Sep 30

Six recruitment agencies have been fined almost £40million for price fixing.

The consumer watchdog, The Office of Fair Trading, said it had imposed the sanction after a lengthy investigation.

They said the six recruitment agencies had colluded not to undertake any contracts with ParcUK, a firm which acted as an intermediary between recruiters and construction firms, putting pressure on the margins of recruitment firms.

“Instead of competing with Parc – and each other – on price and quality, the parties formed a cartel,” the OFT said.

It added that the six recruiters, who met five times between 2004 and 2006, agreed to boycott Parc and fix rates they would charge to construction companies. Their actions violated the Competition Act of 1998, the OFT said.

Hays Specialist Recruitment, a unit of Hays, was penalised £30.4m, the highest fine. CDI AndersElite, a unit of CDI Corp, was fined £7.6m.
Private companies Eden Brown, Fusion People, A Warwick Associates Ltd, and Henry Recruitment also received penalties.

Two other recruitment agencies involved were granted immunity from fines because they exposed the cartel, the OFT said, and most of those fined were given discounts for leniency.

“This is a serious breach of competition law and the level of fines reflects this,” Heather Clayton, the OFT’s Senior Director, said in a statement.
“Ultimately it is the consumer and the wider economy that loses out from such behaviour.”

Times online

Sep 25

The Government faces overwhelming calls to scrap the compulsory retirement age of 65 after a High Court judge ruled that in the current economic climate it was likely to be unlawful.

Mr Justice Blake rejected a challenge to the compulsory retirement age by charities for the elderly on the basis that when it was introduced it was justified.

However, he gave a boost to campaigners when he added: “I cannot presently see how 65 could remain as a DRA [default retirement age].”

He added that he recognised the “very substantial weight” of the arguments put forward by Age Concern and Help the Aged, which brought the test challenge with the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

He had also taken into account, he said, the Government’s stated intention to bring forward a review of the compulsory age to stop people being forced out of work at 65.

The charities immediately called on the Government to change the law in the light of the judge’s comments.

They claimed that the Government had avoided defeat only because ministers had already caved in to pressure for a review next year.

Under UK law, a British employer can dismiss a member of staff without redundancy payments on his or her 65th birthday.

Employees have the right to request working beyond retirement age, but although employers have a duty to consider these requests, they need offer no justification for refusal.

John Wadham, legal group director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “The judge has sent out a strong signal that it is only a matter of time before the default retirement age of 65 is removed and we will consider what action we could take next.

“The Government’s promised review has already been brought forward from 2011 to 2010. It could act sooner to strike the default retirement age out of the rule books, using the Equality Bill.”

Age Concern and Help the Aged called on MPs to demonstrate their support for older workers by acting urgently to overturn the “outdated” legislation.

Andrew Harrop, head of public policy at Age Concern and Help the Aged, said: “Today’s ruling does not spell the end of our campaign to win justice for older workers.

“In fact, we will be stepping up our fight to get this outdated legislation off the statute book.

“Despite the judgment today, ministers still have the opportunity this side of a crucial General Election to give real help to people in their sixties by outlawing forced retirement.

“In his ruling the judge makes it clear that the only reason he has allowed the law to stand is because ministers have already caved in to our pressure for a review of the law.

“He makes it clear that forced retirement at 65 is unsustainable.

“This judgment makes it crystal clear that this unfair legislation is past its sell by date.”

 Times online

Sep 24

A third of the Vauxhall workforce faces being axed by the car-maker’s new owners.

Leaked figures show job cuts at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port and Luton factories will be at nearly twice the rate of those at German sister company Opel, where just one in every six car workers may lose their job.

Vauxhall is set to lose 1,375 jobs – nearly 31 per cent of workers – by 2011. By contrast, job cuts at Germany’s four Opel factories will hit 16.6 per cent of staff – a drop of 4,116 to 20,584.

The cuts follow the £600million sale of Vauxhall and its German sibling Opel to a consortium led by Canadian car-parts firm Magna, which has links to Oleg Deripaska.

Russia’s richest man is described as the firm’s ‘industrial backer’, and he is a friend of Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary.

Previously Magna had suggested that the UK would share job losses ‘pro rata’ with a 20 per cent reduction in workers.

