This week’s news in brief
Tesco adds 20,000
Tesco is to create 20,000 jobs worldwide. The recruitment drive will include
10,000 new jobs in the UK after reporting a 14 per cent rise in profits. The
retail giant’s decision to move into non-food areas has helped boost pre-tax
profits to £481m.  www.tesco.com
EOC role questioned
The chairwoman of the Equal Opportunities Commission has called for the body
to further its role in tackling inequality in the workplace. Julie Mellor, who
was reappointed last week, said, "Enforcing the law and taking action on
behalf of individuals who have suffered discrimination are still important
elements of our work, but the EOC needs to be more than a regulator." Â www.eoc.org.uk
TUC backs rail report
The TUC has welcomed Lord Cullen’s "quietly revolutionary" report
into railway safety and has backed his recommendations to give more power to
unions and the Health and Safety Executive.
TUC general secretary John Monks said, "Railway companies need to
accept that unions should have a say from top to bottom in ensuring the public
is protected." Â www.tuc.org.uk
Actors threaten action
Stars of stage and screen are threatening to "exit stage left" and
strike, unless they get a better bonus pay deal from producers. Equity, the
performers’ union, has ordered its members to refuse work on British projects
from December – unless producers address the problem of secondary payments to
actors for work released on video, DVD, and TV repeats. Â www.equity.org.uk
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Online hiring hitch
Nearly half of employers are wasting time and money advertising job
vacancies on recruitment websites, according to research by Cranfield School of
Management. The growth in the number of companies using commercial job websites
to recruit new staff has been rapid, but there are problems for employers
matching suitable applicants to vacancies. Â www.cranfield.ac.uk
