[IER] Scottish Labour leader calls for a shift in power at work

Fri Oct 11 17:32:02 BST 2019

IER, news brief - 11/10/2019                                                                           <https://mailchi.mp/3de80f19f196/corbyn-adopts-ier-proposals-at-tuc-2000885?e=71131c031b> View this email in your browser 

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Scottish Labour leader calls for a shift in power at work

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The leader of Scottish Labour, Richard Leonard,  <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=db2fb83539&e=71131c031b> has spoken about the need for a shift in power at the workplace.

At a Morning Star conference in Glasgow at the weekend, he said there was an unfair imbalance of power between workers and their employers, as well as between male and female workers.

Leonard pledged to scaleback the privatisation of public services, including the renationalisation of railways and buses, as well as implement a Common Ownership Act that would allow organised workforces to take over the running of failed businesses.

Also speaking at the event was Jane Carolan of IER Scotland, who spoke on the IER's Charter of Workers' Rights for Scotland - policy proposals based on the wider  <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=eb1c4d5436&e=71131c031b> Manifesto for Labour Law project, which has received strong support from Scottish trade unions and Scottish Labour since its launch earlier this year.

She said a critical first step will be to raise awareness of the function and importance of trade unions among workers. 

"In most workplaces in Scotland, that awareness does not exist," she explained.

"We have to change this if we are to change the balance – because it will be only ordinary workers who will ultimately achieve fundamental social change."

While four decades of neoliberalism has left its mark on younger generations, many of whom have grown up without a strong sense of trade union power, the possibility of change is looking more favourable with the action of unions and the plight of workers hitting the headlines again and again.

Ken Loach's latest feature Sorry We Missed You will see its general release on November 01 2019, and this time he applies his affecting social realism to the plight of workers in the "gig" economy. In the run-up to the release, the director showed his support for the real-life workers his film is based on by  <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=03af8f075e&e=71131c031b> phoning mail couriers on the picket line in London to give them his backing.

The couriers, who work for eCourier - a contractor for Royal Mail - have been denied basic employment rights because the company insists they are self-employed, even after a colleague on an identical contract was found by the courts to be a 'worker'.

 <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=e58b6d28f1&e=71131c031b> Our experts recommend that all people in employment are classified as 'workers' entitled to all workers' rights from day one on the job. Where the company believes its contractors are self-employed, the onus should be on the employer to prove this. 

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Scottish Labour leader calls for a ‘true change in the balance of power’ at Morning Star conference

Richard Leonard laid out his ambitious plans to deliver a "true change in the balance of power" at a Morning Star Conference in Glasgow at the weekend.

 <https://ier.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f121e48a8bb6d3101590c12d3&id=284c266cad&e=71131c031b> Read full article 

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Justice system staff call for return of collective bargaining in probation

Delegates at Unison's 2019 Police and Justice Conference have called for a return to collective bargaining at a national level for the UK's probation service.

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#MeTooPay campaign calls for gender equal wage policies

Female business leaders have come together to spark the #MeTooPay campaign, which borrows its name from the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment and repurposes it to focus on another area in which women are particularly vulnerable – pay.

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Ken Loach supports striking couriers' call for basic workers' rights

Film director Ken Loach has lent his support to striking mail couriers, who are calling on their employer – a private Royal Mail contractor – to provide them with basic workers' rights.

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We believe this Bill will transform the world of work for millions of people, give workers a voice in parliament, in their jobs, and across the economy at large.

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