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Single Status: Massive pay cuts looming in Highlands Council job evaluations 25/06/09.ICT workers with Highland Council are facing huge and life altering pay cuts of up to £14,000 a year as the authority implements its job evaluation process. The scale of the pay cuts has stunned and shocked staff, who claim they are being unfairly targeted because they are not in a frontline service and have little chance of finding alternative work locally. One employee who has been on a fixed-term contract for four years says the lack of other IT jobs in the Highlands has left himself and his colleagues with little choice but to accept the move. He currently earns £34,000 and is facing a potential cut of £14,000. "It wouldn't hurt that much if we were talking about £1000 to £2000," said the man, who asked not to be identified. "I know another younger colleague, whose wife has just given up work after having a baby is currently on £31,000. He faces a cut to £21,000. There are a lot of people who have got young families who are going to be really hit hard." Unison's John Gibson said the IT staff had been hit with a "double whammy" because the new department had been created at the same time as the job evaluation process. "This has been going on with them stuck in the middle," he said. "The timing has probably been advantageous for the council because people can't just walk out of jobs knowing there is not much else out there. We've had a lot of members contacting us to say their pay is going down and a lot of people are upset."Mr Gibson, Unison's Highland branch treasurer, is himself facing up to a £2000 pay cut after 10 years working in the local authority's finance department and said about 12 per cent of council staff were facing up to reduced wages. |
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Male workers win equal pay claims 25/06/09.A "landmark" legal decision involving three councils in the north east of England could pave the way for 12,000 men to take forward equal pay claims. Financial settlements had earlier been agreed for women workers paid less than men doing similar work. The Employment Appeal Tribunal has now ruled that 300 other male workers were discriminated against as they then remained on lower pay than the women. The councils involved were Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and South Tyneside. The men, who were working in jobs such as care assistants, caretakers, drivers and leisure attendants, had lodged discrimination claims about bonuses paid to male workers in better paid jobs such as gardeners and refuse collectors. This was at the same time as women in low paid jobs, who were also claiming that the bonuses were discriminatory. The Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that the 300 men should have been offered the same back pay as the women. These claims are sometimes called piggy back claims as the men "piggy back" on the successful women's claims. Mr Justice Underhill said: "It would be surprising and unsatisfactory if the [Equal Pay] Act offered no remedy to men in a situation like the present. "The case where men and women do the same job but receive different rates of pay is the paradigm of the kind of situation which the Act was intended to prevent, how would it seem if the roles were reversed and the 'piggyback' claimants were not men but women?" Lawyers involved, from the Cloister Chambers, have described it as a landmark ruling which will have a bearing on many other cases, and could cost councils hundreds of millions of pounds. Yvette Genn from Cloisters said: "This ruling is what thousands of male workers who have not received equal pay up and down the country have been waiting for. "There is no doubt that many of the similar 12,000 cases in the system will now proceed and are likely to be successful." |
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Director on manslaughter charge 18/06/09.A company director who is the first in the UK to be charged under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act has appeared in court in Gloucestershire. Peter Eaton of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings is accused of gross negligence over the death of geologist Alexander Wright in a mudslide in September 2008. Mr Wright, 27, from Cheltenham, was taking soil samples in Brimscombe, near Stroud, when a pit collapsed. |
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Tory attack on the minimum wage stopped..... for the time being 19/05/09.The Tories have pulled their laughingly, or sinisterly if you wish, entitled Employment Opportunities Bill, after lobbying by trade unions. This sickening and hypocritical attack on the most vulnerable in society gives us a taste of the good old fashioned nasty Thatcherite Toryism we can expect when Tory boy Cameron gets into power. Christopher Chope's "wage cutters charter" bill was due for its second reading, and would have effectively abolished the national minimum wage by allowing workers to 'choose' whether to allow their employer to cut their wages. Brian Binley, one of the 11 Tory MPs who supported the Bill – and a man with three jobs himself (all of them paying rather more than the national minimum wage) – was given a rough ride on radio's 5 Live Breakfast on Saturday morning when he he tried to defend it. Scroll through to 1hr 13mins to find the segment, it really gets going at about 1hr 18mins. One caller asked Mr Binley whether he would work for £5 an hour – to which the MP said, simply: 'No', while a number of listeners highlighted the contrast between the aims of the Bill and the current scandal over MPs' expenses. |
