by Caroline Colebrook
THE GOVERNMENT has launched an underhanded attack on the equality and employment rights of millions of vulnerable workers in answer to demands from bosses who say they can’t afford it during the slump.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) last Monday told the Government that the current economic climate is too fragile to demand that equal pay reviews should be imposed on employers. Instead of standing up for the rights of vulnerable workers it is acting for the Government and big business by keeping a lid on demands for too-long delayed equal rights.
Currently women’s pay is on average 17 per cent less than mens and the gap is widening, making nonsense of the equal pay act that was passed over four decades ago.
PCS last week also drew attention to cuts that the EHRC is making to its helplines, which provide a service for vulnerable workers seeking advice on equality issues. The Manchester helpline is to be axed while those based in Cardiff, Glasgow and Birmingham will be slimmed down and 50 jobs will go. undermine
The move comes at a time when calls to the helpline are increasing due to the recession. Despite repeated representations from the union, the Manchester helpline, which handled over 50,000 enquiries last year from members of the public facing discrimination, goes this autumn. This, PCS warns, would undermine key government initiatives.
PCS national vice-president, Sue Bond said: “This is a key frontline service that provides support and advice for people who face discrimination in all its forms in every walk of life.
“It makes no sense to cut helpline posts at a time when call volumes are increasing, The EHRC need to think again and recognise that the service skilled and professional staff deliver is too valuable to downsize.”
Meanwhile Peter Mandelson has decided to outsource another vital Government helpline for workers facing employment rights violations.
The move to outsource the new single enforcement hotline, which includes advice on the national minimum wage, comes despite opposition from the TUC, PCS and MPs.
The formation of a single hotline for vulnerable workers brings together helplines for the national minimum wage, health and safety, gangmasters, employment agencies and the agricultural minimum wage. Many fear that lumping so many issues under one umbrella – as with equality issues – will allow the Government to dilute the service to each issue and in fact serve to curb legal demands from workers and act on behalf of the bosses.
PCS warns that outsourcing the new hotline could fail vulnerable workers, with providers lacking current staff’s expertise and links with enforcement bodies.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “The important work of the vulnerable workers enforcement forum risks being undermined by the outsourcing of a key helpline that will cover the minimum wage and employment rights.
“We have major concerns about the lack of full consultation on these plans and doubt whether contractors have the expertise to deliver the new unified helpline.
“There is a danger that providers will cut costs, resulting in the help and support for vulnerable workers being read from a script in some distant call centre.
“As the recession bites, vulnerable workers are most at risk of being exploited. Support, advice and enforcement cannot be done on the cheap and we urge Lord Mandelson to think again and keep the helpline in-house.”
TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, added: “I am deeply disappointed that yet again the Government is turning to the private sector to deliver a crucial public function.
real support
“The most vulnerable workers need real support and advice and this helpline could have been effectively delivered by dedicated public servants.”
Once again workers must face the reality that a bourgeois state will give them no protection against the greed and oppression of the ruling class and that their only real protection is in solidarity with each other.
As the ruling class sharpens its claws to suppress workers’ demands, so the workers must sharpen their union structures to defend themselves.
Tuesday 24 March 2009
Sunday 8 March 2009
Mobilising against the BNP
by Daphne Liddle
THE HOPE Not Hate campaign against fascism is calling on trade union members throughout Britain to mobilise for a cross-union campaign day – set for 15th May – against the fascist British National Party.
The aim is to stop the BNP from winning seats in the European elections and the campaign hopes to get hundreds of union branches doing some kind of activity on this day in what, they say, will easily be the biggest show of opposition to fascism by trade unions in recent years.
The editor of Searchlight anti-fascist magazine, Nick Lowles, said: “The trade unions have a vital role to play in the European election campaign. Between them they organise almost seven million members, double that if you include other adults in the members’ households.
“Given the low turnout expected in June, the unions’ role could be decisive if they can increase the turnout of their members.
“And it is precisely because of this potential that Searchlight has been encouraging unions to target their members like never before.”
Nick also reported on the success of combined anti-fascists in getting the cancellation of a planned national BNP rally in Liverpool on 14th March.
The plan caused particular anger among Everton football supporters after police requested the team to reschedule a home match with Stoke City because they did not have enough police to cope with a BNP rally and a football match on the same day.
Trade Union Friends of Searchlight (Tufs) is an organisation that exists to provide assistance and advice to unions fighting racism and fascism.
It exposes the activities of fascists in the workplace and produces background briefings and monitors the BNP union “Solidarity”.
A Tufs statement said: “Trade unions are proud to campaign against the extremism of the BNP. We do this because we care about communities in which we work and the people who live within them.
“We have seen where the politics of hate can lead during the violent disturbances in Oldham and Burnley in 2001.
“We see the BNP’s dishonest blaming of minorities for everything as a cowardly substitute for challenging those with real power to address the real problems with which we deal every day.
