Speculation is rife among the national press this morning on how much ground Gordon Brown conceded to the trade unions at Labour's National Policy Forum in Warwick over the weekend.
With no official announcements from either the government or unions, it is up to the political and industrial correspondents to fill in the rest of us as to what was agreed. Unions have been pushing hard for more workplace rights and saw the weekend as a chance to really back Brown into a corner.
Depending on what paper you read, the new rights seem to be:
- Extending unpaid parental leave to those with children aged under 16 (currently aged six)
- Adult threshold for minimum wage lowered from 22 to 21. Adult rate is currently £5.52
- More public sector apprenticeships
- Proposals to make maternity and paternity leave more flexible
- Measures to end "bogus self employment" in the construction industry
These are only proposals at the moment, and some might not see the light of day if Labour loses the next general election.
The frustrating thing for us on Personnel Today is that the articles go on to present a set of policies to the reader as if they were something new - in fact the team has been writing about them for weeks.
The Daily Mail talks about new rights for agency staff and time off for training as if they were rubberstamped over the weekend. These rights were announced weeks ago by the government and covered extensively in Personnel Today.
So it's best to stick with us if you want up-to-date news on employment policy and don't rely on the tabloids.
