This
week’s news in brief
Disabled
pledge
Tesco
has pledged to open up recruitment for disabled people, with an initial intake
of 200 new disabled staff in 2004. The supermarket giant has signed agreements
to enable Tesco to access an ‘often-overlooked pool of talent’, while helping
meet its obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act. www.personneltoday.com/goto/23128
Tackling
fear of work
The
Government has promised to tackle the culture of worklessness in inner cities
to help people off benefits and into work. MP Des Browne said the Government
had to break the cycle of growing up knowing nothing other than a life on
benefits. "The problem is not a lack of jobs, it is about making people
believe they really can work again," he said. www.dwp.gov.uk
Curbing
intimidation
Intimidation
by unions or employers during union recognition ballots would be banned under
proposals announced by employment relations minister Gerry Sutcliffe.
Amendments to the Employment Relations Bill will draw on rules of conduct for
general and local elections and will outlaw practices such as dismissing union activists
or threatening workers. www.dti.gov.uk
Smell
the coffee…
HR
is a complex beast with ever-changing and increasingly complicated legislation.
Even so there’s no excuse for the number of Personneltoday.com users that fell
for our set-up last week. To mark April Fools’ Day we ran a story on new
workplace coffee limits that any right- thinking person would find difficult to
swallow. Bad luck HR – more than 300 of you were taken in. www.personneltoday.com/goto/23132
