Big Brother in the workplace Part 2

I recently blogged about employers monitoring sickness using lie detectors and referred to the 'blacking' database to be used by employers in the retail trade.
Our friends at microsoft have developed a computer programme to monitor an employees work. You will notice of course its all in the name of Health and Safety.

For Employees work takes up the majority of time in their active life but workers have so little say in how their lives are governed in the workplace. In fact employers ruthlessly defend their 'right' to how they make bigger profits. Is that democracy?

Work related injuries.

Work related injuries are on the rise representing the dark under side of the economic successes boasted by government ministers over the last 11 years. Workers have been placed under increasing strains, working longer hours for diminishing terms and conditions. All to boost profits to new higher levels. As is evident it is coming at a huge cost.

Now is not the time to restrict the power of the HSE. While we welcome the increase in HSE Inspectors, there seems to be an ever increasing threat to the HSE via the Right Wing media and the vultures in Camerons Tory party disguised in attacks on regulation and 'anti political correctness'!!

Business would prefer little or no regulation in the workplace in order top further boost profits. The power of our Trade Union movement needs to step up a gear in order to defend our hard won gains in.

Unite and the Belfast Airport strikers

This issue has been buzzing around the internet for the last few weeks. As far as I am concerned the issue is now settled. This statement from Unite draws a line under it. I believe the Union has dealt with this in the correct way and I hope everyone can now move on and that the Union movement go on to win that tribunal appeal against this employer.

Flexible working and Agency working

A bit more detail as to last weeks agreement about the Agency workers Bill can be found here.

Evidently the UK has to put it in front of European Ministers shortly. It will be interesting to see this watered down version the Government has agreed and wether it meets the European requirements. For Trade Unionists it still falls well short.



Also one of the boast by New Labour is the introduction of the right to request flexible working. This came in to effect during the Government and has been strengthened. But ultimately it is just a right to request.

Evidence is now available to show employers are more than likely to refuse it. Not something you can boast as much of a success!!

City Bonuses defy Credit Crunch

Article in the Telegraph the other day.

If ever you wanted an example of inequality that colours the imagination of voters, this is it. While prices and bills soar the parasitic , exclusive city bosses gorge themselves on huge bonuses.Voters sees this and question what the government will do about it. The answer is nothing because they are comfortable with these bosses getting rich. They have said as much in the past. This arrogance will push voters to opposing political parties.

Eurovision conspiracy?

A great gnashing of teeth about the weekends cultural event of the year.
Can someone tell Wogan that its not about political blocs but the fact that we have consistently produced shit in the last few years.
Mind you , the UKs political standing over its subservience to US Capitalism would be enough for me to bloc vote!!

International Union Merger

Capitalism is global. Unions should be global to meet the challenges facing working people. This initiative by Unite The Union is a positive contribution that will prove to be essential in the future battles to defend working conditions that lie ahead.
Solidarity across the globe has always existed but here for the first time we are witnessing an organised structure come into being. I hope this will be the first of many.

Tories have plans for the young! (again!!)

If eleven years of targeting youth in hoodies wasn't enough, the shadows of New Labour in the Tory party have come up with this little gem.
If you go into town any day, chances are you will bump into an under 21 benefit scrounger! So in order to win over Sun and Daily Mail readers you try and think up a draconian method of dealing with it and spin it in such a way in order not to sound 'nasty'.

Chances are you might bump into someone under 21 on benefits. Does it really mean they , he/she, doesn't want to work? I remember back in the 80s going down to the Job Centre on a Monday to look at any type of job only to be told to come back later in the week when other jobs might come in. In the meantime I would, oh cripes, guess what; hang around in town!!! If I was feeling really energetic, by the way I really did do this, I would actually, physically knock a few factory doors and ask the receptionist if there were vacancies!! I did eventualy get a job. No help from the Tories at the time.

To be treated as some sort of scrounger because some 'intellectual Tory' says so, I would have considered completely insensitive and out of touch. Par the course for the Conservative Party then. Nothing has realy changed now.

Going back to the news that the Tories are getting the whip out for the under 21s. This is just what you expect from these people. It will be those on invalidity benefit next. Maybe the disabled as well. The true scope of their plans for the poor are yet to be revealed. Ironically New Labour are f*cking things up so badly at the moment that, together with the economy, Cameron will have ample time to paint his plans as a serious acceptable alternative just like Thatcher did.

Boris bans cheap Oil

Ken Livingstones initiative to use cheap Venezuelan Oil to subsidise travel for people on a low income is to be stopped by Boris. This is a purely political move in order to demonstrate a distance from the socialist ideas of Chavez. The recycling advisers sent to Venezuela will be brought back. At the end of the contract date , low income families face the prospect of higher fares on London Public Transport. Tory voters in the suburbs will sleep easy now knowing they have no need to use public transport anyway.

