ReWAGE News Archive
The roles of Trade Unions and Employer Organisations in the UK today
ReWAGE has just published two reports examining the related topics of trade unions and employer organisations in the UK today. Between them they give a unique perspective on the background and evolution of both types of organisation and would be helpful reference points for policy makers or others working in related fields.
Trade Unions in contemporary Britain re-examines trade unions – how they operate and their effects on their membership and wider society – by reviewing both new evidence and established opinions about them as organisations and forces for social change.
A review of employer membership organisations in the UK examines the role of employer organisations in the UK economy, including their relevance to policy debate about labour market reform.
Spotlight on Damian Grimshaw, King’s College London
ReWAGE is fortunate in having some of the UK’s foremost thinkers on its Expert Group, drawn from leading universities and research organisations across the UK. Between them they have a huge breadth of knowledge, covering such subjects as the labour market, job quality, employment relations and the changing nature of work.
This week we are pointing the spotlight onto Damian Grimshaw, Professor of Employment Studies at King’s College London and ReWAGE’s expert on international comparisons of low-wage labour markets, outsourcing and precarious work.
The UK’s furlough scheme protected jobs – but how well did it protect workers’ mental health?
The UK’s coronavirus job retention scheme (colloquially referred to as furlough) ran from March of 2020 to September 2021 to enable employers to retain and pay staff through the Covid pandemic when national lockdowns made many jobs – such as non-essential retail, accommodation and food services – unviable overnight.
ReWAGE’s new report: The UK’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) and its impact on workers’ mental health argues that it was effective in mitigating against the risks of mass unemployment during the pandemic, but if needed again in future a model should be adopted that does more to protect workers’ mental health as well as protecting businesses, and that more should be put in place to support women’s mental health.