“This campaign is a bread-and-butter matter for unions. We are only as strong as our members. Our influence to get the better terms and conditions our members deserve depends on us having a strong and united membership.”
Tufs has produced an anti-BNP “toolkit”, including a magazine and a DVD. The DVD is £20 to union branches but is free to branches affiliated to Tufs.
Further information is available from Hope not Hate at PO Box 1576, Ilford IG5 0NG or http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/
THE HOPE Not Hate campaign against fascism is calling on trade union members throughout Britain to mobilise for a cross-union campaign day – set for 15th May – against the fascist British National Party.
The aim is to stop the BNP from winning seats in the European elections and the campaign hopes to get hundreds of union branches doing some kind of activity on this day in what, they say, will easily be the biggest show of opposition to fascism by trade unions in recent years.
The editor of Searchlight anti-fascist magazine, Nick Lowles, said: “The trade unions have a vital role to play in the European election campaign. Between them they organise almost seven million members, double that if you include other adults in the members’ households.
“Given the low turnout expected in June, the unions’ role could be decisive if they can increase the turnout of their members.
“And it is precisely because of this potential that Searchlight has been encouraging unions to target their members like never before.”
Nick also reported on the success of combined anti-fascists in getting the cancellation of a planned national BNP rally in Liverpool on 14th March.
The plan caused particular anger among Everton football supporters after police requested the team to reschedule a home match with Stoke City because they did not have enough police to cope with a BNP rally and a football match on the same day.
Trade Union Friends of Searchlight (Tufs) is an organisation that exists to provide assistance and advice to unions fighting racism and fascism.
It exposes the activities of fascists in the workplace and produces background briefings and monitors the BNP union “Solidarity”.
A Tufs statement said: “Trade unions are proud to campaign against the extremism of the BNP. We do this because we care about communities in which we work and the people who live within them.
“We have seen where the politics of hate can lead during the violent disturbances in Oldham and Burnley in 2001.
“We see the BNP’s dishonest blaming of minorities for everything as a cowardly substitute for challenging those with real power to address the real problems with which we deal every day.
“This campaign is a bread-and-butter matter for unions. We are only as strong as our members. Our influence to get the better terms and conditions our members deserve depends on us having a strong and united membership.”
Tufs has produced an anti-BNP “toolkit”, including a magazine and a DVD. The DVD is £20 to union branches but is free to branches affiliated to Tufs.
Further information is available from Hope not Hate at PO Box 1576, Ilford IG5 0NG or http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/
Friday 6 March 2009
Unions damn welfare reform bill
MEMBERS of the public and union activists lobbied MPs on Tuesday to protest against the Government’s reactionary welfare reform bill organised by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, the biggest civil service union in the country, and backed by the TUC and a number of other unions and pressure groups.
At the same time PCS has released a damning report that shows that public opinion is overwhelming opposed the Government’s plans that will lead to the privatisation of employment services and the social fund; introduce “work for welfare” schemes; abolish income support; cut benefits for single parents and those on long –term illness and require all parents of young children to seek work.
Speaking at the lobby at the House of Commons on Tuesday TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady stated that the Welfare Reform Bill is “the wrong Bill for the wrong time”, and that it will be resisted by unions.
“It’s clear that aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill now going through Parliament are not fit for purpose. This is the wrong Bill for the wrong time: conceived in a boom, about to be implemented in a bust,” he declared.
“The Government’s ideas would be flawed at the best of times; but with Britain deep in recession, these are emphatically not the best of times.
“Just think about the implications. A new regime for jobseekers, limiting the time for job search and retraining.
“Tougher rules for parents, undermining the Government’s pledge to halve and then end child poverty.
“The introduction of sanctions, stigmatising the most vulnerable as villains, not victims, and driving working people into poverty.
“And the privatisation and break up of a world-class public service, with private contractors profiting from joblessness.
“This is the reality confronting us. Why, after the near collapse of free-market capitalism, does the Government press ahead with an agenda of privatisation, marketisation and competition? Why, during the worst economic crisis for generations, is there seemingly one rule for the rich and another one for the rest?
“The contrast could not be starker. Bailouts for the bankers, punishments for the poor - welfare for Wall Sreet, workfare for working people. That is unacceptable; and we will resist it.
the answers
“So what are the answers? How do we create a welfare system that delivers in this downturn? The TUC is campaigning for a change of direction: for policies that give ordinary working people the help they need when they need it. We have already secured some important concessions - not least the welcome scrapping of plans to make disabled people look for jobs or risk losing benefits.
“But we need to go further. That means more generous benefits to stop people falling into poverty, and the TUC has been proud to lead the call for an immediate increase of £15 a week in Jobseekers Allowance.
“That means helping unemployed workers into proper retraining schemes and jobs that pay the going rate.
“And that means giving Jobcentre Plus and the dedicated staff who work in it the resources and the support they need to make a difference where it is needed most.
