HR Weekly Watch brings you stories in the news in the last week. The articles are generally taken from a variety of sources. Where possible links to the original stories are included, although some sites only maintain their links for short periods.
30 November 2000
New deal jobs scheme to cover lone parents
The Government has announced an extension to its flagship New Deal jobs scheme after meeting its manifesto pledge of taking 250,000 young people off the dole.
For more, visit
Ananova
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30 November 2000
Government wins praise after 250,000 young find work
Unions and campaign groups are welcoming Government claims that it has met its manifesto pledge of helping 250,000 young unemployed people to find work through the New Deal jobs programme.
For more, visit
Ananova
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29 November 2000
New Deal jobs scheme set for revamp
The Government is tomorrow expected to signal a revamp of its flagship New Deal jobs scheme after it announces that its manifesto pledge of taking 250,000 young people off the dole has been met.
For more, visit
Ananova
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28 November 2000
Job satisfaction remains high as stress levels increase
Academics have found most British workers have a high level of job satisfaction despite increasing stress levels in the workplace.
For more, visit
Ananova
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28 November 2000
Pizza giant plans up to 20,000 new jobs
Pizza giant Domino’s is set to continue its expansion in the UK, opening hundreds of new outlets with the creation of thousands of jobs.
For more, visit
Ananova
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27 November 2000
Union sues Bank of England for ‘illegal’ sackings
The Bank of England is being sued over the sacking of six staff who refused to sign new “inferior” contracts.
For more, visit
Ananova
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27 November 2000
Blair to cut business red tape
Prime Minister Tony Blair is laying out plans to cut the burden of regulation on British business.
For more, visit
Ananova
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27 November 2000
Hospitals ‘named and shamed’ over long hours
Hospitals where junior doctors are forced to work more than 56 hours a week will be “named and shamed” under a new pay deal coming into force from this week.
For more, visit
Ananova
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27 November 2000
Talks restart in bid to end longest strike
Fresh moves to resolve the country’s longest-running official industrial dispute are due to begin.
For more, visit
Ananova
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27 November 2000
E-businesses ‘to pay twice-average increases’
Internet firms are planning pay rises of more than twice the national average to try to keep their staff, according to a new report.
For more, visit
Ananova
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27 November 2000
Fast food firm to create 10,000 new jobs
Fast food giant KFC is to create 10,000 new jobs over the next five years by opening hundreds of outlets across the country.
For more, visit
Ananova
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24 November 2000
Computer firm to shed 350 jobs
Computer hardware manufacturer Fullarton Computer Industries has announced 350 redundancies.
For more, visit
Ananova
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23 November 2000
BBC World Service staff strike over pay
Hundreds of BBC journalists have voted to go on strike for 48 hours this weekend over pay and conditions, union bosses have announced.
For more, visit
Ananova
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23 November 2000
£50m contract in doubt as cruise liner turns back
Union leaders fear for hundreds of shipworkers jobs after reports that an Italian cruise liner due at a UK yard for a major multi-million pound upgrade suddenly turned back.
For more, visit
Ananova
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23 November 2000
MPs warn over pension blunder compensation
Government plans to compensate victims of a pensions blunder have the making of another disaster, an all-party committee of MPs says.
For more, visit
Ananova
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23 November 2000
Asda is to create more than 500 new jobs in Scotland
A spokeswoman for Asda says the company is expanding in home and leisure lines as well as in fresh food, resulting in 550 new jobs.
For more, visit
Ananova
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22 November 2000
Gossip is ‘a vital cog in the well-run office’
Office gossip about secret liaisons, inept managers or Christmas bonuses should be encouraged, to build a more harmonious and sociable environment at work, according to a new report published today.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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22 November 2000
Midnight oil students ‘wasting their time’
Students who cut back on sleep to cram for an examination could be wasting their time, according to a study published yesterday.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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22 November 2000
I was the victim of a racist witch hunt, says fireman
A fireman, sacked after being wrongly accused of making a racist remark, claimed yesterday that the inquiry into the death of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence had led to a “witch hunt” in the public services.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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22 November 2000 10:38
Speculation mounts over Ford plant
Speculation is mounting that Ford is to secure the future of one of its engine plants with a huge investment that would lead to creation of hundreds of new jobs.
For more, visit
Ananova
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22 November 2000
Are you a wage slave or a willing worker?
A huge gulf is emerging between people who love their job and those who cannot wait to leave the office, according to a new report.
For more, visit
Ananova
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21 November 2000
New Rolls-Royce plant plans to be unveiled
BMW is to submit a planning application to build the world’s most exclusive car factory at Goodwood, near Chichester in West Sussex, creating 350 new jobs.
