Elephants and Equal Pay



The Sunday Mail ran an interesting story last week about a trade union campaign to tackle some of the issues surrounding zero hours contracts.

Now what I find intriguing about this piece is that the fight for equal pay in Scotland affected somewhere between 120,000 to 150,000 low paid council workers, employed by large Labour-run councils like Glasgow City Council, North Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council.

Yet never did the STUC mount a campaign against widespread pay discrimination in Scottish councils, nor did the individual unions in the shape of Unison, Unite or GMB lead the fight for equal pay - or even once threaten industrial action to draw attention to the scale of the problem.

So if you ask me the craven attitude of the trade unions in failing to stand up for their lowest paid members is the real national scandal. 

Especially when you consider that the biggest problems with zero hours contracts are concentrated in non-unionised areas of industry whereas the failure to pay 'equal pay for work of equal value' was going on in the the trade union's back yard, in the public services, in some of the biggest Labour-run councils in the land.

Strange isn't it that the unions now want to make zero hours contracts such a big issue in areas of industry where they have relatively little influence while ignoring the bigger issue of equal pay which was right on their doorstep, so to speak.  

It's all bound up with politics of course because that's the only reason to explain why the trade unions deliberately ignored the equal pay elephant in the room for all this time.   


War on workers: 100,000 Scots are now trapped in brutal zero hours contracts in high street of shame

By Mark Aitken - The Sunday Mail

DESPERATE employees reveal how they miss out on redundancy money, sick pay and pensions and can't get credit references, loans or mortgages.


100,000 workers are affected by zero hours contracts

MORE than 100,000 Scots are trapped on zero hour ­contracts without fixed hours and stripped of basic workers’ rights.

Many are forced to use foodbanks despite having jobs with some of Britain’s best-known firms.

The contracts mean employers can avoid offering redundancy pay and ­pensions, with workers often unable to obtain credit references, loans or mortgages.

The NHS, charities and some of the country’s biggest fast food chains and high street stores use the controversial contracts, which allow them to hire staff with no guarantee of work.

On Wednesday, Sports Direct, owned by Newcastle United owner and Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley, will be ­questioned by MPs over the issue.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress, who are launching a campaign to help exploited zero hour workers, branded the contracts a “national scandal”.

The Office for National Statistics estimate that 60,000 people in Scotland are on zero hour contracts, up from 46,000 the ­previous year.

But the STUC believe the real figure is more than 100,000.

Grahame Smith, general secretary of the STUC

STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said: “Zero hour contracts enable employers to dictate the number of hours a worker must undertake – anything from zero to over 40.

“Employees are completely unable to estimate how many hours will be ­available in a given week, how much money they will receive and whether they can undertake a second job to ­supplement their income.

“The working tax credit for a single person can only be claimed if an ­individual works 16 hours a week but whether an individual exceeds these hours can vary from week to week, often leading to delayed payments and increased uncertainty and pressure on household incomes.” Half of all zero hour workers earn less than £15,000 a year.

The Trussell Trust, who run a network of foodbanks across Scotland, said zero hour contracts were forcing workers to seek their help.

Ewan Gurr, the trust’s manager in Scotland, said: “The No1 one driving factor for people presenting at food banks is low income.

“Underlying causes include the rising costs of food and fuel, minimal ­employment opportunities for those seeking work and insecure employment for those in work.

Ewan Gurr, Scotland Development Officer for The Trussell Trust

“We are coming across an increasing number of people in our foodbanks who describe the pressure zero hour ­contracts and static incomes have put on them and their families.”

Last month the Institute of Directors described zero hour contracts as an “extremely attractive proposition” for employers and workers. The CBI claimed they help keep unemployment in the UK lower than in other countries.

But Citizens Advice Scotland said: “We regularly see clients on zero hour contracts whose hours vary considerably week to week, leaving it impossible for them to budget and building up debt as a result.

“We’ve even seen people having to go to a foodbank because they’ve been given no shifts for weeks.

It’s very difficult for workers on zero hour contracts to enforce their rights at work.

“Bureau staff have advised ­people who have been stopped from taking any holiday, or aren’t given sick pay so are unable to go into hospital for a necessary operation.

“If they try to complain about how they’re treated, it’s far too easy for their employer simply to stop giving them any work – basically dismissing them without any process being followed.”

According to research, 44 per cent of zero hour contract jobs last two years or more with the same employer and 25 per cent last five years or more. Unite Scottish Secretary Pat Rafferty said: “Zero hour contracts are a ­disgraceful employment practice that leave workers in limbo.

“People don’t know if they have a job or income from one day to the next and that’s no way to live.

Labour leader Ed Miliband

“The ranks of the working poor in Scotland and across the rest of the UK are swelling and zero hour ­contracts are a part of the problem.

“Their practice should be banned as part of a wider improvement of ­employment rights so that work does indeed pay and we can start to properly tackle the glaring income inequality gap.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband has ­promised to change the law on zero hour contracts if his party win the General Election in May.

Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead, last year tried to introduce a private ­member’s bill proposing that zero hour workers have similar rights and ­conditions to those offered to regular workers.

He told the Sunday Mail: “Not ­surprisingly it didn’t get support from the Government.

“But I have had ­discussions with the Labour leadership, who have assured me that they will put forward legislation in the next ­parliament if they form a government in May.

“I am opposed to the exploitation of zero hour contracts and want to see workers given a guaranteed ­minimum number of hours.”

Zero hour contracts emerged during the recession of the early 1990s. Since 2000, they have risen across the UK from 225,000 in 2000 to 697,000 in December last year.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has defended the contracts but said ­exclusivity clauses, which prevent ­people from looking for extra work ­elsewhere, would be banned.

The STUC are launching a new ­campaign to support those suffering from zero hour contracts, low pay and other poor employment ­conditions.

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