Let Asylum Seekers Work

Welcoming ‘Like any other child?’, a new report from children’s charity Barnardo’s published today (Monday), which calls for asylum seekers to be allowed to work so that they can lift their children out of poverty, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

‘Banning asylum seekers from working condemns them and their families to poverty while they await the outcome of their asylum claims. With cases often taking months and even years to resolve, asylum seekers face the stark choice of trying to survive on meagre benefits, paid at a lower rate than everyone else, or of exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous employers in the informal economy.

‘In their flight to leave the terror back home, asylum seekers have often lost everything, allowing them to work would not only allow them to regain some of their dignity, it would also enable them to start rebuilding their lives.

‘More importantly, by the time many achieve refugee status and are allowed to stay in the UK, many asylum seekers have been out of the job market for so long they lack the confidence and the necessary skills to go out and find decent, well-paid work. The TUC will continue to work with Barnardo’s and other organisations to press ministers to change the law and let asylum seekers start making the contribution they want to make to the UK economy.’

Cancelling Christmas

According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, every year, a local authority or public body like a school or college falls prey to the accusation of “cancelling Christmas” and PC run amok. The resulting media furore, say the Commission, is now a regular ritual of the holiday season itself.

Indeed, a couple of weeks ago one broadcaster made a real splash about schools “banning” nativity plays for fear of offending people from other religions. Not surprisingly, outraged viewers contacted the station condemning political correctness while others laid the blame at different faiths.

In response to such reporting, the Commission has joined with high profile faith leaders to claim Christmas back. In a joint statement, senior figures from the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities have joined with the Commission to say: Let’s stop being silly about a Christian Christmas.

Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said last week,”A lot of these stories about Christmas are the usual silly season stuff. But I can’t help feeling there’s sometimes an underlying agenda to use this great holiday to fuel community tension. That’s why I asked leaders in different religious communities to join me in saying: It’s time to stop being daft about Christmas. It’s fine to celebrate and it’s fine for Christ to be the star of the show.”

Anil Bhanot, General Secretary, Hindu Council UK said, “Hindus celebrate Christmas too. It’s a great holiday for everyone living in Britain. We would like Christians to continue to carry Jesus’ message of love. Barring the faiths of others does not fit in with the Hindu religion.”

Dr Indarjit Singh, Director, Network of Sikh Organisations UK said, “Every year I am asked, ‘do I object to the celebration of Christmas?’ It’s an absurd question. As ever, my family and I will send out our Christmas cards to our Christian friends and others. In the spirit of Christmas, we in the Singh family will, as usual, force ourselves to have extra turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies, the lot – all in the cause of inter-faith harmony. No one can say Sikhs don’t go the extra mile!”

Shayk Ibrahim Mogra, Chair of the Inter Faith Relations Committee, Muslim Council of Britain said, “To suggest celebrating Christmas and having decorations offends Muslims is absurd. Why should Christmas not be celebrated openly and wholeheartedly in our country when a vast majority of people are Christians? Why can’t we have more nativity scenes in Britain? It would be wonderful to show my children what Jesus means to Christians and to learn the different beliefs we all hold.”

Speak Up For Public Services

At 11.00am today (Tuesday) in Westminster, the TUC and its 26 member unions representing the UK’s public sector workforce (including ACM), launched a major new campaign urging the Government not to impose below inflation public sector pay increases in the coming year.

All the unions have signed a statement (the full text of which appears below), which calls on ministers to accept in full the recommendations that the various pay review bodies are due to make in the coming months and so avoid any repetition of the anger that provoked a wave of strike ballots across the public sector earlier this year.

Text of public servants deserve fair pay statement:

The TUC launches the Speak Up for Public Services campaign today to urge the Government to think again about imposing below inflation pay increases on public servants over the coming year.

The Government’s target of two per cent pay rises across the public sector represents a cut in living standards when the cost of living is rising at around four per cent a year.

Our public services bind the nation together. At times of emergency - whether from natural disasters such as flooding, terrorist outrages or threats such as avian flu, bluetongue or foot and mouth - the nation depends on public servants working beyond the call of duty. The social fabric and welfare of the people depends on the daily commitment of those who work in health, education, the justice system and all the many other public services - many of which people only notice if they stop.

Public servants do not understand why they are facing cuts in their pay. In the current financial year many are having below inflation rises phased, thus further reducing their value. Ministers should remember that they inherited a demoralised and under-resourced public sector from the previous government where below inflation pay had led to difficulties in recruitment and retention, and badly hit the quality of service to the public.

This Government deserves praise for ending the cycles of boom and bust in the wider economy, but it looks as if we are now returning to bust in public sector pay.

Ministers risk doing damage to the structure of industrial relations in the public sector and jeopardising good work to promote partnership working. Pay Review Bodies cover large parts of the public sector, and were established to reduce conflict and introduce integrity and impartiality into settling pay in the public sector. By not accepting their recommendations, or interfering in implementation, ministers have already provoked strike ballots and damaged the public sector ethos.

Nor do public servants or economic experts accept that public sector pay is driving inflation, or that cutting the living standards of public service workers will make any significant contribution to reducing inflation.

The TUC and public sector unions call on ministers to step back and think again about public sector pay before resentment further builds and the current concerns over recruitment, retention and morale become embedded.

The Speak Up for Public Services campaign, which we launch today, will closely monitor developments across each area of the public sector and support unions in their negotiations for fair pay. Unions will be working together to co-ordinate pay strategies within local government, education, the health service, the justice system and the civil service to build support among members and put forward early claims to employers. Regular updates and bulletins will be issued to exchange information on progress across the public sector and the TUC will be organising a series of informed debates, led by independent pay experts and helping unions to exchange information on arguments and evidence. The campaign will also continue to co-ordinate action by public sector unions in defending their services and their members from unjustified budgetary cuts and privatisation policies.

The TUC campaign will also call for pay increases to reflect the true cost of living in the UK. The Government insists on using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which currently stands at 2.1% as its target for pay awards. Yet working people are currently facing real inflation levels of 4.1% according to the Retail Price Index (RPI). This measure, which includes housing costs, is a more accurate and realistic reflection of the rising cost of living than the CPI.

The TUC and the unions will be producing regular updates for the media, the public, MPs and union members on the campaign, seeking to ensure that ministers understand why public sector workers deserve fair pay and asking them to support trade unions and to Speak up for Public Services.

Camapian Launched Against HIV Discrimination

To coincide with World AIDS Day 2007 tomorrow (Saturday) the TUC is launching a workplace leaflet and poster campaign about HIV, to combat the discrimination and stigma that accompanies infection.

Alongside the global pandemic, infections in the UK continue to rise with more than 70,000 people now HIV positive in Britain. The workplace is a key battleground against HIV as it is a condition suffered disproportionately by people of working age. And although discrimination on grounds of HIV infection is illegal under the Disability Discrimination Act - many people living with HIV face unfair treatment at work.

The TUC advice, written jointly with the National AIDS Trust, explains the main facts about HIV and how it is transmitted, as well as relevant employment law issues. It also points out the need for unions to guard against the risks of unfair discrimination against people living with HIV.

The leaflet proposes policies to support those with HIV at work that unions can negotiate with employers, and also points out the danger that ignorance about HIV can lead to homophobia and racism - as gay men and black Africans are the two groups in society where the highest rate of infection occurs.

Website For Polish Workers Launches

The TUC today (Thursday) launches a new Polish website to support the increasing number of Polish workers in the UK. The website http://www.pracawbrytanii.org - run by the TUC in partnership with Citizens Advice and Solidarnosc - explains the rights workers can expect at work, from the minimum wage and working time to holiday entitlement and sick pay; information about social issues such as housing and health; and guidance about what living and working in the UK is really like.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, thousands of Polish workers have come to the UK to make their living, and 222,760 Poles registered for National Insurance numbers in 2006-7. Sadly many of these workers have fallen prey to unscrupulous employers and have been forced to work long hours for little pay, in unsafe workplaces with very few employment rights.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Polish workers are making a substantial contribution to Britain’s economy, and sectors like agriculture and construction would struggle without their valuable contribution.

‘However, some rogue employers are taking advantage of this new, vulnerable workforce, and exploiting their lack of understanding of British working culture and problems with language.

‘It is clear Polish workers need help both to understand and also secure their rights. By using this new website and working with unions, advice agencies and other similar organisations, migrant workers can get all the support and protection from crooked employers they are entitled to.”

The website is supported by a guide ‘Living and working in the UK: Your rights’, written jointly by the TUC and the Citizens Advice service. The guide gives useful advice and tips for new arrivals on living in the UK, and focuses on issues that might cause problems at work. The guide is available in English, and copies in Polish will be available shortly.

There are sections on: housing, council tax, TV licences, energy suppliers, as well as advice on how to access healthcare, open a bank account and find a suitable school. The work part of the guide covers national insurance and tax, the minimum wage, holidays, agency workers, and health and safety. The final pages contain a useful list of contacts that should prove invaluable to new arrivals.

Massive Cost Of Child Poverty

Child poverty is costing £40 billion a year through increased crime, public spending and lost economic productivity, a TUC conference will be told today (Wednesday 17 October). Without urgent action the Government will miss its pledge to halve the 3.8 million children currently living in poverty by 2010.

Measures in the Comprehensive Spending Review will, according to the Government’s own figures, lift only an extra 100,000 children above the poverty threshold. They fall far short of the extra £4 billion that experts agree is needed to halve child poverty by 2010, the conference, coinciding with World Poverty Day will hear.

At £40 billion, the cost of inaction on child poverty is ten times the cost of reducing it. The TUC believe the £4 billion needed can easily be paid for by fairer taxation of the super-rich. Introducing a proper residence test for non-doms would raise more than £4 billion.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “As the world focuses on the plight of children around the globe, it’s shocking that 3.8 million children in the UK are living in poverty. Child poverty costs £40 billion a year, or £2,500 for every family in the UK. It’s a problem none of us can afford to ignore.

‘But the Government’s commitment to halve child poverty by 2010 must now be in doubt, following the failure to step up spending and a deeply unambitious tax take from the super-rich.

‘Hints that the Government is thinking of adopting tax breaks for marriage is even more worrying. Child poverty can only be eradicated by focusing on the needs of the children, not on the marital status of the parents. A tax break for married parents is the same as a tax punishment for the children of lone and unmarried parents.

‘An extra investment of £4 billion is needed to halve child poverty by 2010. But the cost of inaction is ten times greater. The Government is running out of time to meet its child poverty pledge. Today, as members of the Campaign to end child poverty, we urge the Government to take decisive action.”

Today’s TUC Poverty Conference will kick off a ‘Month of Action’ organised by the Campaign to End Poverty - a coalition of more than 90 organisations committed to eradicating child poverty in the UK. Speakers at the conference will examine the impact of benefits, housing and social services on child poverty. The keynote speaker will be the Rt Hon Peter Hain MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

TUC Reaction To Chancellor’s Statement

Reacting to yesterday’s statement from the Chancellor, TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, said:

“There is much to welcome, especially new investment in education, health, transport, science and the environment. The economy continues to do well, and the public finances are in good shape.

‘But some parts of the public sector have received a very tight settlement. The Government must understand that it cannot expect public servants to fund this through further cuts in their real pay after this year’s staged awards.

‘We also warmly welcome the Chancellor’s recognition of the tax loopholes enjoyed by the super-rich through both private equity and non-dom status - an issue that unions have put firmly on the agenda.

‘But the Chancellor has only started the process of closing the loopholes today. It would have been far better to introduce a proper residence test than make the non-dom regime even more complex. We estimate this would quickly start to raise an extra £4 billion a year.

‘This would have provided more funds to tackle child poverty. Of course we welcome the rise in tax credits and other measures that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty, but more progress is needed if the Government is to meet its own target.

‘While it is right to review inheritance tax thresholds each year, we are not convinced the Chancellor has been right to be so generous. Only one in twenty estates pay inheritance tax - and many do not realise that tax is only paid on the extra over the threshold, so people with property just over the limit only pay a very small amount. This will do nothing to make Britain more equal, and the money it will cost would have been better spent on better public services and attacking poverty.”

TUC: End Tax Loopholes For Super Rich

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has today (Tuesday) called on the Chancellor Alistair Darling to use the Pre-Budget Report and the Comprehensive Spending Review to close tax loop-holes for the super-rich and use the proceeds to make further progress towards the Government’s target of ending child poverty.

Brendan Barber said: “The Chancellor should use his statement today to signal a crackdown on the abuse of tax loop-holes by the super-rich. No one is calling for a return to penal marginal rates of tax, but it is only right that the super-rich pay a fair share of their income.

‘Alistair Darling should look at both the tax treatment of private equity and the taxation of non-domiciles. Introducing a tougher test for non-doms could easily raise the £4 billion that would provide what most experts say is needed to make the required progress on Labour’s child poverty pledge.

‘What he should not do is take up Conservative suggestions. Even if their poll tax for non-doms is legal, it fails to tax fairly the real super-rich, and then uses the proceeds to help not the poor or even the middle classes but the top one in twenty who actually pay inheritance tax. It’s redistribution from the super-rich to the merely extremely well off.”

