Pat McFadden MP, Minister for Employment Relations, writes exclusively for labour.org.uk on the new employment rights being introduced this month... When the Labour Government came to power 12 years ago workers had no right to minimum pay, no right to paid leave and the imbalance between work and family life meant workers often had to choose one or the other at a cost to themselves and the economy...

Official figures showed employment of UK-born workers fell by almost 280,000 last year while employment of foreign-born workers rose by 214,000

The problem of false self-employment can sound technical. But for those affected it can be catastrophic. Workers who are falsely classified as self-employed can be denied access to the most basic of employment rights, including the minimum wage, holiday leave and pay and sick pay. In addition,...

The UK is one of the most unregulated labour markets in the world. As a result Welsh workers are amongst the most exposed in the European Union. Spain, France and Germany have far stronger employment laws. New Labour promote the so called ‘flexible workforce’ which in fact means that workers in Wales and across the UK are vulnerable to decisions by multi national companies to cut jobs ...

I resent the way in which the media, and government, chooses to label some within the workforce as "key workers" - meaning public sector workers. (aka "Parasite workers") but leave that prejudice aside for a moment and concentrate on the news that .. "House prices in Northern Ireland need to fall even further before property in the Province is affordable for key workers such as nurses and firefigh...

Amicus points to the manufacturing employment situation in the UK and falling real incomes as evidence that this approach is flawed. "10,000 jobs have been lost every month in manufacturing since 1997 and employment in the sector is likely to dip below three million for the first time next month. "The UK has lost out to foreign competition to a greater extent than Germany and France because of Bri...

The VWP February newsletter is now available. This month’s issue includes articles on coping with the downturn results and analysis from our questionnaire on how workers try to enforce their employment rights training that is being developed to help people challenge for their employment rights. Click here to download the newsletter.

Almost one in five male workers would take advantage of the proposed six-month paternity leave, research has found.

Belgium has refused to open its labour market to workers from Romania and Bulgaria on the grounds that many nationals of those countries already working there cheat the social benefits system, EurActiv has learned. More »

These is increasing evidence that the most vulnerable workers are set for the toughest experiences of unemployment. Job losses at the mini factory today are different from some other recent redundancies - workers are on agency contracts for services, so despite having many years employment at the...