Zero hours: Time to put a stop to this exploitation
Very few people in the UK today would not know about zero hours contracts. The Prime Minister himself said that he wouldn’t want to work on one…
Sarah Veale's Articles
Conservative strike proposals: Short on detail and long on union bashing
What the Tories are proposing today on strike regulation is an unprecedented attack on human rights in the UK. “Sensible and proportionate” says Francis Maude. The opposite is true – it is thuggish, prejudiced, political and utterly disproportionate.
Shares for rights: Unfair, unworkable and unhinged
The House of Lords twice rejected the Government’s preposterous “rights for shares” wheeze but finally caved in last night, after the proposal had been modified so much as to be more or less inaccessible. It really was like putting a lick of paint onto a derelict building and calling it fit to live in. The…
The Swedish derogation
It may sound like a chapter from a dry history book but the “Swedish” derogation caused some interest at Congress today. Reference was made to it in an Emergency Motion from Unite, who are concerned about its impact on agency workers, and indeed other workers, in the UK. So what is it?
Campaign launched on women’s state pension age U-turn
A little noticed U-turn by the Coalition Government will mean that 4.9 million people will have to wait longer to get their pension – with 500,000 women aged 56-57 having to work more than an extra year, and 33,000 working for exactly two years longer. Last May the Coalition Agreement assured people that it would:…
No pay day for women
Today is Equal Pay Day – the point in the year where, because of the gender pay gap in the UK, women start, effectively, working for no pay. In other words because, on average, women are paid 17% less than men, they miss out on around two months’ pay a year. Gender pay inequality is…
Employment Tribunal? That will be £100 please
Watch out at next week’s Conservative conference for news of changes to the Employment Tribunal system. These are likely to include introducing charges for employees taking claims. This is a response to employer lobbying for the Government to “do something” to reduce the number of cases going to the Tribunals. Treating employees better might be the most…
Policy Exchange: Modernising industrial relations, or a crude attack on basic workplace rights?
Here we go again – another right wing “think tank” pronouncing on an issue about which they have little practical knowledge and trying to fix things that are not broken. Let’s look at their main proposals, as no doubt some of them will be attractive to some in Government – we learned under the Thatcher…