For more, visit
Ananova
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20 November
Chancellor courts pensioner vote on by-election visit
Chancellor Gordon Brown has attacked the Conservatives as “take away Tories” for their policies for pensioners and claimed older people would be better off under Labour.
For more, visit
Ananova
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20 November 2000 10:56
‘Two nations’ divide yawns for over-50s
Britain’s over-50s will increasingly be split into two nations, affluent early retirers in search of a better quality of life and low-paid men and women compelled to continue beyond pension age because of financial necessity, researchers said yesterday.
For more, visit
The Guardian
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20 November 2000
Trust says sorry to victim of racism
The Prince’s Trust subjected one of its staff, a former professional footballer, to a campaign of racial discrimination, an employment tribunal has ruled.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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20 November 2000
Council pay strike closes schools and libraries
Schools and libraries were shut in Scotland while rubbish remained uncollected yesterday as local government workers went on their third one-day strike in four months.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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20 November 2000
Anchorman is weighed off after car park altercation
The battle for Florida votes between the two presidential contenders has been nothing compared to the intense competition between television reporters. A dispute over a parking space in Tallahassee, the state capital, has seen a leading network journalist arrested and taken to jail.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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20 November 2000
Chunnel shuttle strike
Drivers of Eurotunnel shuttle trains will stage the first of a series of 24-hour strikes today in a row over union recognition.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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20 November 2000
Court cases abandoned in strike by staff
Hundreds of criminal cases are being dropped at one of Scotland’s busiest courts because of industrial action.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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20 November 2000
More teaching recruits
A total of 28,000 people are training to be teachers, the highest number for eight years but still 1,500 short of what is required, Estelle Morris, the schools minister, said yesterday
For more, visit
Telegraph
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20 November 2000
80 charity staff face the axe
The charity Scope is to make up to 80 staff redundant after its second-hand clothes shops saw a sharp drop in profits.
For more, visit
Ananova
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20 November 2000
Call centres paying bonuses to keep staff
Workers in call centres are being offered bonus payments and family-friendly initiatives such as a childcare allowance because of competition for staff in some areas of the country.
For more, visit
Ananova
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19 November
Police seek volunteers to stem rise in ‘rail rage’
British Transport Police is launching a campaign to recruit hundreds of special constables to combat a sharp rise in violent attacks on rail staff and passengers.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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19 November 2000
Sotheby’s to cut jobs as losses mount
Sotheby’s, the auction house, is to announce significant redundancies next month as part of “restructuring” plans
For more, visit
Telegraph
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19 November 2000
Dog handler Pc in crash sues over roundabout
A police dog handler who was badly injured along with his Alsatian when he crashed into a roundabout is suing the Government for up to half a million pounds.
For more, visit
Telegraph
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17 November 2000
OAPs ‘cheated’ out of £43.5m by computer faults
Thousands of pensioners have been “cheated” out of millions of pounds in pension entitlements due to computer faults, Liberal Democrat social security spokesman Steve Webb says.
For more, visit
Ananova
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16 November 2000
Plan to let ‘sacked’ spies go to tribunals
Sacked spies could soon be able to take their grievances to employment tribunals under plans being considered by the Department of Trade and Industry.
For more, visit
Ananova
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HR Weekly Watch
– the following stories were from or prior to Thursday 16th November
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Plant to close with loss of 200 jobs
A manufacturing plant in Clydebank is to close at the end of the year with the loss of 200 jobs after the collapse of a buy-out plan.
For more, visit Ananova
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Commons advertises Black Rod job
A head doorman who feels at ease in silk tights and can bang loudly on doors is wanted by the House of Lords for the post of Black Rod.
For more, visit Ananova
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Employers attacked over ‘18% less pay for women’
Many employers are still doing “little or nothing” to make sure their women workers are paid the same rates as men, according to a new report.
For more, visit Ananova
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European Commission passes coal aid package
An aid package worth up to £110 million for the coal industry has been cleared by the European Commission, safeguarding thousands of jobs.
For more, visit Ananova
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ONdigital admits launch was problematic
A top ONdigital executive was not paid his full “launch bonus” even though the company claimed the digital TV venture had got off a “fantastic” start, an employment tribunal has heard.
For more, visit Ananova
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Ford workers asked to consider industrial action
Workers at Ford’s biggest UK plant are to hold mass meetings on Wednesday ahead of a ballot on industrial action in protest at the ending of vehicle production.
For more, visit Ananova
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Union launches clergy pay campaign
A campaign to win a pay rise and improved rights for members of the clergy is being launched.
For more, visit Ananova
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Give staff a day off to volunteer, says Straw
Employers should give all staff a paid day off to work in the community, Home Secretary Jack Straw said.
