FINANCIAL STATEMENT TO MEMBERS FOR 2020

Statement to members for period ended December 31 2020

as required by section 32a of trade union and labour relations (consolidation) act 1992

Income and Expenditure

The total income of the union for the period was £19,053. This amount included payments of £16,284 in respect of membership income of the union. The union’s total expenditure for the period was £19,130.

Political Fund

Solidarity union does not have a political fund.

General Secretary Salary and Other benefits

The General Secretary of the union was paid £8129 in respect of salary and £2070 in respect of benefits (a bonus of £530 and pension contributions of £1540).

Irregularity statement

A member who is concerned that some irregularity may be occurring, or have occurred, in the conduct of the financial affairs of the union may take steps with a view to investigating further, obtaining clarification and, if necessary, securing regularisation of that conduct.

The member may raise any such concern with such one or more of the following as it seems appropriate to raise it with: the officials of the union, the trustees of the property of the union, the auditor or auditors of the union, the Certification Officer (who is an independent officer appointed by the Secretary of State) and the police.

Where a member believes that the financial affairs of the union have been or are being conducted in breach of the law or in breach of the rules of the union and contemplates bringing civil proceedings against the union or responsible officials or trustees, he should consider obtaining independent legal advice.

Auditor’s report

We have audited the financial statements of the SOLIDARITY (the ‘Union’) for the year
ended 31 December 2020 which comprise the Statement of Comprehensive Income,
Statement of Financial Position, Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements,
including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework
that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom
Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable
in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice). In our opinion, the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the Union’s affairs as at 31 December 2020 and of
its result for the year then ended;
• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted
Accounting Practice; and
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Trade Union and Labour
Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit inaccordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are
independent of the Union in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to
our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and
we have fulfilled our ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We
believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a
basis for our audit opinion. Conclusions relating to going concern We have nothing to
report in respect of the following matters in which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to
you where:

• the Executive Committee’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation
of the financial statements is not appropriate, or
• the Executive Committee has not disclosed in the financial statements any identified
material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the Union’s ability to continue
to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from
the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Other information

The Executive Committee is responsible for the other information. The other information
comprises the information included in the Report of the National Treasurer, other than the
financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial
statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise
explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements and matters on which we are
required to report by exception in light of the knowledge and understanding of the Union
and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material
misstatements in the financial report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have
not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Mano Butani
AMASS BTC
293 OLD CHURCH ROAD
COVENTRY
CV6 7DT

STRIKE TO OPPOSE FIRE AND RE-HIRE

Workers who make cosmetics and pharmaceuticals sold by Boots are to strike against “fire and rehire” policies.

Manufacturer BCM Fareva, based in Nottingham, supplies products to the health and beauty retailer and other outlets.

Retail and distribution union Usdaw says BCM has threatened to “fire and rehire” its staff to cut pay and worsen conditions — a tactic being used by dozens of employers across Britain and affecting two million workers, according to the TUC.

The BCM workers will strike for 24 hours on Thursday, July 22.

Usdaw national officer Daniel Adams said: “The proposal to drastically cut sick pay and other terms and conditions for these key workers, who have given their all through the coronavirus pandemic, is totally unacceptable.

“The company is now in the process of threatening to ‘fire and rehire’ staff unless they accept these dramatic cuts.

“Our members have been left with little choice other than industrial action.”

NHS: The George cross is not enough

The Queen has given the NHS a collective medal for bravery and service. They were awarded the George Cross. The George Cross is the highest award bestowed by the Queen for non-operational gallantry or gallantry, not in the presence of an enemy.

That doesn’t make up for putting yourself and your loved ones at risk of deadly infection for more than a year.

Giving NHS workers that recognition is important and right but it doesn’t pay the bills. Despite all workers’ sacrifices, and the urgent need to attract new staff, the government plans to offer them yet another below-inflation pay rise.

NHS staff were supposed to get a rise in April but workers are still waiting to see what increase the independent pay review body will recommend.

**This meme sums up the feeling of NHS workers who are praised to high heaven but underpaid**

UNISON is calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to deliver a swift rise to give the NHS the boost it needs after 16 months fighting Covid-19.

UNISON Eastern head of health Sasha Savage said: “NHS staff have given their all over the past year and a half but haven’t had any increase in pay for almost the entire pandemic.

