reports

By Dave Strano, KMA

A recent study on temp work in the German automobile industry reveals that the companies in this sector try to hide the fact that they employ temp-workers.

The Yorkshire post reported that bosses in the UK's top firms retire on at least 71 times the basic state pension for a married couple and can usually stop work at 60, researchers found.

A total of 112 company directors are currently entitled to a pension worth at least £200,000 a year, while 27 are in line for at least £500,000, said the Labour Research Department.

There are approximately 3.5 million children living in poverty in Britain today. That's more than a quarter of the total child population.

In July 2005 the Kerr Haslam Inquiry reported its findings to the Minster of Health. Unlike of the Shipman inquiry or the inquiry into the deaths of babies in Bristol, this report has not made the headlines.

A new report has found that during the ‘Shock and Awe’ campaign in Iraq, radiation levels in Britain quadrupled, leading to fears that Depleted Uranium weapons used in the desert state may have affected most of Europe.

The United Nations’ Convention Against Torture defines the term as 'any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person.'

However, the US has defined torture as an act that caused serious physical injury so severe that death, organ failure, or permanent damage resulted in a loss of significant body function.

It looks at which companies are involved, their records, the government’s record in outsourcing IT projects, and what the IT industry thinks of the ID cards scheme.

The report, by Corporate Watch, can be downloaded here:
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/download.php?id=40

'20 Years on: Has the economy of the coalfields recovered?' examined communities where over 10% of the population had been employed in the mines before the mass closures.

The report, brought out by the Centre for regional and social economic research at Sheffield Hallam university, said:

If each employee worked all their unpaid overtime at the beginning of the year, the TUC estimates that they would have worked for free and would not start to get paid until Friday 24 February 2006. That is why the TUC has dedicated Friday 24 February as their third 'Work Your Proper Hours Day'.

Controversial measures to increase the statutory retirement age to 67 for state pensions have angered unions, though parallel suggestions that companies should be forced to contribute more to the pensions pot have been well received.

The commission has also suggested that the later retirement date should be offset by a higher pensions rate - up from a basic rate of £80 to £109.