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Chope the minimum wage chopper claims £136,000 in expenses 17/05/09.Ex-Tory minister Christopher Chope, responsible for the introduction of the Poll Tax, wants to drive low paid workers further into poverty by abolishing the minimum wage. It has emerged that the Chope and a number of other Tory MPs piloting the bill have put their wives on the public payroll, employed as secretaries etc, at rates well above the minimum wage. This breathtaking hypocrisy is compounded by the fact that the so-called "Employment Opportunities Bill", double speak if I have ever heard it, calls for public sector jobs to be advertised and not dished out to a "magic circle" of friends, family and associates. Rank hypocrisy doesn't come into it. |
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Commons Criminals 16/05/09.A man from Cornwall forced to live on a campsite when he works in London during the week has said he is "disgusted" by MPs' fiddling their expenses. Philip Hanman camps in Epping Forest, Essex, from Tuesday to Friday, because he said he cannot afford a second home. He said he would "love" a job in Cornwall but there was nothing in his "line of work" available locally. Mr Hanman's MP, Andrew George, has rejected claims his daughter lived in a flat he claimed mortgage interest for. Mr Hanman, a council benefit fraud investigator, said: "I see Mr George (Lib Dem MP for St Ives) has a £300,000 second home in Rotherhithe. "I interview suspected benefits cheats every day of the week and the politicians are coming out with exactly the same excuses that they do." The next time a self serving politician lectures working people on the need to make financial sacrifices and propriety behaviour an angry mob should burn them out of their second home. More......... |
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Labour MP in exemplary expenses claims shocker! 12/05/09.Kelvin Hopkins shone out as an example of a hard-working Labour MP who claims only minimal expenses on Monday. The Luton North MP's expenses claims were exposed in the rabidly Thatcherite Daily Telegraph - only to show that he has an exemplary record. He claimed just £296 in extra expenses in 2004 to 2005, while the Labour MP in the neighbouring constituency of Luton South Margaret Moran claimed £13,796. Mr Hopkins, a tireless campaigner and socialist economics expert, has claimed just £36.45 for food bills in the entire time since 2005. His total claim for extra allowances last year was just £1,242, including some overnight hotel stays. This compared with £22,343 claimed by Ms Moran, who switched her "second home" allowance to a property in Southampton. Mr Hopkins lives in Luton and commutes daily by train to and from London. Before becoming an MP in 1997, he had worked as a research officer for trade union UNISON and the TUC. At the last election, his majority was 6,487. |
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Taxpayers fund Tory grandees' lavish lifestyle 12/05/09.The Daily Telegraph's latest set of revelations on the MPs' expenses scandle reveals that Tory grandees have claimed for swimming pools, chandeliers, horse manure and moat cleaning among other things. * Douglas Hogg, the former agriculture secretary, submitted a claim form including more than £2,000 for the moat around his country estate to be cleared . The taxpayer also helped meet the cost of a full-time housekeeper, including her car. The public finances also helped pay for work to Mr Hogg’s stables and for his piano to be tuned. * Sir Michael Spicer, the Conservatives’ most senior backbench MP, claimed £5,650 in nine months for his garden to be maintained. In December 2006, he submitted a detailed invoice which included “hedge cutting ... helipad”, although he claimed last night that the “helipad” was a “family joke”. The Conservative grandee successfully claimed for the costs of hanging a chandelier in his main manor house. * James Arbuthnot, the Conservative chairman of the defence select committee, announced last night that he would be repaying money he had claimed from the taxpayer to clean his swimming pool . This was among a series of payments made to maintain a country residence he rented before buying a £2 million home without a mortgage in 2007. * David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, spent more than £10,000 of taxpayers’ money on home renovations and furnishings , including a new £5,700 portico at his home in Yorkshire. * David Heathcoat-Amory claimed for more than £380 of horse manure for his garden. * Michael Ancram, who is the Marquess of Lothian, claimed more than £14,000 a year in expenses while owning three properties , none of which have a mortgage and are worth an estimated £8 million. * Sir Alan Haselhurst, the Deputy Speaker, has claimed £142,119 for his country home over the last seven years , despite having no mortgage to pay. He has charged the taxpayer almost £12,000 over five years for gardening bills at his farmhouse in Essex. * Stewart Jackson, a shadow minister, billed the taxpayer for more than £11,000 in professional fees when buying a new home in Peterborough within a year of being elected to Parliament. He claimed more than £300 for work on a swimming pool and hundreds more for work to a “summer room”. Last night he agreed to repay the money claimed for the swimming pool. |
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Expenses scandal rocks Tory front bench 11/05/08.The Conservatives have been firmly dragged into the MPs' expenses scandal today, with several high profile figures implicated by questionable claims. The shift in focus towards the oppositions comes as the Daily Telegraph – which has obtained files on MPs' claims – profiles claims made by Alan Duncan, shadow leader of the Commons, and Chris Grayling, shadow home secretary, among others. Today's revelations include:
