Unsurprisingly the move by employers to rein in extensive working from home, is not only breeding resentment among workers who have grown to like hybrid working but looks likely to lead to more cases centred on remote working going to employment tribunals.
As I've noted so often, universities have extensive knowledge & experience of the pros & cons of hybrid work (academics have done it for decades) yet no-one seems to want to learn from that experience?
Meanwhile in social care the exploitation of migrant workers continues, with some experiencing debt bondage & treatment that is looking like 'modern slavery'.
The underfunding & understaffing of social care have come together to produce a toxic environment for workers which the state seems to have little (real) interest in addressing.
Research by both Deloitte & the EIB (quoted by Pilita Clark, FT) suggests young entrants to the workforce are increasingly guided in their choice of prospective employers by employers' environmental stance.... with 20% saying they've changed jobs due to employers' green record.
As Clark concludes:
'Companies do not have to take climate action seriously. But if they don’t, they might find it increasingly hard to hire — and keep — all the younger workers they need'!
"Starbucks has resumed bargaining with union leaders amid a fresh wave of organized stores after the world’s largest coffee chain agreed to open talks over labor agreements.
Starbucks has consistently denied violating labor laws. But the sheer volume of charges, rulings against them by administrative law judges and the labor board, and accounts from workers themselves detailing their experiences, has bolstered its reputation as an aggressive union buster.
“It was also a lesson that you can’t rely on the law alone,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of Labor Education Research at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. “All the unfair labor practices that were filed … the fact is that Starbucks came to the table because the union did a comprehensive campaign, talked to investors, held red-cup days and did much more than just file unfair labor practices.”"
The number of chefs coming into the UK on skilled worker visas has been rising quickly.... the bad news for the hospitality sector is once the new threshold for wage levels for visa applicants kicks in, the average wage of chefs means they will earn too little to get a visa...
Perhaps more interestingly if we compare chefs with software developers, we might suggest that the UK's strategy of more IT training seems to have worked... even if we seem unable to train chefs?
African AI workers, mostly from Kenya, released an open letter to Joe Biden this week asking him stop US tech companies from “systemically abusing and exploiting African workers” and to end the “modern day slavery” they’re subjected to.
While the Bank of England's sado-monetarists keep on talking about wage inflation, its clear that there has only been wage inflation in nominal terms... real average wages (which is to say inflation adjusted) are little higher (and have been a lot lower at times) than they were when the Tories came into power in 2010.
So lets be clear: for workers this has been for the most part a lost decade & a half in wage terms.... its more than trust Rishi Sunak should have been trying to earn.
#Malaysia has become a hotspot for global #electronics & #semiconductor investment, with country's electrical & electronics export seeing a sharp increase of 54.2%. However, the surge of electronics & semiconductor investment in Malaysia is sharply contrasted with low #unionization; only 6% of all #Malaysian#workers are #unionized, the majority in the public sector.
Tien is head of policy & legal affairs at the #Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and director of the Institute for #Workers & Trade #Unions, the group said.
In the latest cause for concern, police in #Hanoi have arrested a #reformist labor ministry official, Nguyen Van Binh, 51, and charged him with disclosure of state secrets. Mr. Binh had advocated #LaborReform as director general of the legal department at the ministry, especially ratification of International Labor Organization Convention 87, which would guarantee #Vietnamese#workers the right to form independent trade #unions.
An officer at #XuanPhuoc prison declined to comment on his behavior but said that prisoners who are disciplined are put in #SolitaryConfinement for 10 days.
Phuoc, 62, is a former music lecturer at #DakLak#PedagogicalCollege. He was #arrested on Sept. 8, 2022, on charges of “anti-state propaganda.”
Sentenced to 8 yrs in prison & 4 yrs of probation at his trial in June 2023. After losing an appeal, he was sent to Xuan Phuoc prison in #PhuYen province.