Tackle Homophobia in Schools and Colleges

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has called on the Government to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) equality education in the school curriculum, as the only way to address homophobic bullying in schools.

Speaking at the TUC’s annual LGBT conference held in London last week, Brendan Barber said that schools need to protect their pupils from homophobic bullying, and that promoting LGBT equality in the classroom is the best solution:

“While the UK’s education system ought to be in the vanguard of the fight against homophobic discrimination, all too often it is in fact part of the problem.

‘Whereas our schools and colleges have done much to counter racism and sexism, the same cannot be said when it comes to tackling homophobia. Despite some notable exceptions, too many educational establishments are breeding grounds for the worst kind of casual prejudice.

‘A survey by Stonewall last year laid bare the huge scale of the problem. Indeed its shocking findings ought to act as a wake-up call to us all. Almost all LGBT pupils reported hearing homophobic abuse. No less than two thirds reported being the victims of bullying. And perhaps most alarming of all, one in six said they had been subjected to death threats.

‘The consequences of all of this don’t just impact on academic attainment, which takes a pretty big hit. Don’t just impact on mental health, which is suffering as incidences of self-harm rise. But also on the self-esteem of young LGBT people, which is being shattered.

‘Schools and colleges doing are not doing enough. Fewer than a quarter have categorically said that homophobic bullying is wrong. And while 99 per cent of schools told the Stonewall survey they had general anti-bullying policies, just six per cent had anti-bullying policies that dealt with LGBT issues.

‘That’s why the TUC has joined forces with the teaching unions, Stonewall and other LGBT groups to make LGBT equality education becomes a priority for Government.”

Unison: “Offer Best Achievable by Negotiation”

Unison members in English FE colleges are to be balloted on the employers’ pay offer of a 3.2% increase or £550, whichever is greater. Their FE national committee have taken the view that the offer is “the best that can be achieved by negotiation and that if members vote to reject, they must be prepared to take part in sustained and escalating industrial action beginning with a two day all out strike.”

A consultation of ACM members is already underway through the branch network.

FE Staff In England Could See 3.2% Pay Rise

FE staff in England look set to receive a 3.2% pay rise if the deal is ratified by the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the six unions on the National Joint Forum. Previously the AoC had offered just 2.5% in line with other public sector pay deals. However, further rounds of negotiations resulted in the latest figure being tabled. The deal, if agreed, would run from 1st October 2008 for 10 months; and would be underpinned by a minimum £550 increase.

Peter Pendle, ACM General Secretary said, “We think that this is a very reasonable offer in the financial circumstances faced by many colleges. It is certainly better than that achieved almost anywhere else across the public sector and will go further towards narrowing the pay gap between colleges and schools. We will be encouraging members to support acceptance of the offer and hope that sister unions will be doing the same. As always, once the deal is finalised the focus will shift towards encouraging all colleges to implement the settlement in full”

ACM will now consult branches in England to see if members accept a 3.2% pay rise.

FE Unions Reject Latest Offer

Negotiators from the six further education trade unions, ACM, ATL, GMB, UCU, Unison & Unite representing 250,000 staff in England have rejected an offer from the employers’ organisation, the Association of Colleges. The offer included no new money for workers, as it would come into effect for only ten months of the year. It also provided no underpinning for the lowest paid staff.

Joint Trade Union Side Secretary and UNISON National Officer, Chris Fabby said:

“Further Education staff working in community colleges across the country are crucial to ensuring wider participation in education, and it is time their pay reflected this. The AOC talk about affordability, but this works both ways. Our members are struggling to put food on their tables and to heat their homes. With inflation running at over 4%, this offer goes nowhere near close enough to helping them.

“The Association of Colleges needs to be very careful. If they do not come back with a more realistic offer they run the risk of sleepwalking into a national dispute. This deal included no new money on the table for our members, and we reject outright efforts to undermine single table bargaining.”

£81 Million To Prepare Diploma Teachers

As some members will have seen, Schools Minister Jim Knight has announced £81 million of additional funding to prepare teachers to deliver the new Diploma.

The multi-million pound package for 2008-09 follows funding to train those who will be delivering the Diploma this September. The government’s aim is to ensure teachers and leaders in secondary schools and colleges are fully trained to teach the qualification as it continues to be rolled out to more secondary schools and colleges.