We're told David Cameron has a clean sheet. He has only 20 pages of expenses, for instance, compared to up to 90 pages for some of his colleagues. True, as far as it goes. But Mr Cameron did decide to charge the public for the clearing of vines from his chimney and the replacing of some exterior lights. He tots up around £20,000 a year on his second home claims. We're told William Hague, Cameron's deputy and the shadow foreign secretary, has a clean sheet. True, as far as it goes, but Mr Hague earns hundreds of thousands of pounds outside parliament. We're told George Osborne has a clean sheet. This is half true. The shadow chancellor claimed £440 for a chauffer to take him from Cheshire to London. He also charged the taxpayer £30 to set up his website, imaginatively titled georgeosborne.co.uk. It's a trivial amount, of course, but the principle that public money should not be used for party political reasons is an important one, and Osborne was quick to put his own money into the site once a Commons administration official rebuked him. |
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TUC demands action on high workplace temperatures 10/05/09.With our summers predicted to get gradually hotter and drier over the coming years, UK factories and offices will become increasingly uncomfortable and potentially hazardous places to work according to the TUC as it calls for the introduction of a new upper limit on workplace temperature. In a new report the TUC says that although employees are not expected to work when the temperature drops below 16OC (or 13OC if they are do physically demanding work), there are no similar restrictions for when the workplace becomes too hot. the TUC would like to see the law changed so that employers are forced to act when the temperature inside hits 24OC, and that staff could be sent home and their employers prosecuted if it soared to 30OC (or 27OC for those engaged in physically demanding work). When the temperature goes sky high at work, employees can suffer heat rashes, headaches, dizzy spells, fainting and heat cramps, says the report. Stifling hot working conditions also affect concentration, making workers feel tired and as a result more likely to endanger their own or their colleagues' safety. |
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Two unions back single status deal 08/05/09.Two of the three main unions representing the Shetland Islands Council's workforce have now voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting the proposed new pay structure. Following the GMB union’s 92 per cent vote for the single status offer, TGWU-Unite members have followed suit with 91 per cent acceptance. The long-delayed deal will be secured if the biggest union, Unison, also backs it in its ballot. A report should go before councillors later this month to sanction the deal, which will add £4 million to the annual wage bill plus a one-off payment of £5m in backpay. |
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Tories plan to scrap Minimum Wage is cause for Wage Concern 08/05/09.Usdaw, the shopworkers’ union, is leading a campaign to save the National Minimum Wage from a Tory Bill to scrap it. Usdaw has teamed up with John Prescott’s Go Fourth campaign and other unions, to launch Wage Concern to stop a Tory Private Members Bill that will totally undermine the minimum wage and drive millions of workers back to poverty pay. The Employment Opportunities Bill, tabled by Senior Conservative Christopher Chope, who as a minister helped bring in the Poll Tax, is timetabled for its second reading in Parliament next Friday 15 May. John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary and member of the Low Pay Commission, said: "The minimum wage provides income protection and security for millions of workers. It stops unscrupulous employers from driving down wages across the board. The new Tory ‘Employment Opportunities Bill’ would allow employers to opt out of their responsibility to their staff to pay a fair days wage for a fair day’s work and effectively bring an end to the National Minimum Wage. "This shows the Tories in their true light and is a little insight into what a Conservative Government would do. They are still fighting the battles of the 1980s and 90s when they abolished the wages councils and left my members and millions of other workers without wage protection. David Cameron talks about an age of austerity, well we now know that he means it for low-paid workers. |
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Union activist campaigns for justice 06/05/09.Report submitted by Gary Mulcahy. Rob Williams, trade union Convenor of Linamar Swansea, was summarily dismissed by the Linamar management last week, and then temporarily re-instated following militant action by the Linamar workforce. Disgracefully, however, Rob today had his sacking confirmed. Negotiations between Linamar management and Tony Woodley took place all day in London, but Linamar did not shift. Meanwhile at the Swansea plant Linamar revealed their brutality. Massive intimidation of the workforce took place - including foremen going around the shop floor threatening workers with the sack if they dared walk out in support of Rob. The bosses even went to the ludicrous lengths of removing the door from Rob's trade union office. This brutal action by Linamar is an attempt to return to the nineteenth century. What Linamar do not realise, however, is that all hell is going to break loose when workers, both in the Swansea and the wider labour movement, hear how Rob and his members have been treated. The official reason for his sacking was "irretrievable