Solidarity 549, 26 May 2020

Tories dig in for hard Brexit

New polling commissioned by liberal anti-Brexit campaign Best for Britain and anti-far right campaign Hope Not Hate says 59% expect the Brexit transition period will be extended. Unfortunately that may be naive. The government is digging in further and further, saying it will not under any circumstances apply for an extension. The deadline for applying is 30 June — less than five weeks. Labour and the unions remain silent at best, with Keir Starmer saying he is “not calling for an extension”. Starmer, whose popularity with Labour members and others was built partly on the basis of an anti...

A shorter working week with no pay cut!

Janet Burstall argues the case from an Australian perspective. The same basic ideas are applicable in Britain and elsewhere. The most optimistic assessment by the Reserve Bank is that it will take a “few years” to reverse “much” (i.e. not all) of the increase in unemployment from the Covid-19 lockdown. The wages vs jobs trade-off debate is back with a vengeance. Unionists are arguing that keeping up incomes will stimulate demand and economic growth, while employer voices argue that they cannot afford a 4% rise in the minimum wage, and many will cut employment or go out of business. The system...

Safety inspection shut down

Britain’s official Health and Safety Executive responded to the virus danger in the many workplaces still operating throughout the lockdown, by… suspending its workplace inspections. It phased out everything that couldn’t be done by its staff working from home. Between 9 March and 7 May, the HSE received 4,813 reports about workplace issues relating to the virus, but it has started no proceedings against any employer. From 2009-10 to 2016, successive Tory cuts reduced the HSE’s budget by 46%, and the number of inspectors it employed fell by over a third. On 20 May the HSE announced it would...

Construction update

According to Construction News (22 May), the percentage of big construction companies’ employees laid off on the British government’s furlough scheme is 22%, down from 30% in late April. A return to work on construction sites, which began well before 10 May, is continuing, but slowly and partially. Another survey, including smaller contractors, reported 46% of staff furloughed in the two weeks ending 7 May, the same percentage as in the two-week period ending 19 April. Even on sites run by big contractors, many workers are employed by smaller subcontractors. 89% of construction businesses have...

Scrap health surcharge for all

Nadia Whittome MP tweeted straight after Johnson u-turned on charging migrant health and care workers to access the NHS: “Glad that the government has caved on the Immigration Health Surcharge for NHS and care staff, but nobody should have to pay extra for the NHS on top of the taxes they already pay. There are no good immigrants and bad immigrants. Healthcare is a right for all.” The whole Labour Party and labour movement should be demanding this. • Please sign and promote Another Europe is Possible’s petition

Section 44 and the civil service

Civil service employers have been reticent to go for a return-to-work drive in the short to medium term. The Cabinet Office informed the union that they would continue to support homeworking. That approach isn’t completely uniform, and the Cabinet Office hasn’t exerted any particular pressure to rein in departmental employers who are taking a different approach, but there has been no central, concerted, back-to-work lurch. The major exception to this is the outsourced contractors, who have behaved appallingly and are forcing workers to continue working despite the buildings they clean or...

Diary of a Tube worker: Going cashless

18 May was meant to be crunch day, with services up and running towards some kind of normal. An expected rise in passenger numbers. I’m not at work and don’t hear anything to suggest a dramatic change has happened. The next morning at 0430 the bus is definitely busier. But I can still socially distance and now I have a crappy surgical mask. How effective, I don’t know. It’s a pain. It makes my glasses steam up and I really want to scratch my nose. When I flag down the bus, I wave at the driver, I say “morning” as I board, when I leave, I shout “thank you” and we wave as I get off. Before the...

Factory gate meeting

Unite members working for Great Bear distribution recently organised a factory gate meeting at the Unilever Port Sunlight factory to protest at the dismissal of a Unite shop steward and the company’s refusal to pay full sick pay for workers self-isolating. The meeting, organised by Unite North West, showed how protests and workplace meetings can still be organised safely and effectively. Everyone observed social distancing rules. When the organisers were explaining why the meeting took place, they made sure that they explained to local residents who were watching and listening why the meeting...

Fined for taking a stand on safety?

On 18 May, train drivers’ union Aslef reported that up to 30 London Underground drivers were sent home after raising safety concerns, including some who raised concerns about not being able to safely distance in staff mess rooms due to the number of drivers on duty. Some drivers were issued with a letter from their local manager which read: “You have indicated you are not willing to undertake your normal rostered duty, despite the fact that it is safe to do so and you have been provided with assurance documentation that confirms [there is] no serious and imminent danger. “I must now advise you...

Fight the "out of work" drive

In the coming months workers face an out-of-work drive as much as a back-to-work one. Some manufacturing and construction sites are restarting, usually slowly and partially. But between 11 May and 17 May the number on the government’s furlough scheme went up from 7.5 million to 8 million. Taking an optimistic assumption that “the lockdown period starts to be eased from the middle of May and... economic activity... resume[s] safely in the second half of the year”, the National Institute of Economic Research estimated in late April that unemployment would rise to “about 10 per cent of the...

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