TUC Calls For Stronger Apprenticeships Strategy

The TUC has published its response to the Government’s consultation on World Class Apprenticeships; and it can be downloaded in PDF format from the TUC website.

In summary, the TUC welcomes the government’s strategy. However there are a number of areas where it has concerns, as well as recommendations for strengthening the strategy.

Indeed, the TUC is concerned about measures that would create additional responsibilities for apprentices, and it opposes any weakening of apprentice rights. It also says stronger levers should be used to boost employer-based places, including through the use of public procurement in all public sector contracts. The TUC wants to see sector levies as well as statutory rights to collective bargaining over training. It also calls for a further expansion of Adult Apprenticeships.

Sexism and the City

Today (Tuesday) the Fawcett Society launches a major new campaign, Sexism and the City, calling for tough action to stamp out sexism in UK workplaces.

Why? Because nearly 40 years on from the outlawing of discrimination against women in the workplace, sexism remains rife:

• Only 11% of FTSE 100 company directors are women
• 30,000 women lose their jobs every year in the UK simply for being pregnant
• Two thirds of low paid workers are women
• Women working full-time are paid on average 17% less than men
• 18% of sex discrimination compensation awards are for sexual harassment
• The first UK lapdance club opened in 1995. There are now over 300 lapdance clubs in the UK

For the first time the Fawcett Society is joining the dots between women’s experiences in the workplace and a wider culture in which women are subject to sexist stereotypes and are increasingly sexually objectified.

Sexist workplaces: Attempts to shoe-horn women in to workplaces designed by men for men have failed. The result? Motherhood carries a penalty and poverty has a female face. Fawcett is calling on the Government to extend the right to work flexibly to all so that flexible working is not seen as the “mummy track”, and ending the opt-out of the EU Work Time Directive in order to curb the destructive long working hours culture.

Sexist attitudes: All women are now subject to a damaging culture of sexual objectification, waved in by the normalization of the sex ‘industry’. Women in the workplace experience worrying levels of direct sexual harassment, and visiting a lapdance club has become an increasingly normal way for companies to entertain clients. Yet polling carried out by Ipsos MORI and published today shows:

• 60% of women would be very or fairly uncomfortable working for an organisation that allows its employees to use lapdancing venues for entertaining clients.
• 52% of men and 59% of women believe it is not acceptable for businesses to use lapdance clubs as venues for entertaining clients.

As a first step to challenging the objectification of women, Fawcett is calling for lapdance clubs to be licensed as Sex Encounter Establishments (as sex shops currently are) instead of the current Premises License (like ordinary pubs and clubs), enabling local authorities to place greater restrictions on the clubs.

TUC Response To Immigration Report

Commenting on the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee report on ‘The Economic Impacts of Immigration’, TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, said:

“The TUC has always said that on balance immigration has been good for the economy and good for society. Without the contribution of migrant workers important parts of public services and the private economy would collapse.

‘This does not mean that there have been no problems associated with recent patterns of migration, but the solution is to deal with these issues, rather than abuse migrant workers.

‘Where public services are under strain, then there should be more investment, given the extra tax revenue generated from migrant workers.

‘The Committee is absolutely right to endorse the TUC view that unscrupulous employers have used the availability of migrant workers to abuse employment standards such as the minimum wage. The Government should act on the Committee’s recommendation to crack down on these bad bosses and agencies who use migrant workers to undermine decent secure jobs.”