Category Archives: Frances O’Grady

Gender pay gap for women in their 50s won’t close before 2050, claims Labour

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‘Equal pay generation’ of female workers abandoned by Tories, says Anneliese Dodds, who commissioned research

The so-called equal pay generation of female workers born near the passing of the 1970 Equal Pay Act are unlikely to see the gap close during their working lives, a Labour analysis has shown.

Research carried out for Anneliese Dodds, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, calculated that such is the slow rate of change with equal pay for women in their 50s, the gender pay gap will not close before 2050 at the current trajectory.

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‘Enough is enough’: wave of strikes led by ‘fantastic’ women, says Frances O’Grady

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As she steps down, outgoing TUC general secretary says female workers’ jobs are undervalued

This winter’s wave of strike action will be powered by “a generation of women who are saying enough is enough” because the critical jobs they do are undervalued, the outgoing TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, has said.

As she steps down after a decade as the TUC’s first female figurehead, O’Grady said on Friday that thousands of women who worked on the frontline during the pandemic were now saying to ministers, “don’t take us for granted”.

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UK union leaders step up warnings of synchronised strikes this winter

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Leaders tell TUC congress they stand ready to coordinate action, although there are no calls for a general strike

Trade union leaders are warning of a wave of synchronised strikes by civil servants and public sector workers in Britain this winter, as a new poll for the TUC showed one in seven people across the UK are skipping meals because of the cost of living crisis.

As trade unionists met for the annual TUC congress in Brighton, Mark Serwotka, the head of the PCS union, representing 150,000 civil servants, said it stood ready to strike on the same day as others if its workplaces voted for industrial action in November.

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One in 7 Britons skipping meals in cost of living crisis, says TUC

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UK heading for ‘Victorian levels of poverty’ unless pay and benefits rise with inflation, says union body

One in seven people in the UK are skipping meals or going without food, according to new polling data released by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

The data from an MRP poll by Opinium reveals that more than half of British people are cutting back on heating, hot water and electricity in the cost of living squeeze, and one in 12 have missed the payment of a household bill.

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Unions brand bid to exempt firms with up 500 staff from new rules ‘reckless’

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Government says change would apply to all new regulations and it would look to raise in threshold in future

Ministers are seeking to exempt firms with up to 500 staff from new regulations, with unions warning that they could soon be spared from reporting on gender pay gaps and executive pay ratios in a “cynical and reckless” move.

Liz Truss announced on Sunday that companies with up to 500 staff would now be treated the same way as small businesses with fewer than 50 staff, which are exempt when new regulations are introduced.

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Government urged to classify Covid as an occupational disease

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TUC calls on Department for Work and Pensions to make move to help workers access key benefits

Ministers should urgently classify Covid-19 as an occupational disease to prompt employers to reduce the risk of exposure and help workers access key benefits, the TUC has said.

The UK is out of step with other major countries that have recognised Covid as a disease that people can get in the course of their work, especially in certain sectors, it says.

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Labour urges Kwasi Kwarteng to launch legal action against P&O Ferries

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Letter to business secretary calls firm’s sacking of 800 workers ‘scandalous’ and a criminal offence

Labour has urged the business secretary to launch legal action against P&O Ferries over its “scandalous” decision to sack 800 workers without warning, which the party said is a criminal offence.

Shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds have written to Kwasi Kwarteng, asking if he will begin proceedings for what they called the “scandalous action” of the ferry company.

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Top UK bosses are paid 115 times more than average worker, analysis finds

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Vast gap in earnings described as ‘unfair’ and ‘repugnant’ by trade union leaders

Bosses of top British companies will have made more money by teatime on Wednesday than the average UK worker will earn in the entire year, according to an independent analysis of the vast gap in pay between chief executives and everyone else.

The chief executives of FTSE 100 companies are paid a median average of £3.6m a year, which works out at 115 times the £31,461 collected by full-time UK workers on average, according to research by the High Pay Centre thinktank.

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Prevent ‘tsunami’ of job losses when furlough ends, TUC urges Sunak

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UK should adopt German-style wage support for short-time working, unions say

Rishi Sunak has been urged by union leaders to launch a wage subsidy scheme to prevent a “tsunami” of unemployment when furlough comes to an end this autumn.

Demanding the chancellor follows the examples of other leading European countries to avert a looming jobs crisis, the Trades Union Congress said a continental-style system of “short-time working” wage support could be used in Britain to save millions of jobs from redundancy.

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Philip Hammond urges business leaders to accept Brexit result

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Speaking in Davos, chancellor says changes such as end to free movement are on the way

Philip Hammond has told business leaders they need to accept the result of Britain’s EU referendum and warned that a failure to implement it would damage the country’s political stability.

The chancellor told increasingly restless business leaders that he was working for a deal that safeguarded the economy, and said he understood their frustration but companies had to accept that changes were coming – such as an end to the free movement of people and business models built on a supply of cheap labour.

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