{"id":3320,"date":"2015-03-12T17:47:23","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T17:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3320"},"modified":"2015-03-13T14:54:22","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T14:54:22","slug":"hire-and-fire-free-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3320","title":{"rendered":"Hire and fire free for all?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UKIP leader Nigel Farage has stoked up a firestorm after saying he would scrap laws that protect workers from discrimination.<\/p>\n

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Laws which protect workers from a range of discrimination by employers should be scrapped, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said. His comments have been condemned by Unite as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdangerous and crude\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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If anti-discrimination laws were scrapped it would allow a hire and fire free for all. It could also pave the way for pay rates and employment rights based on race, gender, disability or sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

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Labour MP Sadiq Khan warned such moves would return Britain to the days when employers and landlords would display signs saying: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bno blacks, no Irish, no dogs\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Sulinder Singh, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acting national Black, Asian\u00c2\u00a0and Ethnic Minority officer said the response was simple: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNo way Mr Farage.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Farage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comments come in the same week new figures showed young people from ethnic minority backgrounds unemployed for more than a year had seen a near 50 per cent rise since the 2010 general election.<\/p>\n

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Asked in a TV documentary which race and other anti-discrimination laws he would scrap, Farage replied: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMuch of it. I think the employer should be much freer to make decisions on who he or she employs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, hit back saying Nigel Farage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comments were\u00e2\u20ac\u015bdangerous crude dog whistle politics\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 which displayed a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbreathtaking ignorance about the Britain we live in today.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Mr McCluskey warned that scrapping anti-discrimination laws \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstrikes at the heart of British values of tolerance and respect.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Farage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comments made no sense, he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf he genuinely wants to protect jobs, then his party ought to abandon its position of attacking hard-won rights for workers.<\/p>\n

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Shocking figures<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHis assertion that racism is no longer a problem in the UK employment market is naive. It conflicts with shocking figures from the House of Commons library showing the number of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds who have been jobless for more than a year has risen by a staggering 49 per cent since the Tory led government came to power.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf he was truly concerned about the employment prospects for our young workers he\u00c2\u00a0would be talking about how we strengthen the weakest employment laws in Europe, create a society where everyone can fulfil their potential and be promoting tolerance and respect in the workplace.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn stockbroker Nigel’s world, there would be no floor in our labour market, with worker pitted against worker and their unions prevented from stopping attacks on their jobs and wages.<\/p>\n

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“Rather than addressing the real problem of employers exploiting migrant workers to drive down wages Mr Farage would prefer to remove responsibility from employers.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorking people need politicians that will act to halt any race to the bottom and create decent secure jobs, not indulge in\u00c2\u00a0the politics of fear and division.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Sulinder Singh, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acting national Black and Ethnic Minority equality officer said race discrimination, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhas no place in the workplace or society at large\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Despite the existence of existing anti-discrimination laws \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmany employers often do not adopt appropriate safeguards to ensure understanding and application of anti-discrimination measures within their policies and procedures.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Mr Singh warned that while discrimination was not new, it became more acute during economic downturns.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDiscrimination become\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s progressively more acute during times of economic distress. People who are different are disproportionately scapegoated during an economic crisis they did not cause and made worse by the current Government.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bScrapping anti-discrimination measures is dangerous and destructive in the long term. Without appropriate legal safeguards it is possible to create a working environment conducive to what would be effectively economic ethnic cleansing within the workplace.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a simple response to the UKIP statements: No way Mr Farage!\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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  UKIP leader Nigel Farage has stoked up a firestorm after saying he would scrap laws that protect workers from discrimination.     Laws which protect workers from a range of discrimination by employers should be scrapped, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said. His comments have been condemned by Unite as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdangerous and crude\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[224,154],"wps_subtitle":"Unite tells Farage: No way","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320"}],"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=3320"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3324,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3320\/revisions\/3324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}