{"id":12309,"date":"2017-05-09T15:39:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T14:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12309"},"modified":"2017-05-10T15:49:09","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T14:49:09","slug":"quality-not-just-quantity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12309","title":{"rendered":"‘Quality, not just quantity’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Full employment was once thought to be a pipe dream. But now with more people aged 16 to 64 in work than since records began<\/a> in 1971, the UK has made near full employment a reality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Still, this news is cold comfort for the millions of people in the country for whom work is not rewarding, either materially, socially or emotionally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is instead for them a life of insecurity, of indignity and \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for 3.8m people according to the latest figures<\/a> — it is in fact a life of poverty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Something in Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s modern world of work — where we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working longer hours than ever before while our productivity lags hopelessly behind — has gone terribly wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), is determined to find out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taylor review<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Taylor, a former policy adviser, was appointed by the government last year to lead a review<\/a> into modern employment practices, including zero-hours contracts and other forms of insecure work, which will be published in June right after the general election.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The review was announced after bad UK bosses were rocked by scandal after scandal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c most notably the mistreatment and underpayment of workers at Sport Direct, brought to light by Unite<\/a> last year, as well as workers in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098gig economy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a> such as Uber drivers and Deliveroo riders, whose supposedly flexible jobs are often in reality only flexible for their disembodied phone app employers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taylor will this evening (May 9) give a speech at the RSA, where he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll hint at some of his review\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s preliminary findings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He will say, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor most of us work is one of the most important things in our life. We spend a lot of our time doing it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how we support ourselves and our families. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s often where we forge strong friendships and even meet partners.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOver recent decades, government work policy has focused primarily on getting people into jobs with, as current record employment levels attest, considerable success.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYet persistent scandals of bad working conditions, poor legal safeguards and job insecurity suggest that bad work is all too common. We need, therefore, to talk about quality of work and not just quantity.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Bad work is unacceptable’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The RSA commissioned a poll published today<\/a> (May 9) of 2,000 people which found that fewer than one in ten people thought \u00e2\u20ac\u015ball work is fair and decent\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. But a strong majority \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 67 per cent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c believed that it was actually possible to make all work fair and decent. An an even stronger majority, nearly 75 per cent, believed more should be done to improve the quality of work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taylor outlined five reasons that a wholesale commitment to decent, quality work is absolutely critical now — in-work poverty; health and wellbeing; productivity; the impact of automation; and to foster habits of active citizenship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I think bad work is unacceptable when so many people in work are in poverty,” Taylor told the BBC today<\/a>. “Bad work is clearly bad for our health and well-being, it leads to people dropping out of work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Bad work is bad for productivity, so it’s bad for our economy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Bad work just doesn’t fit 2017,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe want a world of engaged citizens, part of our communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“How can it be right that those same citizens who go to work for half their lives, don’t get listened to, don’t get involved, don’t get engaged?”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stronger trade unions<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady welcomed the RSA’s work in promoting decent work for all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a much-needed initiative,” she said. “Everyone deserves a decent job. But 1 in 10 people now find themselves in insecure work\u00c2\u00a0 – often on poverty pay and without basic rights. Employment law hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t kept pace with how work has changed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why the rules that protect working people need dragging into the 21st century,” she added. “But the real game-changer is giving workers a proper say in how their workplace runs. We need more support for workers to form and join unions and challenge unfair conditions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner argreed, arguing that the path to decent work for all lay in legislative action and a stronger voice for workers through stronger trade unions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFrom exploitative zero and short hours contracts to bogus self-employment, the world of work has become increasingly insecure as bad bosses seek out ever more creative ways of exploiting workers to boost profits and dodge their responsibilities,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWith a shocking 3.8m people experiencing in-work poverty it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high time that work in this country paid and the misery of insecure work was eradicated. An incoming government must heed the growing chorus of concern by banning zero hours contracts, strengthening work place rights and promoting strong trade unions and collective bargaining as part of a package for decent well paid work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“With an alarming 90 per cent of people feeling that work is not fair and decent, business and government in this country needs to take a serious look at themselves,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSmall wonder when millions have gone without a pay rise worth the name for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“This loss of faith in a cornerstone of life, the experience that work does not pay, fuels wider social discontent.\u00c2\u00a0 When we see nurses joining other working people in the foodbank queue, there is something gone very wrong in the world’s sixth biggest economy.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the run-up to Taylor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lecture tonight, the RSA has been running a social media initiative called #GoodWorkIs. Join the conversation by using your social media channels to say what good work means to you, using the hashtag #GoodWorkIs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And you can tune in live to Taylor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech tonight from 6pm on YouTube here. <\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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