For more, visit Ananova
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Govan shipyard workers win extra battle time
Workers at the Govan shipyard in Glasgow have won further breathing space in their fight to remain open through the construction of eight landing craft.
For more, visit Ananova
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Minister presses for age discrimination measures
Social Security minister Jeff Rooker says the Government must take the lead in eliminating age discrimination from the workplace.
For more, visit Ananova
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Civil Service mandarins back 25% pay hike
Civil servants have backed a three-year pay deal which could net the highest fliers rises of up to 25%.
For more, visit Ananova
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Tories accused of £10 pensions fraud
Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling insists Conservative plans to pay pensioners an extra £10 per week are “a complete fraud”.
For more, visit Ananova
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HR Weekly Watch
– the following stories were prior to Monday 13th November
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Job centre offers vacancy for the dead
A job centre has advertised a vacancy dying for applicants but only for jobseekers who are already DEAD.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/72291
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Rolls-Royce revamp to cost 1,300 jobs
Rolls-Royce has announced a business reorganisation which could lead to the loss of 1,300 jobs.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/72167
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Designer gear boosts hopes for jobless
Designer clothes donated by celebrities including Elizabeth Hurley, Geri Halliwell and Cherie Blair are to be given to unemployed women to help them impress during job interviews.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/72091
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Brown fails to satisfy pension campaigners
Pensioners pledged to continue their fight for a restoration of the link between the basic state pension and earnings despite being given big cash boosts by Chancellor Gordon Brown.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71970
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Brown bids to ‘end pensioner poverty’
Gordon Brown has ruled out linking the basic state pension to average earnings but has promised that single pensioners will be on £100 a week by 2003.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71905
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Free computer training offered to homeless
Homeless people are to be offered free computer training to help them find a job.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71845
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Labour MP accuses Government of inflexibility
A Labour MP has turned on the Government, accusing it of being inflexible and not listening to members.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71827
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Bank chief fights sack over gambling
A bank manager who “got a buzz” from gambling on fruit machines ran up debts of almost £80,000 before confessing to his wife and his employer, a tribunal heard yesterday.
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Industry ‘needs more women on boards’
Almost half of Britain’s top 100 companies do not have any women on their boards, according to a survey published yesterday.
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Jaguar staff reject 4.25% pay deal
Jaguar workers have rejected a two-year pay deal which would have given them a rise of 4.25% over the next 12 months.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/69256
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Cable company axes 1,300 staff
US cable company NTL is to cut 1,300 jobs around the UK over the next 15 months.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/69398
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Government urges women to follow technical careers
Women will be urged to consider careers in technology under a Government plan to close the pay gap between men and women.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/69454
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Union recognition ‘put US firm off Britain’
A business leader has claimed that an American firm considering opening a factory in the UK creating 500 jobs lost interest because of new legislation on union recognition.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/69515
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‘Pensions not fuel cuts will be priority in pre-Budget report’
Labour’s former Health Secretary Frank Dobson says he expects pensions to be the Chancellor’s priority in his pre-Budget statement rather than cuts in fuel prices.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/70326
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Fears mount for 5,000 jobs at Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce has refused to deny reports it is planning to cut up to 5,000 staff.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/70623
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Key union may end links with Labour
A leading trade union, which in a previous guise helped to found the Labour Party, is considering ending its links after more than a century.
For more, visit
The Telegraph
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Top bosses’ rises are three times average
Britain’s chief executives are getting richer at a faster rate than other workers, an analysis shows today.
For more, visit
The Telegraph
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Unions want curbs on “fat cats”
Union leaders are calling on the Government to curb what they call the “greed of the city fat cats” after the release of a new report on top executives pay.
For more, visit
ITN News
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Pensioners welcome report of £5 increase in pre-Budget report
Pensioners’ leaders have welcomed reports that Chancellor Gordon Brown’s pre-Budget statement will make them £5 a week better off as “a step in the right direction”.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/70826
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Spanish nurses to be recruited to NHS
Health Secretary Alan Milburn is signing a deal to recruit up to 5,000 nurses from Spain.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71207
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Britain may have to pay EU bill on pensions
Britain is the only major country in the European Union with a viable long-term public pensions system, according to an expert report to be delivered to EU finance ministers today.
For more, visit
The Telegraph
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Business urged to close Britain’s productivity gap
Business is being urged to redouble its efforts to close the nation’s productivity gap after new research revealed that Britain is still lagging substantially behind its international competitors.