breakdown of trust" - one of the most spurious excuses to behead a trade union organisation ever used in any factory. Rob's record in standing up for his members, both inside and outside the factory, is second to none. However, what is at stake here is not the fate of one individual but the right for workers to be represented by the best militant fighters. This sacking has to be totally opposed. The union has promised rapid action to organise a ballot for an official strike, but the anti-trade union laws mean this could still take up to a month between the ballot and the strike action actually taking place. That time, which must be kept a short as possible, needs to be used to pull out all the stops in support of Rob. Messages of support and donations should flood in. If Linamar are allowed to get away with this, no convenor or shop steward, either in the already weakened car industry or in the wider trade union movement is safe. Allow the employers to inflict a defeat here and no trade unionist, shop steward, let alone a convenor, will be able to put their head above the parapet without the bosses seeking to cut it off. Workers are facing the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Big business is doing their utmost to make sure that it is the working class that pays for the crisis. Militant, fighting trade unionism - symbolised by Rob Williams and the union organisation in Linamar - must not only be preserved but strengthened in order to prepare the working class for the capitalist offensive that is under way in Britain and worldwide. Continue to phone protests to: Head of Swansea Linamar Brian Wade 01792 656339 |
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College suspends finance director 05/05/09.A South Yorkshire college which is investigating its financial management has suspended its finance director and scrapped plans to cut nearly 160 jobs. Last month Doncaster College announced plans to axe the jobs as part of a restructuring aimed at making savings. But an investigation was started after the University and College Union (UCU) threatened legal action over the plans. The college's chief accountant has taken over financial responsibilities from director Tony Myers. Its principal Rowland Foote was suspended on Wednesday as the investigation began. The University and College Union (UCU) had threatened the college with legal action, saying it had not offered the required consultation over redundancies. The UCU also said the college was in a financial "crisis". Regional official Russ Escritt said: "I am delighted that the governors at Doncaster College have gone back to the drawing board, and come back with this solution. "Getting rid of staff is never a long term solution." |
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Coal miners' solicitor struck off 05/05/09.A solicitor who made £13m in a single year has been struck off for his misconduct in handling the compensation claims of sick miners. Warrington lawyer Andrew Nulty, who made £13m in 2006 at law firm Avalon, was fined £60,000 and has become the third lawyer to be struck off over the government scheme. Fellow lawyer Malcolm Trotter, who was at Avalon until 2004, was also handed a £15,000 fine at a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal hearing for his misconduct in handling claims. At the conclusion of the three-day hearing, tribunal chairman Edward Richards said Mr Nulty, who was not present, was "a disgrace to the profession". The government, which has the liabilities for British Coal's failing, set up schemes to compensate sick miners and families of those who had died. The schemes stated the government would pay lawyers for their work but did not clarify that solicitors could not charge clients additional amounts, leaving a loophole in the law. |
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Parliamentary Progress In The Battle For Pleural Plaques Justice 04/05/09.Trade Unions have welcomed the fact that a Private Members Bill, which is seeking justice for pleural plaques sufferers, has cleared its first Commons hurdle. In October 2007 the Law Lords ruled that pleural plaques should no longer be compensatable. Since then unions have been campaigning to get the Law Lords' decision overturned. The Damages (Asbestos-Related Conditions) Bill tabled by the Labour MP Andrew Dismore has today (April 24) passed its second reading. The Bill will now proceed to committee stage. While responding to Mr Dismore's Bill, junior Justice Minister, David Hanson, confirmed that the Government was 'looking at legislative redress' on the matter. Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of construction union UCATT, said: 'It is good news that the Bill will progress through Parliament. It underlines the strength of feeling there is on this issue. However we should not be relying on a Private Members Bill to resolve such a serious situation.' |
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Newham school cleaners win reinstatement of activist in battle over casualisation and exploitation 30/04/09.United action by teachers and cleaners at Lister school in Newham, east London, has won the reinstatement of Lorraine Mngadi, an activist in the Unison union. The news came 48 hours after she had been dismissed without notice from her cleaning job at the school. Lorraine, who is currently standing for the national executive of Unison, was dismissed from Lister – one of three schools where she works for Newham council each day – on Tuesday of last week. Cleaners are often not given proper contracts and find they are moved about from school to school without notice – sometimes having to travel many extra miles at 5am. In the schools where Lorraine works, cleaners have begun to organise. On Wednesday morning a petition drawn up by Unison members began to circulate in the school. |
