Author: Patrick Harrington

Union and business leaders have issued a joint plea to the Government to improve sick pay and help employers deal with staff absences. The TUC and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) have written to the Chancellor urging him to create an “effective” sick pay system to underpin the economic recovery and to make sure all employers would be able to afford it. Unions have been stepping up campaigns for better sick pay, arguing that two million low paid workers, mainly women, do not qualify because of their low earnings. The FSB revealed that the average cost of sickness absence to small employers was just over £3,500 last year. TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “No-one should be forced to choose between doing the right thing and self-isolating or putting food on the table, but millions of low-paid workers have faced this impossible choice. “Two years into the pandemic, it’s time ministers stopped turning a blind eye to this obvious problem and fixed our broken sick pay system. “Delivering sick pay for all would be an important first step, but with statutory sick pay at a measly £96 a week, we need ministers to increase it to real living wage so people can afford to self-isolate.” Martin McTague, of the FSB, said: “Small business owners are struggling to find £5 billion a year for sick pay costs. Last year, the Chancellor responded to our calls for help with a reintroduction of the small employer sick pay rebate until the end of March.“ Pat Harrington, General Secretary of Solidarity, commented: “It’s good to see unions and small business leaders coming together to lobby the government on this issue. SSP needs to be raised and include those on low pay.“

Research by the Living Wage Foundation think tank showed people are increasingly turning to payday lenders and going hungry.

A survey of 1,700 workers showed that one in five were forced to take out a payday loan and around two in five were regularly skipping meals.

It’s a damning look at the reality of Britain—even before the fuel price rises and tax increases scheduled for April.

Katherine Chapman, Living Wage Foundation director, said, “Our polling paints an unsettling picture for millions of people as rising living costs compound the challenges of two years of the pandemic.”

She called for a pay raise for “people that kept us going during the pandemic like cleaners and security guards”.

Dave Innes, head of economics at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said, “It is deeply worrying that so many low-paid workers are already skipping meals and taking on debt.”

He warned that “people on low incomes, who spend a higher proportion of their income on essentials, are at the sharpest end of the crisis.”

In addition to debt and hunger, around a third of workers also reported they couldn’t afford to keep their homes warm this winter. This crisis is set to be compounded by the astronomical rises in energy prices in April.

Energy expert Professor Alex Kemp said global increasing demand for gas meant that prices aren’t set to fall any time soon.

And bosses are already threatening to raise prices in order to protect profits. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) bosses’ club said its survey of 1,000 businesses revealed a “cost of doing business crisis”.

Some three out of four respondents said they are planning on raising prices and half are cutting costs.

Pat Harrington, General Secretary of Solidarity commented:

“Soaring living costs are a crisis. Rising energy prices will coincide with the planned rise in National Insurance contributions and the freezing of income-tax thresholds in April. Inflation will top 7% by Spring and interest rates are already rising adding to mortgage costs. Higher taxes and energy costs will leave the average family £1300 worse off from April.”

“Sunak’s is offering an insulting £200 energy loan and 80% will receive a £150 Council Tax rebate. These measures will do little to offset the real burden faced by ordinary people.”

The government has halted controversial plans for the compulsory Covid vaccination of all frontline NHS and social care workers in England, just days ahead of the first jab deadline. Addressing the House of Commons, the health secretary said the government was “looking again” at scrapping the measure in a bid to avoid a damaging confrontation with NHS workers in England. In a U-turn, Sajid Javid said a consultation on ending compulsory vaccinations in health and social care settings will be launched. He has abandoned his requirement that all health workers be vaccinated.

Under a law passed in December last year, every NHS and care worker that has contact with patients had to be double jabbed by April—or face the sack.

Health bosses warned last weekend that so many staff were going to be sacked that services, including maternity wards, would be unsafe.

The Tories forced similar measures on social care in November last year, leading to an exodus of around 40,000 staff. One care charity yesterday accused the government of using the sector as “the trial run for the NHS”. The government relaxed migration rules for care workers, care assistants and home care workers, who have been added to the Home Office’s shortage occupation list. Patrick Harrington commented:

“This was a problem of the Government’s own making. The supposedly “tough on immigration” Tories once again turn to recruiting overseas rather than deal properly with problems at home. A major reason for staff leaving the care sector was the Tory insistence on mandatory vaccination. Coupled with generally poor working conditions and pay enough was enough for many.”

Unions, including Solidarity, opposed the mandatory vaccination policy. Put simply there was no need for compulsion, and we believe people should have the right to choose. Solidarity was gearing up for a fight on this issue as some of our members would have been dismissed. That will not now be necessary as the unions and all those who opposed mandatory vaccines have won! Our union is still involved, however, in cases involving risk assessments and PPE. We also want to see care workers who have left their jobs attracted back by improved pay and conditions. We want an end to the pandemic panic So while the battle for fairness and common-sense continues we can chalk up one victory.

Our Annual meeting will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2022.

Due to the Covid situation, as at the 2021 AGM, this year’s event will be entirely online. Drawing on the experience of last year’s successful online AGM, we have sought to use the numerous opportunities created by the online format, rather than simply seeking to replicate the format of previous in-person meetings, whilst meeting all our constitutional requirements.

We have aimed to produce an exciting and accessible day of learning and discussion that can include all members, so whether you have joined us at past AGMs or not, please register to play a part in.

You can:

• Register to attend
• Submit a motion or amendment

To attend just send an e-mail to solidaritygb@aol.com and if you need help drafting a motion for consideration or finding a seconder please let us know. More information will follow regarding the agenda for the meeting.