“We’ve all seen the gratitude the public has shown to the NHS and its staff through Covid, but it’s time for ministers to move beyond empty rhetoric and give staff a proper pay rise. “

Pat Harrington, general secretary of Solidarity union commented: “Let’s all get behind the UNISON campaign for fair wages for NHS staff. Sign their petition here and spread the word“.

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM OUR GENERAL SECRETARY

BUT WHO WILL BE SUBSIDISED?

In what was hailed as “the most important bit of post-Brexit legislation yet” in a government statement to the BBC The Subsidy Control Bill has been published.

The government say it will “create a new system for subsidies that can enable key domestic priorities, such as levelling up economic growth across the UK and driving our green industrial revolution“.

It will replace the state aid rules that applied when Britain was part of the European Union (EU). Those rules require EU member states to seek approval for government assistance to firms so that there is a “level playing field” for capitalist competition.

In practice, this means a corrupt EU-wide system of favours and deals. National governments are allowed to subsidise some corporations in their own country so long as they support similar moves in other countries.

British governments often used the EU regulations as an excuse for not nationalising industries to protect jobs and workers’ wages. They said such moves would be blocked as “unfair competition”.

In 2019, for example, the Tories argued they could not nationalise British Steel because of the rules.

On the face of it good news for British workers. So why am I not celebrating? I just have no confidence that instead of moving to a more self-sufficient and participatory economy it will just mean more cash for the bosses that the Tories favour.

I fear that their multibillion awards to their cronies during the pandemic will now just happen on a much larger and sleazier level.

FIRE AND REHIRE – ACAS PAPER PUBLISHED

Acas has published a paper on the use of fire and re-hire practices, following a fact-finding exercise commissioned by BEIS but the government is not expected to legislate.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for BEIS, Paul Scully has stated in parliament that ‘It is unacceptable and, frankly, immoral to use the threat of fire and rehire as a negotiating tactic to force through changes to people’s employment contracts, or for employers to turn to dismissal and rehiring too hastily, rather than continue to engage in meaningful negotiations.“

As to the way forward, Mr. Scully states:

“However, having carefully considered the report, the Government want to send a clear message to employers: even if your business is facing acute challenges, all other options to save jobs and a business should be exhausted before considering the dismissal and re-engagement of staff. I believe that we can achieve this working in partnership with businesses and workers, without heavy-handed legislation.“

In contrast, I believe that only legislation will stop the practice of fire and re-hire.

Patrick Harrington

Increase statutory Sick Pay

Our union has long argued that the government must increase self-isolation support to ensure the success of the vaccine rollout but it isn’t just us saying it. Two think tanks, the Nuffield Trust and Resolution Foundation have also recently spoken out.

Researchers warned that boosting compliance with self-isolation rules is critical to resist the threats posed by new variants of coronavirus and rising cases as restrictions continue to ease.The two think tanks proposed a modified version of the Job Retention Scheme that would allow employers to apply for capped grants to cover the lost wages of any employee needing to self-isolate.Self-employed workers should be able to access similar levels of support through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, the report adds.

The proposal would cost the government £39 million a month if it were to cover 100 percent of wages capped at an equivalent of £2,500 a month, equal to the cap within the current furlough scheme. This cost would be equivalent to roughly 3 percent of the government’s budget for the NHS test-and-trace system. Nuffield Trust senior fellow Sarah Reed said that support for people self-isolating has been a “blind spot” in the government’s response to the pandemic. She warned that there were risks ahead as case numbers were expected to rise with further easing of lockdown restrictions.

Resolution Foundation chief economist Mike Brewer said: “The UK’s failure to financially support workers who need to self-isolate has severely hampered efforts to curb the spread of the virus.”Our union believes that ignoring calls for sick pay at an adequate level risks all the good work in bringing the virus under control. Time for a change.

unionise amazon

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is now ranked the world’s richest man. But Amazon stops any attempts by workers to gain a collective voice of their own. It has failed to sign either the United Nations Global Compact or the Ethical Trading Initiative – bodies that recognise the right of all workers to a collective voice and which are signed up to by most of the biggest names on the high street.

In the United States (US) Amazon fought tooth and nail against workers in Bessemer, Alabama, who wanted to form a union. They won that battle and defeated the landmark union drive that would have established the company’s first US union. Amazon, however, has not won the war. That high-profile US fight will increase support for broader change.

Here in the UK Unite, Britain’s leading union has run a major newspaper and digital advertising campaign to alert Amazon workers about a confidential whistle-blowing hotline that has opened in the UK & Ireland.Amazon workers can blow the whistle and expose poor treatment free from reprisals by calling 08000 14 14 61 in the UK or 1800 851 268 for the Republic of Ireland or by visiting https://actiononamazon.org/hotline/.