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Health and Safety Executive forced to reveal details of building fatalities 30/04/09.The names of construction workers killed on building sites, the companies they worked for and their causes of death are to be revealed for the first time after the Health and Safety Executive was forced to disclose details of construction-sector fatalities by the Information Commissioner. The disclosure shows more than half the 72 builders who died last year worked at small companies employing fewer than 50 people, with a quarter of affected firms employing fewer than five people. The building workers' union, Ucatt, says the long-requested data highlights the effects of rampant casualisation in the industry, in which big building concerns subcontract major work and the bulk of the industry's 2 million workers are self-employed. The result, says Ucatt, is that small companies compete aggressively on price to win work, meaning safety protocols are often sacrificed. |
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Single Status: 1,000 letters appeal against pay gradings 30/04/09.A thousand letters of appeal have been lodged over the controversial Single Status pay and grading scheme being introduced by Rochdale Council. The appeal process, for Rochdale Council staff facing massive pay cuts of £1,000's brought about by the pay and grading review, ended last week and the council is now sifting through the appeals. Helen Harrison, of the Unison trade union, says the appeals could have been submitted on behalf of individuals or departments. She says it is currently ‘impossible’ to determine how many people are appealing against the cuts to their pay. She said: "If you have got 30 people in a department who wish to appeal they might have put in a collective letter. So it is impossible to know at the moment how many people are involved. Management have got 28 days to respond to these appeals and they will report back to the trade union with which ones they don’t think are eligible." |
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Gangmaster banned for exploitation 30/04/09.A gangmaster in Fife has had her licence revoked after she was caught paying potato graders less than the minimum wage. Lorna McConaghy, of Glenrothes, was found "not in control of her business" by the Gangmaster Licensing Authority. The workers received £42 per day for a 7hr 45 minute shift equalling £5.41 per hour which is under the national minimum wage of £5.73 per hour. The GMB trade union said it proved exploitation is a reality in Scotland. It is understood Miss McConaghy, who hired out 10 temporary workers to farmers throughout Fife, also was accused of not paying for annual leave as well as providing people who were not who they said they were. |
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Remember the dead, fight for the living 28/04/09.UNISON has welcomed the announcement that the government is to launch a consultation into whether workers' memorial day – which takes place today – should have official recognition in future years. "Officially recognising workers' memorial day would help put pressure on employers to make sure their workplaces are as safe as they can be. It would be a fitting tribute to the thousands killed or injured at their work," said UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis. The union has been campaigning for some time to get April 28 officially recognised as a day of remembrance for those who have died, been injured, or been made ill by their work. |
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UNISON NEC Elections, a fighting and democratic union needed 28/04/09.Important elections are taking place for the national executive of Unison, elections that could have a decisive effect on the future of the public sector union. The existing leadership is trying to strengthen its grip on the union through witch-hunts and other bureaucratic means. But the Reclaim the Union campaign, initiated by the Socialist Party, is putting forward a list of left candidates for the national executive. The ballot is now underway and runs until 15 May. Unison members need a fight for a decent pay increase that reflects the real cost of living and a campaign to stop the cuts and privatisation in the health service and local government. |
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Time to take on the working time myths 26/04/09.As the European Commission and European Parliament get ready for a mediation meeting to resolve their differences on the future of the Working Time Directive (WTD), the TUC has today (Monday) published ten myths about working time that it believes have had too much influence on the debate so far. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'With unemployment growing across Europe, there cannot be a better time to bear down on very long hours working. Yet employer organisations are still getting away with peddling a series of myths about working time, and the UK Government has fallen for many of these. |
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Dagenham car plant stitch-up that triggered fight for equal pay 24/04/09.Forty years ago a group of women machinists at the Ford factory in Dagenham walked out when they discovered that they were being paid 15 per cent less than men for doing the same work stitching seats for Cortinas. They had no idea at the time that their action was the starting point of a decades-long campaign for equal pay, with compulsory pay audits the latest legislative attempt to narrow the gap. After a three-week strike in 1968, the women settled for a deal that brought them to within 8 per cent of male pay. Although a victory in itself, it was the presence during the negotiations of Barbara Castle, Labour’s Employment Minister, that was to prove decisive. |
