{"id":14590,"date":"2018-02-07T16:51:13","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T16:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14590"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:09","slug":"unite-end-worker-abuse-now-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14590","title":{"rendered":"Unite: End worker abuse now call"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Courier driver Don Lane was, according to the company DPD for which he worked, self-employed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But he was a far cry from being his own boss – he did have to answer to a supervisor. He could not simply work when he wanted and take a day off here and there as many people who work for themselves can.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In fact, when Don desperately needed to take some time off for hospital appointments because of his diabetes, he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because not only did he not receive any sick pay \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he would be doubly hit with a massive \u00c2\u0141150 fine if he did not find a replacement driver to take over his shift.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After being fined in July for attending a specialist appointment for eye damage caused by his diabetes, Don cancelled appointments afterwards \u00e2\u20ac\u201c fearing he would be fined again. He collapsed twice on the job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and after working through Christmas despite his deteriorating condition, he died early last month.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere was a constant threat of a fine,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Ruth Lane, Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s widow, told the Guardian<\/em><\/a>. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey had to deliver the parcels to tight slots and the pressure to get them done was huge. He wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t able to do his parcels first and make the hospital appointments, so he would cancel on the day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Duty of care\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDPD had a duty of care to make sure he got to those appointments, but they failed in it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Don was not alone among many couriers who \u00e2\u20ac\u201c being bogusly self-employed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c have few rights and aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t entitled to sick or holiday pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And being fined for taking time off, even for medical purposes, is common practice among courier companies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as UNITElive reported last year<\/a>, Parcelforce fines their workers \u00c2\u0141250 for missing days without finding a replacement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Couriers and other workers may have held out hope that their fortunes would change today (February 7) when the government announced new plans to give precarious and self-employed workers greater rights and protections \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but they were left sorely disappointed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Called the Good Work Plan<\/a>, the proposals were a response to the Taylor Report, which was published last year after an investigation into modern work practices in the UK.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead of taking action on zero-hours contracts, the government has announced only a right to ask for a more stable contract.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The government had previously pledged to take action on bogus self-employment, but today said it would only launch a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098consultation on employment status\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No.10 also announced it would enforce sick and holiday pay and ensure unpaid interns are not doing the job of a worker \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but would not explain how.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Slap on wrist? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It said it would only \u00e2\u20ac\u0098consider\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 repealing laws allowing agencies to employ workers on cheaper rates; and it pledged to establish a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098name and shame\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 scheme for bosses who fail to pay employment tribunal rewards \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but as a similar scheme for employers who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay the legal minimum wage shows, such schemes amount to little more than a slap on the wrist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Employment law expert Daniel Barrett said of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s government announcements<\/a> that people \u00e2\u20ac\u015bshould ignore what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hearing in the news\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 because the proposals were \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdamp squib\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey agreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLaunching four consultations and merely \u00e2\u20ac\u0098considering\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 proposals is just not good enough,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bLike so much from this government, today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s response is just more words, with no real action to improve the lives of the millions of people in insecure work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheresa May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to strengthen workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights is having a real impact on people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added, pointing to the case of DPD driver Don Lane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recent death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabour warned that the review did not go far enough, and yet the government has failed to adequately meet even the most basic of recommendations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Long-Bailey went on to say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour will transform workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe next Labour government will transform the lives of workers by ensuring equal rights from day one, banning zero hours contracts, introducing a real living wage of at least \u00c2\u014110 per hour by 2020 and banning unpaid internships.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said that the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economic woes could easily be explained by its lack of employment rights and protections.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA strong economy and stable communities are not possible with a hire and fire workforce too frightened to take time off work to see a doctor as we tragically saw this week, or the Carillion workers left in limbo who after years of service get an email telling them they are sacked,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, adding that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe super-charging of low-wage, insecure work can be directly traced to the destructive deregulatory approach of the last 40 years.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCluskey urged the government \u00e2\u20ac\u015bto accept that the best protection against worker abuse is strong enforcement coupled with strong trade unions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe world of work is changing rapidly. But its insecurity is heightened because of bad behaviour by some powerful vested interests. It is right that the government looks at how we can support workers through these changes, but we also need direct action to construct an economy that works for all.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

Courier driver Don Lane was, according to the company DPD for which he worked, self-employed.   But he was a far cry from being his own boss – he did have to answer to a supervisor. He could not simply work when he wanted and take a day off here and there as many people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[556,820,44,251],"wps_subtitle":"Govt backs out of action on bogus work pledge","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26404,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14590\/revisions\/26404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}