Unions are demanding a ‘new deal’ for Amazon workers, including a union and a greater share of the firm’s enormous profits. Against a backdrop of reports about poor working conditions, Amazon workers have been essential during the Covid crisis. The company increased its permanent workforce by one-third (10,000) in 2020 as well as taking on 20,000 additional seasonal staff. The company almost doubled its profit in 2020 compared to 2019. Unite executive officer Sharon Graham said: “Amazon attacks all attempts by workers to gain a collective voice of their own. This is why Unite is launching ‘Action on Amazon’ to give Amazon workers a voice, so they don’t have to rely on whistle-blowing or calling confidential hotlines.“Jeff Bezos has become the world’s richest man off the backs of workers who have played a crucial part in so many people’s lives during the pandemic.

It is prime time Amazon gave workers the right to be in a union and to do so without interference, bullying, and intimidation.”Patrick Harrington, General Secretary of Solidarity union said: “Amazon is part of the life of many people and provides consumers with good service. The story on their workers, however, is not so positive. Amazon needs to stop its union-busting tactics and give its workers respect and a decent share of profits. If they don’t they will lose public goodwill and may face consumer boycotts along with other opposition. Time to unionise and change Amazon!”

Please sign the Amazon petition here: https://actiononamazon.org/sign-our-petition/

All workers deserve rights

The Court of Appeal has ruled that Deliveroo drivers cannot have collective bargaining rights because they are not workers.

The judgment again highlights the need for one category of worker, “worker” with all enjoying the same rights to paid holidays, sick pay, and collective bargaining (to mention just a few rights).
The Deliveroo case was brought by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) which represents many Deliveroo drivers. The IWGB had applied for but that was rejected in 2017 on the basis that because riders can pass a job on to a substitute they should not be classed as workers.

After the High Court also ruled in favour of the company, the union appealed, claiming that the denial of collective bargaining breached the couriers’ human rights.

IWGB president Alex Marshall said: “Deliveroo couriers have been working on the front line of the pandemic and, whilst being applauded by the public and even declared heroes by their employer, they have been working under increasingly unfair and unsafe working conditions.
“It appears that when Deliveroo talks about flexibility and being your own boss, it is talking about the flexibility of choosing when to make poverty wages and work in unsafe conditions.”

Pat Harrington, general secretary of Solidarity, commented: “Unions will continue to organise within Deliveroo, Amazon, and those others who seek to block them. Increasingly unions are mobilising public opinion behind their campaigns for workers’ rights. We will see in the coming years that companies who fail to give rights to their workers will be penalised by consumer boycotts and political action.”

End in-work poverty

Poverty doesn’t just affect people out of work. More and more it affects workers. Around one in six working households face living below the official poverty rate, fuelled by rapid house price growth and a lack of affordable childcare, according to a think tank. Britain’s relative poverty rate among working households hit a new high of 17 percent before the coronavirus pandemic took hold in early 2020, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said.

For increasing numbers of people, work is a route into poverty, not a way out. Even two-earner families where one partner works full time and one works part-time are being pulled into poverty, according to the findings. For people in this group, the chances of being pulled into poverty have doubled over the past two decades, from one in 20 to one in ten, the IPPR said. Even for households with two people in full-time work, the chances of being pulled into poverty has more than doubled over the same period, from 1.4 percent to 3.9 percent.

Working poverty rates are particularly high in London, Wales, and the North of England, according to the IPPR. Spiraling housing costs, low wages, a failing benefits system and a lack of affordable childcare sit behind the growth in poverty, the No Longer ‘Managing’ report found. Far from people living easily on benefits, billions are siphoned off into the pockets of landlords. The IPPR estimates £11.1 billion of housing support spending went to private landlords last year.

The report called for higher state subsidies for children under five and wraparound care for school pupils. Clare McNeil, IPPR associate director and head of its future welfare state programme, said: “These shocking new figures should be a wake-up call for everyone concerned about our future.“We need an alternative to what the government calls ‘leveling up’.“Short-term fixes are needed to alleviate the immediate crisis, but to solve the underlying problem we need a far deeper rethink of housing, childcare, social security, and work.”

Pat Harrington, general secretary of Solidarity, commented: “We need structural changes in our society that distribute wealth, risk and opportunity more fairly. This is the way we will ultimately lift our people out of poverty”.