HP) decision to axe 3,400 UK jobs. Members of the Unite union were planning to drive a van on the roads outside the racecourse, where Mark Hurd, chief executiv  More...
22 October 2008 11:33

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has upheld the sacking of so-called whistleblower Tony Goode after an internal appeal hearing. Goode was sacked last month for gross misconduct after leaking details of proposed cuts to the retailer's redundancy scheme  More...
16 October 2008 09:41

The council pay dispute that has seen hundreds of thousands of local authority workers strike this summer will go to conciliation service Acas, it has emerged. Up to 600,000 council workers staged a 48-hour walkout in July as part of the long-runn  More...
22 September 2008 10:12

The only way for organisations to survive the economic crisis is for unions and employers to work towards a common goal, senior HR figures have insisted. Last week, Derek Simpson, joint-general secretary of super-union Unite, warned HR professionals  More...
22 September 2008 07:00

The secret to a successful partnership with unions in the upcoming recession is to maintain the balance of power, HR directors and union officials told delegates at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's annual conference . Neil Pe  More...
19 September 2008 11:37

A union has told employees of Westminster City Council to refuse to use biometric fingerprint devices for clocking on and off because of concerns about privacy. Unison, the UK's largest public sector union, also claims it was not consulted before the  More...
12 September 2008 12:27

Marks & Spencer looks set to slash redundancy benefits for its 60,000 staff by up to 25% within the next two weeks. The high street retailer is proposing to reduce the maximum payout that employees can receive from 70 weeks to 52 weeks, accordi  More...
19 August 2008 15:10

Trade union power in Europe could be boosted by the European Commission's plans for European Works Councils. The commission has unveiled plans to overhaul laws on European Works Councils (EWCs), which could force many companies to renegotiate the a  More...
03 July 2008 10:21

The Post Office could be liable for a £2m payout if an employment tribunal rules that it acted unlawfully when closing Crown post offices. A tribunal will hear claims this week from workers represented by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) that t  More...
14 May 2008 14:59

Workers at the Fujitsu plant in Birmingham are to be balloted on strike action after the electronics firm announced plans to axe 140 jobs. Last week, the telecoms equipment division said it wanted to move manufacturing to the US to increase ef  More...
23 April 2008 08:02

HR news and analysis including: Newcastle College buys a major part of Carter & Carter from administrators the European Council reviews UK information and consultation regulations and following Harriet Harman's refusal to rule out positive   More...
28 March 2008 14:19

Staff at the Arbitration and Conciliation Service (Acas) have been balloted on strike action over the organisation's failure to implement a 2007 pay settlement. Up to 650 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working for the conci  More...
21 February 2008 15:19

The BBC and its unions have reached an agreement in principle over plans to axe 1,800 jobs over the next five years. BBC director-general Mark Thompson announced the plans in October 2007 as part of a cost-cutting drive in response to a funding s  More...
28 January 2008 16:30

Unions have demanded 'meaningful consultation' after outsourcing provider Capita confirmed it is to close its site in Wythall, Birmingham, with the loss of more than 370 jobs. Capita said it would transfer work to India and other parts of the UK, in  More...
18 January 2008 10:34

Furious union leaders have claimed government plans for a three-year pay deal in the public sector make a "mockery" of bargaining procedures. Prime minister Gordon Brown revealed plans to implement three-year pay deals rather than the traditional 12  More...
08 January 2008 16:40