{"id":2939,"date":"2015-02-03T16:56:41","date_gmt":"2015-02-03T16:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2939"},"modified":"2015-02-03T16:56:41","modified_gmt":"2015-02-03T16:56:41","slug":"end-umbrella-company-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2939","title":{"rendered":"End umbrella company scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>In an economic climate in which big business holds all the cards, workers are constantly being attacked and exploited.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nOne recent example is the rise of umbrella companies, which have emerged as a way of circumventing tax laws, made possible by changes to legislation on self-employment last year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/lose-umbrella-call\/\">As UNITElive has reported previously<\/a>, employers use umbrella companies to pay construction workers, who are forced to stump up for the cost of processing wages, and pay for employers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 national insurance contributions as well as their own (often totalling as much as 25 per cent of their wages).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nUnite is urging MSPs to help end the scandal of umbrella companies in the construction industry by backing MSP Neil Findlay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motion in a debate in the Scottish parliament tomorrow (February 4).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUmbrella companies exploit construction workers pure and simple and that must be stopped,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 argued Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Westminster government has left these workers in an intolerable situation forced to operate via umbrella companies and no longer considered self-employed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn some cases workers now earn less than the minimum wage as a result of these practices,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany have found themselves on zero-hour contracts, with no guaranteed employment but unable to work elsewhere because of exclusivity clauses.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be clear these arrangements hit morale and productivity and have a negative impact on tax revenues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c something the Treasury needs to wake up to,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Rafferty went on to say.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nI congratulate Neil Findlay for bringing this debate before the Scottish parliament. We call on ministers at Holyrood and Westminster alike to use their powers to put an end to this scandal and give construction workers the fair deal they deserve.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe full text of Neil Findlay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s motion can be found<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitetheunion.org\/news\/msps-urged-to-help-end-the-scandal-of-exploitative-umbrella-companies\/\"> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an economic climate in which big business holds all the cards, workers are constantly being attacked and exploited. &nbsp; One recent example is the rise of umbrella companies, which have emerged as a way of circumventing tax laws, made possible by changes to legislation on self-employment last year. &nbsp; As UNITElive has reported previously, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[167],"wps_subtitle":"Unite backs motion in Scottish Parliament to end \u00e2\u20ac\u0098legalised wages con trick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2939"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2940,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2939\/revisions\/2940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}