I just wish Labour could have attacked some of the remnants of Thatcherism in 1997 with the same amount of spite. For example, repeal the Tory anti trade union legislation , re nationalised the utility companies or stopped the right to buy council houses at ridiculous discounts.

Crewe and Nantwich. Tories hammer New Labour

A 17.6% swing to the Tories is more than just a powerful message. A solid Labour seat has been taken by the Tories in a bye election. The first time in 26 years. What a powerful message to say that the ideas, philosophy and strategy of the New Labour clique that has dominated the direction of the party since the death of John Smith has amounted to failure . All Hazel Blears, that Blairite mouthpiece, can say is that the voters

"decided to send us a pretty powerful message but the last thing they want is the Labour Party to turn on itself and be obsessed with our own affairs and not what the public want".

So the lesson learned is that Labour doesn't turn in on itself and argue!! A fitting epitaph to the Longest suicide not in the history of politics!

The LRC's John McDonnell MP, or John McNohoper as some Labourites call him, is much more realistic

"Things are just going from bad to worse for the Government. It would be an immense misreading of the situation for New Labour ministers to dismiss this result as simply mid-term blues. The prime minister's re-launch after the disaster of the local election results has proved to be totally ineffective."

For a No-Hoper, many MPs who where pressured into backing Brown as leader must be seriously considering why there wasn't a leadership debate. Brown is Blairism continued and not even his (Blairs) divine intervention would stop a Tory victory at the next election.

For some the belief that a turn by Labour immediately to left wing socialist policies is the answer. This is the right argument but too late I feel to salvage a result at the next general election. A defeated left wing Labour campaign would be used by the Blairites to say 'there you go the voters don't want your policies'. Unfortunately Brown has to fight the battle to keep any credibility he has left. An attempt has to be made to rebuild the Labour Party from within. The damage started when the heart of the Labour Party was dissected when Blair became leader. The whole Third way , middle ground philosophy has to be dumped.

As I was told when Brown was appointed leader, 'things can only get better'. Things cant and it wont

Agency Workers rights.

Apologies for not posting. I have had one or two connection problems that have now been resolved.
Back to business.

Well its a start. The Government have finally put something on paper, 11 years too late in my view. It is obvious that the Unions didn't get all their way as agency workers will still have to wait 12 weeks before rights click in and wont be entitled to sick pay or pensions.

Employers have certainly fought this tooth and nail and you get the familiar moans of doom and gloom which you come to expect from employers similar to when the meagre minimum wage was introduced. I'm not convinced of the view that some workers 'choose' to be agency workers. Apart from a minority of cases the majority of agency workers are in between jobs, after being made redundant or had been sacked or in my view the vast majority of cases, migrant workers who are basically told this is all you are going to get if you work in the UK. There is very little choice.

The reality is that employers would prefer every worker to be on an agency contract. For them that is the ultimate flexibility and the best path for accumulating wealth.

Throwin a sickie?

Big Brother employers have turned big time on serial sicknotes with the ultimate gadget. Not content with pissing employees off with a blacklist they have decided to create a climate of fear to add to the already firmly entrenched bullying culture you have in all workplaces.

Susan Anderson, director of HR policy at the CBI, said the technology could be "very useful".
"Research from the CBI and [insurance company] AXA shows that employers believe 12% of absence is not genuine, and that these sickies amount to 21 million lost days every year, at a cost of £1.6bn," she said.
However, she said that employers did not want to behave like Big Brother, and that the technology would be best used as part of a range of incentives and penalties.

Of course employers dont want to behave like Big Brother!!

If ever there were ways to encourage union membership?

Prison Population update

Humour me while I do a bit of number crunching.

A while back I posted about Worldwide prison populations. If you wanted a health check on society then where better to look than the amount of men and women incarcerated.

The latest UK figures can be found here.

Interestingly it is worth comparing the figure 80 years ago to the USSR in 1928, after Stalin's consolidation of power. Thousands and thousands more were to be incarcerated during the mid to late 30s as the result of the purges.

The point of me writing this? I earlier had a fraternal discussion with a Labour Party colleague of mine. Marxism was dismissed as the seed of dictatorship and prison camps for 'non believers'. While I tried to unsuccessfully explain the change that inevitably happened after Stalin took power I felt I had to put the prison population issue into some kind of context.

Exploitation in 20th Century New Labour Britain

The Gangmasters Licensing Authority have dropped a ban on a daffodil-picking company that ruthlessly exploits migrant workers. This company has supplied companies such as Waitrose/John Lewis and other supermarkets. The law has to be strengthened to enforce ethical standards in the Supermarket chain which go to the very heart of the contract. This has to include Trade Union recognition.
Supermarkets should not be seen to be getting off lightly with whom they do business with all in the name of driving down prices to attract customers to their stores.