A radical and important Bill that will give all workers the same employment rights reached the House of Commons yesterday.

The Status of Workers Bill, proposed by Labour peer John Hendy QC, would bring Britain into line with many other economies by having just one category of worker.

The private members’ Bill passed its third reading in the House of Lords on Friday and will today be introduced into the Commons by Labour MP Andy McDonald.

The Bill will then join a list of other private members’ Bills to be considered by the House.

There are currently five different legal categories of worker — employees, limb workers — or people who have a contract but not a contract of employment, such as Uber drivers — the bogus self-employed, personal service companies and the self-employed.

Self-employed status is unaffected by the Hendy proposals but the Bill aims to merge all other categories and give everyone full access to employment rights in line with many European countries.

Lord Hendy said: “Many employers are using the excuse of the pandemic to worsen the terms and conditions of their workers.”

He added the Bill “would prevent greedy, uncaring employers undercutting good employers who are prepared to allow their staff full employment rights.

“It would also stop the worst employers freeloading on the state by using categories for their staff that avoid the employers having to pay National Insurance, tax and pensions contributions.”

The proposals were also part of Labour’s 2019 general election manifesto, where working people would have been granted sweeping new employment and trade union rights if Labour had won.

The Bill is supported by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER), of which Lord Hendy is chair.

The IER tweeted on Saturday that it was “delighted that the Bill passed its third reading in the House of Lords.”

Patrick Harrington, General Secretary of Solidarity union, commented:

“We’ve long supported the IER on this. The current legal situation is a mess. There should be one category – Worker“.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is also supporting what it hailed as a “transformative Bill.”

A TUC spokesperson said: “For too long, false self-employment has been used as a cover to deny workers their basic rights.

“The Status of Workers Bill would give the millions of long-exploited gig workers in the UK greater rights.

“The gig economy has become emblematic of workers’ rights abuses in the modern economy, but that could be about to change.”

The TUC has called for the government to delay the introduction of mandatory vaccinations for NHS workers in bid to avert a staffing crisis. COVID-19 vaccinations are due to become mandatory for anyone deployed by a registered person delivering Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated activities who has direct, face-to-face contact with service users.This includes health and care staff with clinical and non-clinical roles, for example: care workers, health care assistants, nurses, paramedics, ODPs, receptionists, managers, ward clerks, porters and cleaners.

NHS England data shows 39,142 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were absent for Covid-19 reasons on January 2, up 59% on the previous week (24,632) and more than three times the number at the start of December (12,508). The TUC warns introduction of the mandatory vaccination policy will exacerbate this crisis, creating a bureaucratic and staffing nightmare for NHS Trusts and making it impossible to maintain safe staffing levels in the coming weeks. And the union body strongly urges everyone who isn’t medically exempt to get vaccinated and boosted, and for ministers to make that as easy for whole NHS staff team.

The union body says ministers must:

Delay with immediate effect mandatory vaccination as a condition of deployment in the NHS.

Prioritise access to lateral flow and PCR tests for more key workers in health and other vital public services. This should reach more than the current proposal for just 100,000 ‘critical workers’ and must include outsourced NHS workers such as porters and cleaners.

Ensure NHS staff health and safety with access to high quality PPE and workplaces that are properly ventilated to minimise transmission and infection.

Opposition to strong arm tactics

Key unions representing health care workers have previously spoken out against mandatory vaccination, calling for a focus on persuasion instead of coercion. Rehana Azam, GMB national secretary, said:

“GMB’s position is consistent: we are opposed to legally enforced medical procedures as a condition of employment – it’s heavy-handed and will deepen the health service’s devastating staff black hole.

“Our union has encouraged take up of the vaccine and booster jabs, but the government needs to look beyond strong-arm tactics.”

Unison have said:

“UNISON supports vaccination in health and social care. The vaccine is safe, and we encourage all members who do not have a medical exemption to get their jab. But vaccination should be your decision and the UK government should promote persuasion and reassurance. We have made arguments that this will result in people leaving health and care jobs, putting pressure on already stretched services.”

Patrick Harrington, General Secretary of Solidarity said:

“The vast majority of NHS staff are vaccinated. These bully-boy tactics are unnecessary. We support the position of our brothers and sisters in other unions such as the GMB, UNISON and FBU on this.“

SIGN THE PETITION

Click this link to sign the petition “Prohibit employers from requiring staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19”: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/599841

The Fire Brigades union has issued a statement outlining its position on mandatory Covid vaccinations.

They express solidarity “with our brother and sister workers in health and care unions in opposing mandatory vaccination requirements.” 

The FBU state “The FBU supports vaccination of FBU members and all workers, unless they are medically exempt or individual circumstances dictate otherwise, but believes education and support is the best method to achieve this rather than compulsion.” 

In an important pledge to workers they state:

“The FBU will explore all industrial and legal resources at our disposal to challenge:

a. Any proposed introduction of mandatory vaccination in the FRS by government(s) in the UK;
b. Any proposed introduction of mandatory vaccination by any FRS;
c. Any proposed introduction of mandatory vaccination data gathering by any FRS;          
d. The detrimental treatment of any FBU member through the introduction of employer-imposed or government-initiated introduction of mandatory vaccination for the fire sector.“

The FBU statement can be read here: https://www.fbu.org.uk/circulars/2021hoc0622mw/fbu-position-vaccination-covid-19

The position of your union, Solidarity, is very similar to that of the FBU.

We also oppose any introduction of mandatory vaccination.

If you are affected by this issue please contact us immediately.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay