Latest Information

Last night Newsnight broadcast an investigation into the exploitation of immigrant labour in London hotels.  Newsnight found that workers were being paid according to the number of rooms cleaned not hours worked.  This meant that workers were regularly being paid below the £5.73 per hour minimum adult wage.  Example payslips which the BBC uncovered [...]

An exploratory study published last week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation states that about one in four people in Britain are living below the minimum income standard and this is increasing as unemployment rises.  The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) for Britain is based on the public’s perception of what is deemed to be a [...]

The International Labor Organization predict that the economic downturn will lead to 50 million workers being unemployed globally by the end of 2009. This week BMW fell under heavy criticism from union leaders after axing the jobs of 850 agency workers, following on from an additional 300 temporary job [...]

On the 22nd October, the UK Employment Appeals Tribunal passed a judgement which changed the established understanding of workers’ entitlement to rest breaks.
The judgement states that workers are entitled to a 20-minute unpaid break when they work over 6 hours, rather than being entitled to a 20-minute break for every 6 hours that they [...]

The minimum wage in the UK will rise today, 1st October, in the 10th Anniversary year of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation being passed.
Minimum wage rates for over 21s will rise from £5.52 to £5.73 per hour, whilst the minimum wage for 18 to 22 year olds increases from £4.60 to £4.77, and from [...]

 
A campaign launched by The Independent last week aims to highlight the treatment of waiters and waitresses working in some of the biggest name high-street restaurant chains. In an article entitled “Revealed: how the restaurant chains pocket your tips” The Independent exposed a series of unfair practices in the restaurant industry. The article showed [...]

 The government have this week revealed a new deal between businesses and trade unions which is to give agency and temporary workers employment parity with permanent workers after 12 weeks at work.
The measures should come in to force during the next session of Parliament, provided the government is able to ensure that agency workers [...]

A recent Guardian leader raised the issue of ‘unheard workers’ in the UK who are suffering under abhorrent conditions working for agencies in industries such as agriculture and food packing. The leader states that, in direct contrast to the issues of foreign sweatshops and labour standards in the garment industry, the issues in our [...]

Gordon Brown last week announced that he will bring together the Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of British Industry to form a commission of inquiry to assess the rights of Temporary and Agency workers in the UK.  The commission will be chaired by Sir George Bain, the former chairman of the Low Pay [...]

There was a flutter of intrigue in the Impactt office this morning over the allegations made in the Today programme expose of labour conditions at a fair-trade banana supplier. The investigation alleged that Polish migrant workers in Luton, packing bananas for Tesco and Waitrose, were working excessive hours and had no breaks. Supervisors [...]