Government confirms support for Retail 'blacklist'

Click the title for the BBC report.

I blogged recently about a blacklist being run to protect business against employees who are thieves.
The Government and the retail trade are taking the move seriously. The fact that you dont need a criminal record to be on it shows how employers will abuse it. A shop worker can be dismissed if the employer reasonably believes that the employee has had his/her hand in the till or had pinched some stock. The give away in the article is that no criminal conviction is needed to be on the register just the fact that the employee has been dismissed.

Just think of it. A Trade Union/ Health and Safety rep can be alone in a warehouse. He/she is later invited to a meeting to account for missing stock. This quickly moves to a disciplinary and on the basis of reasonable belief the worker is sacked. The balance of proof needed is very low. The explanation the worker gives is inadequate. The TU activist is out the door and even though there is no criminal conviction the worker ends up on this register.
And all in New Labours Britain.

Lebanon Strike. The real power in the Middle East

When workers move into united action the effect is felt across continents. So when I checked the BBC news today I felt pleased that the real power in the Middle East was flexing its muscles.
Neither acts of individual terrorism or western intervention will solve the issues facing working class people in the Middle East. Real change lies in the hands of organised Labour as this event proves.

Vulnerable Workers Report. A message to New Labour?

This report has been well publicised in the press and I am so far surprised of the absence of comment from the New Labour machine. There have been the same old script repeated from the same old New Labour sources, you know, lets keep Labour in, we have no alternative, us are better than them, we have to look after middle England etc, etc, etc. The realisation of the fact that the same 'old' new labour sources have not woken up to the fact that they have lost, not losing but have lost , all the ground gained over three election victories, is gettin to be a tired old corpse of an excuse. New Labour and Gorden Brown, to paraphrase John Reid 'just dont get it'.

Ok then, you still think you're right. So tell the working class and all trade unionists this. When are you going to deal with the problems outlined in this report? Are you going to deal with it now? Or in one year? Maybe two or three? Do we have to waste more campaigning and more trade unionists political levy to keep you in power on the basis that the Tories are worse? What does it take for you to realise that you have got it completely wrong? Do you really believe free enterprise, the open market and globalisation is really going to sort out the problems this report outlines?

Time has run out.

If Brown is going to listen he could start here.......

I hope Brown reads the Guardian today. I somehow doubt he will.Its not part of the New Labour script yet the evidence as demonstrated in the article couldnt be bolder.

This obsession New Labour have with middle england is wrecking the chances of a fourth term. I just dont agree, appreciate or understand the rubbish these so called 'progressives' come out with.

How could Labour win back support?

Well in the week that saw my support for Labour really tested, Johns Labour Blog this morning ,where he asks for us to not panic but organise, made me think.

If we are to organise we have to get the policies right. One of the biggest and most depressing disasters for me on thursday was the news from Somerset about the Tanner and Butler dispute. I view it as a disaster because here we are 11 years into a Labour government and still we see abuses like that going on. Yesterdays Guardian Online gave us all a reality check as to the plight of Agency and Temporary workers

Well there is legislation slowly crawling through Parliament as we speak but it is no way a done deal.

But the issue isnt one just of Temporary workers. The point is about how Labour promotes , campaigns and effectively organises around working class issues, bringing in the very legislation that would have secured the hundreds of thousands of votes Ken needed in London and Labour councillors needed up and down the country. There are working class votes out there going begging and Labour doesnt seem to be doing anything about it.

There are several key areas that Labour needs to organise round. Obviously this is just my opinion but I cant see anything else that would inspire me to enthusiastically get out on the doorstep and encourage me and my fellow trade unionists to do so. Fear of what the last Tory government did isnt enough and is being ignored on the doorstep.

Just a few policies Im thinking about.....

• Minimum wage; Up to TUC minimum at least
• Housing; a council house building programme and stopping the right to buy
• Pensions; Increasing state pensions for the retired (I'll have a punt, double it!!)


• Tighter working time legislation with no loss of pay


• Trade Union Freedom; where working people can defend themselves effectively
• Get rid of Brown(no brainer really)

(It amazes me that the pension issue alone would secure OAP votes all over the country yet Labour still doesnt grasp that. Still what do I know!!)

Economic migration drying up??

I noticed this report while surfing the other day. It raises a number of questions that employers and governments need to address around the issue of globalisation.

http://www.ippr.org.uk/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=603

Its interesting to see the 'turnstile' word used to describe immigration into this country. At first employers and gangmasters saw £ signs when this glut of cheap leabour turned up on the doorstep. Since then and after the making of many a million, the cash cow has retreated back to their respective countries as things improve econoimically for them.Fair play to them but what we are witnessing has been going on for ages.