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Director charged under Corporate Manslaughter Act 24/04/09.A company has become the first in the UK to be charged under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings is accused over the death of employee Alexander Wright, 27, who was killed when a pit collapsed in September 2008. The junior geologist was taking soil samples at a site near Stroud in Gloucestershire at the time. Company director Peter Eaton is charged with gross negligence manslaughter and could be jailed for life if convicted. The 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act was brought in to make it easier to bring companies to justice over the death of employees. Kate Leonard, of the CPS Special Crime Division, said that an organisation was guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities were managed or organised caused a death, and amounted to a gross breach of a duty of care to the person who died. |
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Richard Balfe: The Tories secret weapon against the unions 18/04/09.The Tories have appointed a pin-striped Pied Piper to lead us all into the river. Never heard of Richard Balfe, have you? No. He's not a household name, not even at 'ome. But he's the Conservatives' secret weapon, tasked with persuading six million union members to vote for Dave Cameron and reject the government that gave us the National Minimum Wage, recognition rights, better health and safety, laws to curb gangmasters and a whole host of other reforms that the Tories opposed. Balfe, a renegade ex-Labour MEP, whines that union leaders like Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson of Unite don't want to talk to him. I wonder why. |
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NHS 'whistle blowers' need safe ways to voice concern, says Unite 18/04/09.NHS ‘whistle blowers’ need a safe way to expose bad practice without jeopardising their careers. Unite was commenting on the case of nurse Margaret Haywood struck off for secretly filming neglect of elderly patients in a hospital for BBC’s Panorama programme. Unite’s National Officer for Health, Karen Reay said that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) ‘appeared to be somewhat heavy handed’ in striking Ms Haywood off the register. She said: ‘There is a balance to be had between privacy and confidentiality of patients, and the wider issue being highlighted.’ ‘We can’t have a culture where ‘whistle blowers’ feel intimated into not legitimately reporting wrong doing and bad practice in the NHS. We need a safe environment for ‘whistle blowers’ who feel that they can complain without losing their livelihood.’ ‘There appears to be a number of extenuating circumstances in the case of Margaret Haywood and the NMC could have imposed a lesser punishment than that of being struck off.’ ‘The NMC exists as a regulatory body to protect patients and clients first and foremost, and not the alleged failings of members of the nursing profession in caring for the elderly.’ |
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20th National Hazards conference 2009 18/04/09.The National Hazards Conference, on the theme 'Making a better world of work possible', will take place in Manchester on 10-12 July 2009. The largest gathering of trade union safety reps in Europe, the conference will include the usual mix of top class speakers, workshops and socialising. Speakers this year including top US union safety official Nancy Lessin, who will look the green jobs agenda and how to make sure it is also a good, safe jobs agenda. Charley Richardson, who has worked with unions in North America and Europe, will look the impact on safety of the economic downturn and company restructuring, and how unions can respond. |
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The Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network 18/04/09.The "Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network" is a volunteer network of 400 occupational health and safety professionals who have placed their names on a resource list to provide information, technical assistance and on-site instruction regarding workplace hazards in the 3,000 "maquiladora" (foreign-owned assembly) plants along the U.S.-Mexico border. Network members, including industrial hygienists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, occupational physicians and nurses, and health educators among others, are donating their time and expertise to create safer and healthier working conditions for the one million maquiladora workers employed by primarily U.S.-owned transnational corporations along Mexico's northern border from Matamoros to Tijuana. |
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When somebody dies at work they are never the only victim 18/04/09.Do you remember who died at work? Worldwide, two million are killed by their jobs every year. Work-related diseases and injuries kill more than wars, more than road traffic accidents. And when somebody dies at work, they are never the only victim. Work deaths harm whole families, whole communities. On Workers' Memorial Day, 28 April each year, workers worldwide demand employers pay for their safety crimes. And unions commit themselves to organise for safe and healthy work. |
