Read to the end for why South Korea’s trade unions want the retirement age put up (not down), the new BBC drama shedding light on Ireland’s shockingly recent slave labour scandal, and kitten DJs.

Morning team, 

Evie Breese here with the week’s employment news, I hope your bank holiday was restful. Let’s get back to it. 

We all saw it. On the big screen, on the telly in the pub or on clips across social media, when the head of Spain's football federation Luis Rubiales grasped Jenni Hermoso's head with two hands and kissed her on the lips. It was mere moments after Hermoso and her history-making teammates had won the Women's World Cup for Spain. The attacking midfielder said she did not consent to the kiss and her team has said it will not play again until Rubiales resigns.

Coincidentally, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has, this week, released new guidelines on how to behave properly  in work and at work events. The organisation, which represents key British businesses, has defined harassment as “inappropriate physical contact, sexual attention or innuendo”, while also stating that “bullying, harassment or sexist, racist, or exclusionary comments or jokes” will not be tolerated. The organisation is seeking to claw back credibility after its own director-general, ​Tony Danker, was sacked following complaints about his conduct in the workplace.

“Clearly lessons have been learnt and steps are being put in place to set behavioural expectations,” an anonymous source close to the CBI told The Mail on Sunday. “The code will make for awkward reading for many… Others will wonder why it is necessary to state the basics,” they added.

And here-in lies the problem. Clearly, the basics of workplace etiquette are not universally understood. Despite high emotions, the football pitch is still a working environment. Everyone on the pitch is paid to do their job as best they can. It’s as though some people weren’t taught not to grab their colleague by the face and plant a kiss on their mouth. 

Three in five women have experienced sexual harassment, bullying or verbal abuse while at work, according to TUC research. Aside from it taking place in front of millions of onlookers, Hermoso’s experience or unwanted physical contact is far from unique. So until such basics are common-knowledge, workplace guidelines that state the bleedin’ obvious, continue to be very-much needed.

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What you need to know about work this week:

U-loose. London’s controversial Ultra-Low Emissions Zone has expanded to cover almost all of the city as mayor Sadiq Khan seeks to reduce air-pollution. Sian Norris speaks to professional drivers and small business owners affected by the expansion on how it’ll impact them, for The Guardian. 

Three long months. Hundreds of employees at homeless charity St Mungo’s have won a 7- 15% pay rise, depending on salary, after almost three months of strike action. The members of Unite also won additional annual leave, with the improved pay and benefits costing the charity just under £6 million, according to a spokesperson.

Another motherhood penalty. Unite and Unison have joined campaigners calling for a review of the system that sees pregnant workers “penalised twice” for going on strike, losing not only their daily pay but also a portion of their maternity pay. 

Holding a grudge. Network Rail has refused to pay bonuses to employees who went on strike with the RMT during an eight-month dispute that ended in March. RMT leader Mick Lynch called the decision to exclude trade unionists from the company’s bonus scheme as “disgraceful”.  

One rule for thee. Northern Ireland unions have warned of a new wave of strike action this autumn after health workers were told pay rises on a par with colleagues in England would not be affordable under Stormont's current budget. 

Roll on the robots. Efficiency will be boosted so much by AI programs such as Chat GPT that workers will only need to work a four-day week to maintain productivity, the boss of one of the world’s biggest recruiters has said. (£)

‘Cinderella sectors’. Daming new research from the TUC has laidbare the widespread poverty endured by care workers, caused by chronic under-investment, exploitation and low pay. Social care workers earn on average £21,500 a year and childcare workers just £18,400.

 A global solution 🇰🇷

Trade unionists across France took to the streets in mass protests in response to president Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that the state retirement age would be increased to 64 years, but in South Korea, unions have taken the opposite stance. 

South Korean trade unions are calling on employers to raise their company retirement age to give workers a few more wage-earning years before having to seek a low-quality job elsewhere. More than a fifth of South Korea’s population will be older than 65 in 2025, with the country officially becoming a "super-ageing" society. The state retirement age is set at a minimum of 60 but most companies chose to stick to that minimum, forcing employees to retire at 60. 

Could allowing workers to hold onto good jobs into their 60s reduce poverty among the elderly? What is the ideal age for a person to retire? Read more from Joyce Lee, for Reuters. 

Working culture

State and religion-sponsored slave labour continued to take place in Ireland until shockingly recently, in the form of the Magdalene Laundries. The church-institutions forced women to work for no money, in near silence, kept away from the wider world. It’s unclear how much was known about the internal workings of these cruel places at the time, but as Claire Keegan’s devastating novel Small Things Like These suggests, many people turned a blind eye to the unsavoury happenings to the fallen women imprisoned there. And many still do. 

A new BBC drama, The Woman In The Wall, tells the shameful real-life story of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes – but wraps up this vital account in a “genre-hopping, wickedly funny, character-led series that veers from offbeat black comedy to crime caper to psychological horror”, according to our own Adrian Lobb. 

Shedding light on this shameful chapter of Irish history is vital, forcing us to question whose interest is it to keep hushed the exploitation of the past?

In the diary

Friday 1 September. Aslef train drivers strike for 24 hours. 

Saturday 2 September. RMT train workers walkout for 24 hours across 14 train operating companies. Aslef train drivers will refuse to work over time for the same period.  

Sunday 10-13 September. The 155th annual TUC Congress will take place in Liverpool.

Tuesday 19 September. NHS consultants strike for another two-day period.

Wednesday 27 September. Creating a Good Jobs economy, lecture by professor Dani Rodrik, at The Resolution Foundation.

Enjoying this newsletter? Check out Survival Guide, our newsletter on the cost of living crisis from my colleague Isabella McRae. We also have a cost of living help Facebook group with money-saving tips and positive stories.

Animals with jobs 

Is your kitten tired of scratching posts? Meow-sicians needed to scratch records that leave audiences feline good. 

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

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