For more, visit
The Times
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Public want pensions rise rather than fuel cuts
The public want the Government to give priority to raising pensions rather than cutting fuel prices, according to a new poll.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71318
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Pub chain quizzed applicants over ‘intimate details’
Pub owners have apologised for asking job applicants intimate details of their sex lives as part of their recruitment process.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71398
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EU holds key to construction of new Nissan in UK
Nissan will not decide over whether to make the new Micra at its Sunderland plant until a European Commission ruling.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71450
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Fight goes on, say pension campaigners
Campaigners have vowed to continue their fight to link pensions with earnings despite predictions of the largest benefit boost for more than two decades.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71529
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Rolls-Royce urged to come clean on jobs axe reports
Union leaders at Rolls-Royce are urging the company to come clean about reports that thousands of jobs are to be axed.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/71703
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HR Weekly Watch up to 2nd November
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Magistrates to get training in assertiveness
Justices of the Peace are to be given assertiveness training to help them with long-winded lawyers and colleagues who waste time in reaching decisions, leading to delays in court
For more, visit
The Independent
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Nurses face bar over bedsore fatality
Four nurses face being struck off after a pensioner died from bedsores he developed while in their care.
For more, visit
The Electronic Telegraph
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Unions press Ford to halt plant closure
Unions representing car workers at Ford’s Dagenham plant are meeting management in a bid to halt its closure.
The TGWU union has threatened to ballot members on strike action if Ford ends car assembly at Dagenham in 2002, at a cost of thousands of jobs.
But the union’s chief negotiator admits that it was “very unlikely” that management decisions can be reversed at this late stage.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/69133
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Concern mounts over RAF base job losses
Fears have been raised over job losses for aviation repair workers at a South Wales RAF base.
The Ministry of Defence’s Aviation Repair Agency (Dara) says it is considering “rationalisation” of its workforce at RAF St Athan.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/69040
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Hundreds of engineers face redundancy
Three-hundred jobs are hanging in the balance as Welsh engineering firm Ledwood Construction is put into administrative receivership.
The Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven-based mechanical engineering firm undertakes contracts for the petro-chemical and power generation industries.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/69017
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180 jobs go as Rolls-Royce closes factory
Rolls-Royce is to close one of its factories with the loss of 180 jobs.
The composites manufacturing plant in Derby, which makes glass fibre and carbon fibre jet engine parts, will close by the middle of next year.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/68862
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Clyde shipyard wins ferry order
Shipbuilding on the Clyde has been given a further boost with the news that a vital contract had been awarded for a new ferry for the Northern Isles.
The order book at Ferguson Shipbuilders in Port Glasgow is now full until July 2002 after news it had been selected to construct the boat for NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries.
The news comes after an order earlier this month for Ferguson’s from Stirling Shipping, worth £17 million.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/68531
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Bus driver shortage slows down capital
Transport problems in London are being made worse by a shortage of bus drivers, according to a report.
Research shows almost 3,000 vacancies across the capital, with worst hit areas including Enfield, Croydon, Ealing, Uxbridge and Clapham.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/68313
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Government branded negligent after 1,000 sub-post office close
The Government has been accused of “neglect” of Britain’s post office network after it emerged that more than 1,000 sub-post offices have closed since it came to power.
In a response to a Commons written question today, Trade and Industry Minister Alan Johnson said 1,183 sub-post offices had closed between March 1997 and September this year.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/68141
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Armed forces fail to reach ethnic recruitment targets
The Armed Forces are failing to meet their own targets in recruiting from ethnic minorities.
Armed forces minister John Spellar says from April 1 to September 1 this year, 2.2% of the Armed Forces intake from the British labour market came from ethnic minority communities despite a recruiting goal for 2000 to 2001 of 4%.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/68113
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Stockbroker dumps six-figure salary job for bin duty
A stockbroker has swapped his Filofax and a six-figure salary to take up a job emptying dustbins.
Jonathan Blair-Sloan, from Dorchester, decided to join his local binmen while he waited to begin a new career working as a broker in Tokyo.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/68104
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Single parent workforce lags behind – Brown
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said he wanted to see seven out of 10 single parents in work as he launched an expanded new scheme to help them off the dole.
Gordon Brown, launching a pilot programme for a national expansion of the New Deal for Lone Parents programme, said Britain lags too far behind Europe and the United States in the number of working single parents.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/67927
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Post Office gears up for e-shopping boom
The humble high street post office is set to become the hub of internet shopping revolution.
Post Office executives have unveiled a plan to transform 1,000 town and village centre outlets into collection points for e-shoppers.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/67892
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Bar staff are the lowest paid workers in Britain
Bar staff are the lowest paid workers in the country despite earning increases of up to 5% in the past year.
Women working full-time in pubs and clubs are paid an average of £4.41 an hour, while men earn £4.62 for the same job.
For more, visit
http://ananova.com/go/67570
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