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Director told staff to rip out asbestos 18/04/09.Staff at a Telford firm were ordered to rip out asbestos with a crowbar and clean up with a vacuum cleaner, a court heard. Now a director of the company has been ordered to pay more than £17,500 after admitting a health and safety offence. Roger Lavender, 37, of Shifnal, was fined £6,666 and ordered to pay £11,039.88 in court costs and a £15 surcharge after admitting an offence under the Health and Safety Work Act. Shrewsbury Crown Court was told Lavender was the director of Secal Laser, Halesfield, Telford, when the employer failed to ensure work with asbestos was undertaken with a licence. Mr James Puzey, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive, said Mr Lavender was involved in the decision-making which led to two employees removing asbestos in the factory on December 14, 2007. |
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Glasgow council workers’ strike to save pay enters 15th week 16/04/09.The Glasgow community service supervisors’ strike is now in its 15th week and the city-wide Unison union branch ballot is continuing. Around 10,000 Unison members are being consulted on three days of strike action at the end of April to defend several hundred workmates who will face pay cuts when single status pay protection ends. |
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Caretaker fractures ankle in fall at school 15/04/09.Unite member Jean Simpson who works as a caretaker at Abbey Primary School in Bloxwich, Walsall has been awarded £6,700 at trial after she fell on a spillage and fractured her ankle. Mrs Simpson, aged 58 at the time, was walking in the dining room at the school on 14 July 2005 when she slipped and fell on a spillage on the floor. The dining room floor was laid with thermo plastic tiles rather than the non slip flooring used in the classrooms. Mrs Simpson sustained a fractured of her right ankle bone. A plaster was applied to her ankle and she undertook a course of physiotherapy treatment when the plaster was removed. She was off work for five months and returned to work in January 2006. |
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HSE faces haemorrhage of expert staff 15/04/09.Workers are being put at risk because the Health and Safety Executive is haemorrhaging experienced staff, unions have warned. HSE staff unions Prospect and PCS have warned repeatedly that inadequate wages are causing more experienced staff to leave the safety watchdog. HSE acknowledges high staff turnover is a significant problem, with some sectors including its offshore and nuclear inspectorates particularly badly affected. In recent months, large numbers of staff have moved into industry or have switched from HSE to government departments, including health, justice and environment. Chris Hurley, chair of the PCS branch at the HSE's Rose Court offices in London, says this problem is being compounded by the organisation's decision to relocate the HSE head office to Bootle on Merseyside. |
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Tory Attack On Nurses' Pay A Disgrace 11/04/09.UNISON, the UK's largest public sector union has castigated Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's comments on public sector pay as a disgrace. Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of Health, said: "Nurses, paramedics, occupational therapists, midwives, hospital cleaners and cooks - the whole family of health workers will be outraged at George Osborne's suggestion that they have enjoyed an 'age of excess"'. Health workers do not need to be told by the Tories that "we need an age of restraint and responsibility' it goes with the job. |
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GMB urges caution over Cumbria equal pay settlement 09/04/09.GMB members are being advised not to accept any offer made to them by the employer directly until they have spoken with GMB local representatives who have been dealing with the matter. Cumbria County Council has issued a Press Release to all staff and the public that they will be making a formal offer to the Trade Unions of a sum approaching £40M to settle long-standing equal pay claims. Ged Caid GMB Regional Officer has advised GMB members as follows “It is correct that there have been recent negotiations with the employer to explore the possibility of the employer putting forward a settlement that we would consider capable of being put before our Members. At this stage, we have not received the “formal offer” referred to in the Press Release yesterday and we think it is too early to make any recommendations to our Members until we have had suitable time and opportunity to discuss any offer with our Members, and what that might mean for them individually, since each and every claim lodged with the Tribunals is an individual legal claim. We will provide advice in conjunction with our lawyers, Thompsons. |
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Data Ptotection fears over new Gas Safety Register 09/04/09.GMB, the gas workers union, has written to the Information Commissioner asking for an investigation of a new Gas Safe Register on the grounds that it may breach data protection legislation. Published on this register, without permission, are the photographs of GMB gas engineers. GMB members contend that the Gas Safe ID can be easily downloaded and could be a source for forged identity papers. This could lead to gas workers being impersonated and unauthorised personnel gaining entry to properties. This new Register is operated by CAPITA. |