The brutal honesty is that there has always been a turnstile/ revolving door proccess in most UK companys. Ask a lot of employers and they will probably cite staff retention as the problem that they are unable to tackle. In my line of work where I get to speak to many employers I raise the issue of retention and its surprising how the issue is viewed. I know for a fact that for one major bus company in the south east, the retention rate is about 30% at one particular depot, and there are similar pictures elsewhere. The cost of retraining a driver works at around £3 to £4000 per driver. If they are only staying a couple of months and then going on to better things then at 30% retention that is quite a loss. Drivers usually move on to better pay.

Ultimately though its the price you pay for a flexible economy. The government harks on about retraining so that workers become multi skilled and can bounce from job to job, anywhere, anyplace. The reality is different. It is in my view, utopian of the goverment to believe that this would work or actually happen.

The brutal truth is that workers go to where they are paid the best and have the best conditions. They want secure jobs that they will keep for the long term not a risky job that puts their savings and mortgage at risk.

We need to act proactively on the skills agenda. Employers need to start taking on apprentices and going into schools to advertise their company. What will attract youngster and older skilled workers are good pay, good conditions and long term job security.

It is something the Trade Unions want so when will the Government and Employers wake up to the fact???

The day of the job for life is back.

Welcome back to 1983

25 years ago the Tories completely hammered Labour in the polls. It was the start of proccess that changed the Labour Party into what lost at the polls yesterday. It started with Gerald Kaufman calling the 1983 General Election manifesto the 'longest suicide note in history'. The reality was that then the Labour vote was split with the SDP clearing up all the votes that would have normally gone to Labour. Labour was a party battling on several fronts. Also many a Blairite would use the excuse that the '83 manifesto was too far to the left. Well was'nt the 1974 general election manifesto to the left , and Labour won??

Whats the excuse going to be this time? The party is lining itself up for a slaughter come the next general election. There has to be some collective thought going towards seriously addressing the shortcomings that have led Labour into this mire. The blame falls squarly at the feet of the entire New Labour philosophy.

To win Labour must completely reconnect with working class voters. Employees through the private and public sector are fed up with the spin, the taxes, the long hours and the privatisation of services. Most importantly they are fed up of the debts they have incurred while trying to live through the last 11 years.

Most of all Labour must recognise that it is the party of the Trade Unionist and build the bridges that to some trade unionists appear irrepairable. That can only be done by adopting the policies that the trade unions themselves campaign on.

Lastly to do all the they will need to liberate the 's' word, thats socialism to you and me.

There will be a lot of Labour members depressed about yesterdays result. The question they have to answer is what are they going to do about it?

The answer is also Brown has to go.

Butler and Tanner; Jackboot Management!

While New Labour are getting hammered in the polls life goes on the real world of employer attacks on terms and conditions. The report below from the TGWU-UNITE site demonstrates the reality facing workers. People say things would be bad under the Tories, but what difference is there when employers get away with this kind of thing under a Labour government!!

Employers like this get away with because they can get away with and they always could get away with it. Legislation is needed to bring these employers to account.

Hundreds of outraged Unite members to demonstrate as agency workers are brought in to cover sacked staff
2 May 2008
Hundreds of Unite the union members who have been outraged by the actions of Somerset based colour book printers, Butler and Tanner, who sacked 287 workers on Saturday (26th April) only to replace them with agency staff to keep the site operational, will take part in a protest demonstration through Frome, Somerset today (Friday 2nd May).
The workforce of Butler and Tanner Printers Ltd (B&T) was informed by post that the company had closed and is going into receivership owing the workers thousands of pounds in unpaid wages and deducted pension contributions.
Unite members gathered at the company following receipt of their notices to find the gates barred and bolted. Workers had been told the company is closed, that they are redundant with immediate effect and that an application for voluntary liquidation will be made.
Ann Field, Unite national officer, said: "We have received reports that the company is still operational inside the plant and that agency and temporary workers have been recruited to cover the work of the sacked Butler & Tanner staff.
"Union members expressed their outrage that Mr Dolan (B&T chairman) has sacked them, but is still intent to carry on the business. These cynical moves will only worsen the case against the chairman and the company.
"We are hoping that as many people as possible will attend the demonstration to support the sacked workers and their livelihood. B&T are the biggest firm in the town and have employed local people, including many families, for generations. They will stand condemned by their actions."
At a packed workforce meeting earlier this week over 250 workers, sacked by Mr Dolan on Saturday, gathered to hear reports from Unite. They heard that in addition to a month's wages owed by the company, the pension contribution of £44,000 was also unpaid. At the meeting Unite pledged to take every step to retrieve the money owed, and all their entitlements and compensation and condemned the company's destruction of their jobs and livelihoods.
ENDS