Diplomas are being offered for the first time this September in a small group of schools and colleges but will eventually be available across the country. Higher level Diplomas will be worth up to three and a half A Levels.

Jim Knight said, “The success of the changes will be down to how they are delivered and presented to young people. This can only be done by teachers on the ground and we are relying on them to make this work. That is why today I’m announcing £81m to help prepare teachers for the new Diploma.

“It is vital that the workforce is ready for the changes we are making to how children learn and the options they have after the age of 14. We shouldn’t be in any doubt that these changes are huge. Young people will have an unprecedented range of options available to them as they move towards university, college or on the job training. It is a major stepping stone in preparing for the new participation age of 18, which begins in 2015.

“Diplomas are supported by industry and over 100 universities and I believe they are exactly what is needed to enthuse those young people who feel that more traditional qualifications are not for them.”

Big Jump In Numbers Working Long Hours

An extra 180,000 people across the UK are working more than 48 hours a week in 2008, according to a TUC analysis of official statistics released today (Friday).

The analysis, included in the new TUC report – The Return of the Long Hours Culture – has found that the number of people working long hours has increased at a faster rate over the last year than the decline in excessive working between 1998 and 2006.

In the first quarter of 2008, the total number of people working long hours increased by 0.5 percentage points (180,000 people) to 3.3 million. The sharpest increases in long hours working occurred in the East of England (up 2.1 percentage points) and London (up 2 percentage points). Between 1998 and 2006, the number of people working more than 48 hours was reduced by 3.7 percentage points (707,000) from 3.8 million to 3.1 million.

The TUC report argues that the recent increase in the number of people working long hours is due to the challenging economic climate, which has made employers more reluctant to recruit new staff and instead work existing employees harder.

The analysis also finds that 85 per cent of new long hours workers are male. The TUC believes that this trend, in which senior jobs are increasingly reliant on long hours, could hamper efforts to close the pay gap, as women with childcare responsibilities are likely to be excluded from these roles.

In order to reverse the growth of long hours working, the TUC is calling for a stronger the Working Time Directive (WTD) to protect employees. Since its implementation in 1998, the WTD has helped to reduce excessive long hours, although the UK’s opt-out has meant that this progress, in the TUC’s view, has been too slow.

The TUC is calling on the Government to back proposals to strengthen the WTD, when employment ministers from the across Europe discuss the Directive at the EU Social Affairs Council meeting on 9 and 10 June.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “After slow but steady progress over the last decade, long hours working is making its way back into Britain’s workplaces. Employees across the UK already work the longest hours in Western Europe and the recent increase will mean lower productivity, more stress and less time to have a life outside the office with friends and family.’

“When the Government meets with other European Ministers next week, it should side with Britain’s 25 million workers and take action to end excessive working time, rather than side with the business lobbyists who act as apologists for Britain’s long hours culture.”

ACM’s own survey of members carried out towards the end of last year found that two out of three regularly worked in excess of 48 hours per week.

Campaign To Recruit FE Managers

A new management recruitment and development programme designed to support the further education (FE) sector has been launched.

Make a Difference aims to attract and recruit highly motivated, graduate-calibre candidates to management roles across a broad range of specialisms. Once employed, the programme will support participants with a tailored leadership development programme.

Make a Difference has been developed by Lifelong Learning UK, the employer-led sector skills council for the lifelong learning sector, as part of a series of initiatives and programmes to ensure that further education establishments better serve the needs of both learners and businesses, thereby raising the skills level of the UK’s workforce and meeting the demands of employers. According to the Learning Skills Council National Employers Skills Survey (2004), only 15% of employers make use of further education colleges when seeking solutions to their training and skills needs.

Fancy a Cruise Down the Channel?

A professional and honest approach to human relations can bring benefits to an employer, and a good HR  manager can certainly make it easier for a trade union to reach a negotiated outcome. But in our experience some  employers have scant regard for HR, and others simply appoint HR  mangers whose sole remit seems to be to say “No”. Then there are those from the anti-union stable who seek to divide and rule, and those who remain remote in their ivory towers. Not surprising then that this poor approach to HR is more aptly known as Human Remains.

Sadly, HR big cheeses have not helped improve their image this week. According to Personnel Today,  a group of them are holding a conference on a luxury cruise liner somewhere in the English Channel. This gives a whole new slant to the phrase “out of touch”.

Scandal Of Mistreatment and Low Pay

Two million UK workers are ‘trapped in a continual round of low-paid and insecure work where mistreatment is the norm’ according to the findings of the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment, published this week.