Burma Protest

Following a decision of its Council, ACM has written to the Burmese Embassy expressing concern at the continuing suppression of protest in that country and urging the release of all those who have been arrested.

It comes as campaigners plan a global day of action on Burma this Saturday. In the UK, the protest is being organised by 25 organisations including the Burma Campaign UK, Amnesty International and the TUC.

In London, the day of action will start at 11am with monks leading a march from Tate Britain over Westminster Bridge where they will drop petals into the Thames. They will then stop and tie their headbands onto the Downing Street gates before proceeding to a rally at Trafalgar Square.

More information can be found at www.burmacampaign.org.uk

Culture and Religion Are Not Biggest Barriers

New research reveals that people’s perceptions of ethnic minority women in the workplace are lagging behind the reality.

Nearly four in 10 people (37%) think that unemployed Bangladeshi and Pakistani women face cultural and religious barriers that prevent them from working (after family and caring responsibilities, 43%), according to an Ipsos MORI survey commissioned jointly by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). The survey also showed that around a half (53%) of people thought that white British women in work were more likely than ethnic minority women in work to have a degree.

But a separate study on Pakistani and Bangladeshi women’s attitudes to work and family published today by the DWP, found that attitudes are changing from one generation to next. It shows that difficulties in finding suitable childcare and flexible working arrangements act as the biggest barrier to work for ethnic minority women, in the same way as they do for women in general.

What’s more, research from the EOC’s own report looking at ethnic minority women at work found that 90 percent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi 16 year old girls said their parents supported their choice to combine a career with their family responsibilities.

When it comes to levels of education, public attitudes are also out of touch with the times. Information from the 2001 census shows that only 24% of white British women in work have a degree, compared to 52% of Black African women, 35% of Pakistani women, 32% of Black Caribbean women, 30% Bangladeshi women and 38% of Indian women.

Jenny Watson, Chair of the EOC, said: “The gap between the public’s perceptions about the obstacles holding ethnic minority women back at work and the actual reality is startling. While many pin the cause of Black and Asian women’s employment gap on culture and lack of skills, the evidence, particularly for younger women, is pointing to something very different.

“As the EOC’s two-year investigation illustrated, there is a generation of increasingly well qualified and ambitious young women, the vast majority of whom tell us their families support their choices to balance a career with a family. We need to tackle both the practical barriers they face such as help with childcare and better careers advice as well as challenging persistent and outdated stereotypes. Only then will we deliver real change.”

TUC Reaction To Brown Speech

This week Gordon Brown made his first speech as Prime Minister to the Trades Union Congress. Commenting, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

“This was a Prime Minister at ease with a trade union audience, and with a series of policy initiatives that will be widely welcomed, particularly those designed to crack down on bad employers, help the jobless find work and boost skills.

“Of course differences remain such as public sector pay, and unions will always urge a Labour government to go further and faster, but what is clear is that this government wants to engage with the union agenda and shares many of our values and objectives.”

TUC attacks Tory Deregulation Plans

The TUC has attacked proposals to cut “red tape” coming from the Conservative party’s Economic Competitiveness Review chaired by John Redwood. It said that the proposals could only be implemented by breaching European regulations and opting out of the social chapter.

Earlier this week Redwood told the BBC that possible targets include regulations on working time, health and safety and data protection. The Tories claim their plans could amount to savings worth £14 billion.

However, in their briefing, Conservative Deregulation Proposals, the TUC argues that the plans are unlikely to result in such savings and will threaten important employment rights such as

• the right to take four weeks paid holiday
• the right to take emergency unpaid leave such as the need to care for a sick child
• the right to take unpaid parental leave
• the right for part timers to be treated equally to equivalent full time staff.

The briefing asks whether this is compatible with David Cameron’s support for flexible working.

TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O Grady said, “This looks like a pretty extreme bunch of policies that go further than Mrs Thatcher ever did. It’s unlikely to achieve any economic benefits but it will have two immediate consequences. First it will hit flexible-working and family- friendly policies - bad news in particular for working women. Secondly it almost seems as if the policies have been deliberately chosen to force a confrontation with the EU as they cannot be implemented if the UK remains a member. There is nothing in them for mainstream employers, except the fear they will be undercut by the bad.

“Mr Cameron has made some interesting speeches about flexible working and the modern workplace, yet these proposals would turn the clock back. Endorsing Mr Redwood’s package would be hard to reconcile with his recent speeches.”