“Make no mistake: our welfare state has never been more needed than now. It is one of Britain’s greatest achievements. A genuine safety net for everyone: won through the campaigning of generations of socialists, trade unionists and progressive reformers. And we are not about to give up on that legacy now.
“So today let our message go out clearly. We will resist any changes that diminish our welfare system. We will stand up for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. And that we will continue to fight for what we believe in.”
Seventy nine per cent of people are not confident of surviving on the current rate of jobseekers allowance (£60.50) according to an ICM poll for PCS. The poll also shows that just six per cent of respondents feel ‘very confident’ about the ability of private sector companies to take over some of the work of Jobcentres.
Coming against a backdrop of rising unemployment and government plans to privatise some of the work of Jobcentre Plus, the poll also shows that just one in three think there are enough jobcentres or that there are enough staff in jobcentres to deal with the current economic crisis.
Over the past five years the government has closed over 500 jobcentres and benefit offices.
Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “There is little appetite for the government’s plans to privatise some of the work of jobcentres, with the poll showing a lack of confidence in the private sector’s ability to take over this work.
“The public sector has consistently outperformed the private sector in getting people back into work with jobcentres working flat out and doing a fantastic job in helping the rising numbers of unemployed.
“This poll should be a wake up call to the government which needs to raise benefit levels to alleviate the threat of poverty, ditch its plans for privatisation and start opening Jobcentres to deal with rising numbers of unemployed.”
At the same time PCS has released a damning report that shows that public opinion is overwhelming opposed the Government’s plans that will lead to the privatisation of employment services and the social fund; introduce “work for welfare” schemes; abolish income support; cut benefits for single parents and those on long –term illness and require all parents of young children to seek work.
Speaking at the lobby at the House of Commons on Tuesday TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady stated that the Welfare Reform Bill is “the wrong Bill for the wrong time”, and that it will be resisted by unions.
“It’s clear that aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill now going through Parliament are not fit for purpose. This is the wrong Bill for the wrong time: conceived in a boom, about to be implemented in a bust,” he declared.
“The Government’s ideas would be flawed at the best of times; but with Britain deep in recession, these are emphatically not the best of times.
“Just think about the implications. A new regime for jobseekers, limiting the time for job search and retraining.
“Tougher rules for parents, undermining the Government’s pledge to halve and then end child poverty.
“The introduction of sanctions, stigmatising the most vulnerable as villains, not victims, and driving working people into poverty.
“And the privatisation and break up of a world-class public service, with private contractors profiting from joblessness.
“This is the reality confronting us. Why, after the near collapse of free-market capitalism, does the Government press ahead with an agenda of privatisation, marketisation and competition? Why, during the worst economic crisis for generations, is there seemingly one rule for the rich and another one for the rest?
“The contrast could not be starker. Bailouts for the bankers, punishments for the poor - welfare for Wall Sreet, workfare for working people. That is unacceptable; and we will resist it.
the answers
“So what are the answers? How do we create a welfare system that delivers in this downturn? The TUC is campaigning for a change of direction: for policies that give ordinary working people the help they need when they need it. We have already secured some important concessions - not least the welcome scrapping of plans to make disabled people look for jobs or risk losing benefits.
“But we need to go further. That means more generous benefits to stop people falling into poverty, and the TUC has been proud to lead the call for an immediate increase of £15 a week in Jobseekers Allowance.
“That means helping unemployed workers into proper retraining schemes and jobs that pay the going rate.
“And that means giving Jobcentre Plus and the dedicated staff who work in it the resources and the support they need to make a difference where it is needed most.
“Make no mistake: our welfare state has never been more needed than now. It is one of Britain’s greatest achievements. A genuine safety net for everyone: won through the campaigning of generations of socialists, trade unionists and progressive reformers. And we are not about to give up on that legacy now.
“So today let our message go out clearly. We will resist any changes that diminish our welfare system. We will stand up for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. And that we will continue to fight for what we believe in.”
Seventy nine per cent of people are not confident of surviving on the current rate of jobseekers allowance (£60.50) according to an ICM poll for PCS. The poll also shows that just six per cent of respondents feel ‘very confident’ about the ability of private sector companies to take over some of the work of Jobcentres.
Coming against a backdrop of rising unemployment and government plans to privatise some of the work of Jobcentre Plus, the poll also shows that just one in three think there are enough jobcentres or that there are enough staff in jobcentres to deal with the current economic crisis.
Over the past five years the government has closed over 500 jobcentres and benefit offices.
Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “There is little appetite for the government’s plans to privatise some of the work of jobcentres, with the poll showing a lack of confidence in the private sector’s ability to take over this work.
“The public sector has consistently outperformed the private sector in getting people back into work with jobcentres working flat out and doing a fantastic job in helping the rising numbers of unemployed.
“This poll should be a wake up call to the government which needs to raise benefit levels to alleviate the threat of poverty, ditch its plans for privatisation and start opening Jobcentres to deal with rising numbers of unemployed.”
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