The Commission, set up by the TUC and involving employers and independent experts as well as trade unionists, says Government, unions, employers and consumers must now all play a part in ending exploitation at work.

Commissioners say that they were shocked both by the extent of vulnerable work and that much of the poor treatment they found was perfectly legal. The report says that ‘employment practices attacked as exploitative in the 19th century are still common today’ and that the ‘poor treatment at work that we have found should not be tolerated.’

Commissioner and SERCO Chairman Kevin Beeston said: ‘During my time on the Commission, meeting vulnerable workers and hearing the evidence first-hand for myself, I have become increasingly surprised by my own and society’s ignorance of these issues.

‘It’s disappointing to see how low the morals of some unscrupulous employers can be, and it’s time society stopped turning a blind eye to these workplace abuses that are shaming the world of work and tarnishing the reputations of good employers.’

TUC General Secretary and Chair of the Commission Brendan Barber said, ‘All the Commissioners – whatever their backgrounds – were shocked at just how vulnerable some workers are in today’s Britain. Their treatment is a national scandal, and we need urgent action.

‘But we have to cut thought the sterile debate that has turned any proposal to help even the most exploited people at work into a pro-union, anti-business old Labour move. Good employers have nothing to fear – and much to gain – from policies that stop them being undercut by bad employers who break the law or use loopholes to get round it.’

The report says that vulnerable workers suffer because they do not know their rights, lack an escape route from vulnerable jobs, cannot get their rights enforced – and often suffer when they try to – and that they fall through gaps in employment law that mean they do not enjoy the decent minimum standards to which the Government is committed. The report reveals OECD research showing that the UK has less employment protection than any other advanced economy apart from the USA.

Among the recommendations made by the Commission’s report, available free on-line at www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk are

• To counter widespread ignorance of employment rights, particularly among vulnerable workers, there should be a major awareness programme and better funding of employment rights advice.
• To counter the lack of proactive and co-ordinated enforcement of employment rights, there should be more funding for enforcement agencies such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the minimum wage enforcement unit of HMRC, changes in the law that will allow them to work together more closely and more proactive enforcement that targets bad employers without waiting for complaints from their insecure victims.
• Some straightforward breaches of employment rights, such as illegal deductions from pay packets, which currently can only be enforced by individuals taking difficult and slow Employment Tribunal cases should be policed by an agency such as HMRC’s minimum wage enforcement unit.
• A new Fair Employment Commission involving employers, unions and civil society groups should co-ordinate the work of enforcement agencies, monitor awareness of employment rights and make recommendations to Government.
• The Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority (GLA) regime should apply to other sectors where agencies use vulnerable workers as there is evidence of exploitative treatment in sectors that are not currently regulated such as care homes or construction.
• There should be a reform of employment status law that denies rights and any security to workers who do not count as employees as they do not have a contract of employment.
• Equal treatment for agency workers with permanent employees doing the same work.
• Changes in immigration law to reduce the vulnerability of migrant workers who raise complaints to losing their jobs and thus facing destitution.
• Vulnerable workers should be helped to move into better jobs, through more training – including ESOL for migrant workers – and a more flexible benefits system.

Commissioner Belinda Earl, Chief Executive, Jaeger, said: ‘During my work on the Commission I was able to meet with some of the UK’s most vulnerable workers in London. I was shocked that such poor practice still exists; one worker that I spoke to told me he had worked 70 hours a week, in a fast food takeaway, for 3 years without any paid holiday – and he was not even being paid the minimum wage. I also met with migrant domestic workers, who were being underpaid and exploited – and who faced physical and sexual violence from their employers. It is unacceptable that these practices exist today and more action is needed to prevent these extreme violations of employment law.’

FE Unions Reject Pay Offer

The six Further Education unions representing 250,000 members in England have today (May 1) rejected the employers (Association of Colleges) pay offer of 2.5%. The six trade unions – ACM, ATL, GMB, UCU, UNISON, UNITE – submitted a catch-up pay claim for 6% or £1,500, whichever is the greater. This would establish a minimum wage level of £7.38 for workers in FE.

Joint Trade Union side Secretary and UNISON National Officer, Chris Fabby, said: “We reject this offer outright. 2.5% is just not enough. This year, our members have been struggling to cope with huge hikes in the cost of essentials like fuel, food and housing.

