Uber UK boss to meet GMB leader after driver representation deal August 26, 2021 Uber’s UK boss is due to meet with the new leader of the GMB union in a bid to settle their differences about the ride-hailing app’s working practices. Jamie Heywood, Uber’s UK regional manager, will meet with Gary Smith, months after the firm took the decision to recognise the union, the BBC said. Under that [...]
Workers of the world unite! How the post-pandemic recovery is increasing the bargaining power of labour August 23, 2021 More than 114 million people lost their jobs over 2020, according to the International Labor Organization. Even more saw their working hours and wages cut. The worst affected industries were accommodation and food services where global employment declined by over 20%, followed by retail. These sectors were particularly hard hit by lockdowns, forced closures and plummeting tourism. Women and younger workers were badly affected. You could be [...]
Long read: the office, pay cuts, promotions and cities. Transcending the gender gap post-pandemic August 14, 2021 Cabinet ministers and CEOs are falling over themselves trying to bark us back into the office. Some are even threatening to cut our pay if we move too far away, but their sledgehammer approach is not winning converts, especially amongst women. Over the course of sixteen months of remote work, many of us have felt [...]
Being Paid in Crypto. Will it get you two six-month holidays per year? August 6, 2021 Millions of Americans live in bad economic conditions and don’t have even $1,000 of savings to cover emergency expenses. In 2019, about 61% of the US population couldn’t cover a $1,000 emergency bill and even stimulus payments haven’t improved the situation. As global economic conditions harden because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bankrate estimates only 39% [...]
John Lewis and Pret named and shamed for failing to pay minimum wage August 5, 2021 The government has named and shamed some 191 employers, including John Lewis, Pret A Manger and The Body Shop, for paying workers under the national minimum wage. Investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs found that employers owed a total of £2.1m to over 34,000 workers who were underpaid between 2011 and 2018. Named employers [...]
Does big tech have a blind spot? August 5, 2021 The giants of Big Tech have emerged as the undoubted corporate victors of the past decade. Throughout that period, companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google dominated the global marketplace, capturing ever-larger market shares and destroying upstart competitors in their way. These firms built impressive businesses, and investors rewarded their achievements with doubly impressive valuations: the [...]
How the Government’s Plan for Jobs can help July 23, 2021 The UK is now moving into the last stage of our exit out of lockdown – with many of the legal restrictions no longer in force. That’s good news – the result of a successful vaccine rollout and of our collective work to follow the rules to this point. There has, of course, been an [...]
Status quo anxiety: from Covid to foreign aid, we’re trapped by our desire to keep things the same July 23, 2021 Covid restrictions were relaxed this week, but it was far from universally supported. A group of academics wrote to the Lancet to condemn the move as a “dangerous and unethical experiment”. Some scientists warned that letting the virus run amok would create a fertile breeding ground for new variants and urged the government to once [...]
Become your own bank: Crypto and self-sovereignty July 21, 2021 Financial experts with Zumo explain the concept of self-sovereignty and how to be your own bank.
McDonald’s to offer childcare and tuition amid hiring push July 14, 2021 McDonald’s will be offering tuition payments and higher hourly wages as well as childcare support in an attempt to attract workers due to many of its restaurants struggling to employ staff in the US. Since the pandemic, the fast food giant has let staff members go in order to save running costs, but is now [...]