Morning team, 

Welcome to the first issue of Working On It. I'm Evie Breese, the Big Issue's dedicated employment reporter, and in true first-day-of-a-new-job fashion, my fun fact is that I have a village named after me in Orkney.  

So read on for: Budget news, Filipino fairness, Lydia Tár, comedians left holding the baby, and a very cute grandmaster.

We've certainly picked a big day for kick off. In case you hadn't heard, chancellor Jeremy Hunt will unveil the government's decisions over who gets what in his Spring Statement this morning, while trade union members across the country demand he #PayUp.

Hundreds of thousands of teachers, civil servants and junior doctors standing on picket lines today will be checking the news to find out how much of a pay rise the Treasury will allocate to public sector workers. Will it be 3.5 per cent, as expected? More? Less? And will this be enough to placate them? It seems unlikely, given most unions are seeking a pay rise at least on par with inflation which hit double figures for a lot of 2022. 

While hoping to pay public sector workers just enough to stop them quitting, Hunt will use his “back to work” budget to entice (or force, depending on the circumstances) some of the thousands of Brits who have left their jobs since the pandemic to return to the workforce.

There’s also a big focus on the rising numbers of people out of work due to long-term sickness, with the government reportedly considering a range of measures, including asking GPs to write fewer sick notes, to bring the numbers down.

And while Hunt has set his sights on persuading the over-50s to come out of retirement, a better strategy could be to focus on the young people who are not working, but want to. There are more of them, after all, at least according to CIPD analysis.

We dive into the budget plans to see if they’re on the money about all things work, and my colleague Isabella McRae has a round up of what the expected policies mean for your bank balance.

Speaking of which, I'm not the only one with a newsletter launching this week. Isabella will be writing the Big Issue Survival Guide to go out every Thursday with tips and advice on navigating the cost of living crisis. Expect a Budget bonanza from her tomorrow, and sign up for that here.

What you need to know about work this week:

Pay squeeze. Britain’s employment rate increased in the three months to January driven by more young people taking up part-time jobs, and a rise in the number of self-employed. But pay growth has slowed, despite inflation remaining high, hitting pay packets in real terms.  

Mental health in crisis. Poor mental health rather than physical illness is at the root of rising long-term sickness in the workforce, according to research from PwC for The Times, finding that mental health support was the most in-demand benefit for employers. Could someone let Jeremy Hunt know? 

Health doesn’t pay. Junior doctors are striking this week, but many are considering leaving the NHS altogether for more lucrative careers in business or finance, reports Eamon Akil Farhat and Irina Anghel for Bloomberg. 

Real starving artists. Artists working in the public art galleries or on smaller projects are being paid far below the legal minimum wage amid a “culture of low fees, unpaid labour and systemic exploitation”. Ben Quinn at the Guardian has eyes on the research. 

TikTok recruitment. As the labour shortages continue to plague companies desperate to hire, Amazon, Maersk, Asda, Tesco and others are turning to TikTok to reach potential recruits, targeting “typically unloved” groups like people with convictions. Oliver Telling has the details in the FT.

Leave a legacy. Over one million people have signed a petition delivered by Amnesty International to Fifa calling for compensation for labourers and their families who suffered human rights abuses building the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

High-skilled migrants. The post-Brexit migration system made it easier to recruit workers from non-EU countries, writes Delphine Strauss and Federica Cocco in the FT, allowing for a surge in skilled migrants to plug vacancies in health, care and hospitality. A fascinating long read.

Funny mummy. How to be a comedian and pay the bills after giving birth? Meet the stand-up comedians taking to the stage with a baby strapped to their front in this Mother’s Day Guardian long read from Rachael Healy.

Strike watch

Are we nearly there yet? RMT members are currently voting on whether to accept a new pay deal from Network Rail which could see an end to the dispute. The union will not recommend a vote either way, leaving members to decide whether to accept a pay rise of up to 14.4 per cent for the lowest paid workers.

A global solution 🇵🇭

Whereas in the UK pay rises have been focused in terms of percentages, lawmakers in the Philippines have taken a somewhat different view. Filipino families are seeing a widening gap between their income and the living wage, with economic think tank IBON Foundation estimating that gap to be, on average, 750 Philippine pesos (£11.22) a day. 

So, lawmakers have put in a bill mandating that all private sector employees receive a pay rise of P750. The bill from the Gabriela Women’s Party would see the government subsidise small businesses to pay the wage. The significant wage increase is expected to get an overwhelming majority vote, according to Philstar Global.

Working culture

Celebrated conductor Lydia Tár (Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett, not pictured above) is married to her lead violinist, stringing along her assistant who is clearly infatuated with her, and attempting to seduce her newest, possibly youngest, member of the orchestra - a Russian cellist who seems inexplicably unbothered by her advances. 

Tár is a film about the unbridled power wielded by those at the very top. This brilliant Twitter account isn’t the only thing confusing people over whether Tár is based on a real person, but Claire Jackson has answers.

You can still catch Tár at cinemas across the UK. If you know who the funky conductor in the GIF above is and, even better, what piece of music they're playing, let us know and we'll give you a shout out next week.

In the diary

March 15. Government’s Spring Statement delivered as London Underground workers and train drivers with Aslef and the RMT go on strike, alongside junior doctors, teachers, civil servants and university staff. 

March 16. RMT members go on strike then launch a ban on overtime in their dispute with the Rail Delivery Group which manages 14 train operators.

March 17. One year anniversary since P&O scandal which saw DP World illegally fire more than 700 people, replacing them with cheaper agency workers. 

March 18. RMT railway workers walk out at 14 train operators.

March 22. Inflation figures released by the Office for National Statistics. Ramadan begins, so employers should be considering how to support Muslim employees in the holy month.  

March 30. RMT railway employees walk out at 14 train operators.

Saturday April 1. RMT train strike continues, coinciding with the start of the school Easter holidays.

Here's the full list of national strikes taking place in the coming weeks. 

Animals with jobs 

Paw-ns don’t move like that but we’ll let it this grandmaster off this once.

Does your cat / dog/ garden fox/ animal you saw on holiday work participate in the daily grind? Nominate them today by sending me a photo of them hard at work! evie.breese@bigissue.com

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