“The employers must get back around the negotiating table with a more realistic offer. We need a fairer deal for the low paid who can earn as little as £12,738 per year.

“Last year workers in FE got a below inflation pay deal. If this happens again, we run the risk of prompting a recruitment and retention crisis.”

The offer covers all FE staff including lecturers, managers, learning support staff, librarians, IT specialists, technicians, professional staff, administrative and business support staff, cleaners, canteen staff and estate management staff.

Joint Trade Union Side Secretary and UCU Head of Further Education, Barry Lovejoy, said: “A pay increase of 2.5% just won’t make up for years of below-inflation awards or remedy the 6% FE-school teacher pay gap. And it doesn’t address the widespread dissatisfaction with poor pay in the face of increasing workload pressures demonstrated by the independent survey carried out recently for UCU.

“The employers need to go back to the drawing board and come up with an offer that will enable FE to avert a potential staffing crisis that could well de-rail the government’s skills strategy.”

End 30 Year Wait For New Bank Holiday

The TUC is today (Thursday) marking the 30^th anniversary of the creation of the May Day holiday – the last bank holiday to be introduced in the UK – by calling for a new autumn holiday to celebrate the great British tradition of volunteering.

The Callaghan Government introduced the May Day bank holiday on 1 May 1978. As people across the UK celebrated the extra day off work, the Bee Gees were top of the charts with Night Fever, Nottingham Forest were on the way to winning the First Division and a pint of bitter cost just 40p.

But while the worlds of football and music have moved on, the UK’s bank holiday allocation has been left behind. No new bank holidays have been introduced since 1978, leaving Britain with just eight, the second lowest in Europe.

The TUC believes that a new bank holiday would help repay employees for their part in building the UK’s economic success. The real value of the economy has doubled since 1978, but wages have not kept pace. If today’s workers had the same share of the economy that went to wages in 1978, they would each have an extra £2,339 per year – easily enough to pay for another bank holiday.

The TUC, along with leading voluntary organisations, want a new Community Day bank holiday in late October to celebrate and encourage volunteering and community activity.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “We’ve gone thirty years without a new bank holiday and the UK is now languishing behind the rest of Europe. People are crying out for a new bank holiday, a call that politicians should be listening to.

“A new bank holiday would give everyone much-needed time with friends and family. Timing it around late October would also create a welcome pit-stop to break the gruelling four-month stint between the August bank holiday and the Christmas break.

“But a new bank holiday should not just be a day off work, it should be a special day that brings the nation together. What better cause for us all to celebrate than our great British tradition of volunteering.”

The Community Day campaign is supported by the TUC, Volunteering England, National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), Community Service Volunteers (CSV) and the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA).

The TUC has supported an early day motion (EDM 1400) calling for a new bank holiday. So far 55 MPs have signed the EDM (as of Monday 28 April). 

Better Occupational Health Needed

The TUC has today (Monday) called on UK employers to give better occupational health assistance to the two million employees who every year believe they have become ill as a result of their jobs.

To coincide with Workers’ Memorial Day – which this year focuses on good occupational health for all workers – the TUC and unionlearn, its learning and skills organisation, are publishing a new guide to occupational health for union safety reps.

Over the next year, the TUC hopes that around 15,000 workplace safety reps can be trained using the new educational workbook, Occupational Health: Dealing with the Issues. The reps will be able to use the guide to assess the extent of ill health in their workplaces and work with their employers to find the best ways of making the business a healthier place to work.

The TUC workbook says that apart from the huge personal cost to individuals when they become ill as a result of their work, 175 million working days were lost as a result of sickness absence in 2006, costing firms £650 per poorly employee.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Workplaces where there are union safety reps tend to be both safer and healthier places. But the UK is currently facing an epidemic of occupational ill health. Many people are ill and in pain as a result of lifting injuries, slips and trips, stress and noise-induced hearing loss suffered either at, or caused by, their work.

‘Using this workbook, union reps can learn about all the aspects of occupational health. Then they can use it to encourage their employers to do much more to make employees feel they are getting a decent level of support from work when they are ill and again when they are on the road towards a full recovery.”

Worker’s Memorial Day is held on 28 April every year, when all over the world workers and their representatives conduct events, demonstrations, vigils and a whole host of other activities to mark the day. The day is also intended to serve as a rallying cry to ‘remember the dead, but fight like hell for the living.’