The Magna deal was done after German Chancellor Angela Merkel put up a £4.5billion loan to ensure its success just weeks before her nation’s general election this Sunday.

Furious unions say Britain was the victim of a German ’stitch up’ and are concerned that Lord Mandelson – who backed the Magna deal – failed to do enough to protect British interests.

They want meetings with the Business Secretary and bosses of Magna, which bought Vauxhall and Opel from U.S. giant General Motors.

Tony Woodley, of transport union Unite, said Magna’s plans would safeguard Opel ‘while running down the UK operation’.

But Magna said it was committed to Britain and to the retention of the Vauxhall name.

A spokesman for Lord Mandelson’s department said: ‘We have had assurances from Magna that Ellesmere Port and Luton will remain open for the foreseeable future.’

Sep 24

A graduate saddled with £20,000 debts found a novel way to attract would-be employers after struggling to find a job.

David Rowe, 24, had already sent off hundreds of CV’s and even offered to work for free.

As a last resort he took to the streets of London to plead for employment.

The history graduate has pounded the Fleet Street area past law firms and investment-banks in his sharp suit with a billboard round his neck bearing the words Job Wanted.

He even offers to work for nothing for the first month, giving bosses the chance of a trial before they hire him.

Mr Rowe, of Cambridge, turned himself into a walking advertisement after a bet with his father.

Last night he said: ‘The first 20 paces are the hardest, you feel very conspicuous, but you just steel yourself to get on with it.
‘I have debts of about £20,000, and that’s not excessive compared with how much some students owe when they graduate.’

Mr Rowe, who went to the University of Kent, was facing a tough market even before the downturn.

Britain has seen explosive growth in the number of university and college students, but there has not  been a comparable rise in graduate-level jobs.

Twenty years ago, about 17 per cent of 18 to 30-year-olds were in tertiary education – compared with 43 per cent in 2008.

But at least his entrepreneurial spirit seems to be paying off. Just hours after he donned his sandwich board, the graduate struck it lucky.

Gavin Walker, of international recruitment firm Parkhouse Bell, liked Rowe’s initiative and decided to interview him.

‘I liked the fact he had thought out of the box. I was impressed by that,’ he said.

‘I was even more impressed after the interview. He’s very employable, so much so I offered him a job to work with me,’ he said.

But Mr Rowe, who is amassing a growing collection of business cards, isn’t jumping at the first offer.

‘I told myself I’d do the sandwich board for five days and I will follow through on that,’ he said.

Sep 17
 
News that unemployment has reached a 14 year high shouldn’t deter jobseekers, Simply Jobs boss says.
Ian Partington, managing director of Simply Jobs Boards, said that, while the employment market is inevitably suffering because of the recession, there is still optimism for those out of work.
”We are going through very tough times at present and anyone out there looking for work is well aware of the difficulties they face,’ he said.
”But there are still plenty of firms still recruiting and posts out there that need filling.
”While other recruiters have seen their vacancies fall, we have managed to buck the trend and still have tens of thousands of jobs advertised on our sites.
”There will inevitably be more people applying for each post and greater competition, but the key for jobseekers is to be professional and make sure your CV and interview skills are such that you stand out from the crowd.”
The number of people out of work rose by 210,000 to 2.47 million in the three months to July, official figures from the Office of National Statistics showed.
Vacancies were also down 12,000 to 434,000 on the quarter and in the suffering manufacturing sector, the number of jobs has fallen to 2.65 million in the three months to July – the lowest since comparable ONS records began in 1978.
The recession’s impact on young people was underlined by jobless totals among 16-24-year-olds reaching 947,000 – the highest level since records began in 1992.
One in five under 24s is currently actively looking for work.
At the same time, the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance rose by 24,400 to 1.61 million in August – the highest since Labour took power in 1997 and the 18th monthly rise in a row.
The contrasting impact of recession on the public and private sectors was also shown by the 13,000 rise in public sector employees to 6.04 million in the quarter to June.
This contrasts with a 230,000 fall in private sector workers to 22.85 million over the same period, the ONS said.
For the public sector, average annual pay growth including bonuses was 3.4 per cent in July – almost three times the 1.2 per cent seen in the private sector and double the 1.7 per cent growth overall.
Sep 1
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