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More than 20 million employees across UK could benefit from reduced qualifying period for statutory redundancy pay 09/04/09.The TUC has called on the Government to reduce the qualifying period for statutory redundancy pay (SRP) entitlement from two years to 12 months. TUC research reveals that more than 20 million employees across the UK could benefit from this step. Currently, employees aged 16 or over are entitled to SRP after a two year qualifying period working for the same employer, so the youngest age at which an employee can benefit from redundancy pay is 18. TUC analysis of official statistics reveals that if this qualifying period was halved to one year then 20,543,000 employees would gain extra redundancy entitlement. Of these more than three million employees would be entitled to SRP for the first time - nearly one in eight (12.2 per cent) of the workforce. More than 17 million employees would increase their existing entitlement to SRP. |
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Single Status: Faith Schools in Brighton face severe disruption as support staff are balloted on industrial action 07/04/09.Talks between Unions and Council bosses have broken down over school support staff working for Faith Schools in Brighton and Hove. The staff have been excluded, on a technicality, from receiving same back pay as their equivalents working in non-faith schools under job evaluations. In the past few weeks the council has made “single status” pay-outs to hundreds of workers, including teaching assistants, cleaners and office staff at the city’s non-faith schools. However, no offers have been made to their equivalents at the Catholic and Church of England schools because they are technically employed by their governors – even though the funding comes from the council. Those workers are furious at the situation and regard it as an insult because they have always accepted pay restructuring in line with the other city schools. One Catholic school teaching assistant, who asked not to be named, said: “We will be going on strike, there’s no doubt about it. What they have done is hugely unfair.” |
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What you need to know about new disciplinary legislation 07/04/09.On 6 April 2009, the new ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures come into force. The current legislation on dismissal and grievance procedures introduced in 2004 wil be swept aside and replaced by a far simpler, but not legally binding code. The new Code will provide guidance for employers and employees to handle disciplinary and grievance situations that arise in the workplace. |
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Derisory 0.5% pay offer for Local Government workers 07/04/09.The GMB, Unison and Unite Trade unions who represent 1.3m local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have expressed their bitter disappointed at the 0.5% pay offer made by the Local Government Employers for 2009. The unions will be meeting immediately to formulate their response to the Employers. The offer covers all grades of workers in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, amongst them some of the lowest paid workers in the UK including school meals workers, social workers, care workers, administrators, cleaners, refuse workers and street cleaners, teaching assistants, parks and leisure staff and librarians. In March 2009 ACAS awarded an additional 0.3% to the 2008/2009 pay award bringing it to a total of 2.75% on all pay points. An extra £100 had already been agreed for the lowest paid. |
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TUC backs 'name and shame' tribunals list 02/04/09.The TUC has backed a new register which will name and shame bad employers that do not pay fines awarded against them at employment tribunals. Justice Minister Bridget Prentice said offending individuals or companies who have been taken to court to enforce the award will now be entered onto the Register of Judgments, which can be searched by members of the public and credit reference agencies. The measure has been taken to give weight to future tribunal rulings, helping to cut down the time people have to wait to receive payments they are entitled to, and to help reduce incidences of non-payment. Bridget Prentice said: 'This is good news for people who want to get their awards settled as soon as possible following their tribunal ruling. 'A few unscrupulous individuals are defying or delaying payment after tribunal rulings and we will not hesitate to name and shame them. Delays like this prolong the ordeal and force successful claimants to continue with court action to recover their money. This is particular unacceptable following an Employment Tribunal. 'I want to warn those not paying that they should do so immediately to avoid the penalties that go with non-payment.' |
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Q&A: Holiday pay and sick absence 02/04/09.The European Court of Justice's ruling about holiday pay during sickness absence is an important decision for employees. Stringer and others v HMRC involves an important ruling on the issue of accrued holiday pay during periods of sickness and has been widely criticised by employers. In the case, which was decided together with a German case, the claimants were former employees of HMRC. One requested annual leave during sickness absence, which HMRC refused. The others were dismissed following long-term sickness absence, and claimed payment in lieu of holiday which they claimed had accrued but was not taken. The claims were made under the working time regulations 1998 (WTR), the UK legislation which implements the European working time directive. The claimants won in the employment tribunal but HMRC appealed and the decision found its way to the House of Lords. In December 2006, the House of Lords referred the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to clarify some points of law. |
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