tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/worker-rights-12488/articlesWorker rights – The Conversation2023-09-26T10:59:51Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140262023-09-26T10:59:51Z2023-09-26T10:59:51Z‘You have to be everybody’s best friend’: how dreams and desires leave TV and film crew vulnerable to workplace exploitation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550047/original/file-20230925-19-cig4tr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4256%2C2331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/behind-scene-film-crew-studio-montage-1132607975">guruXOX/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/russell-brand-in-plain-sight-dispatches">recent investigation</a> by UK media outlets has uncovered a number of sexual assault allegations against Russell Brand, a comedian and TV presenter. Brand has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psFiwFI_VQo">denied the accusations</a>, however this is a timely reminder of the urgent need to challenge and address power asymmetries – not just between men and women, but within workplaces, and particularly across the creative industries.</p>
<p>People may work for little or no money, often for experience or exposure – typically in the hope that future opportunities may follow. We call this “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0018726720940777">hope labour</a>”. This phenomenon is widespread, especially among those in the earlier stages of their working lives.</p>
<p>Hope labour is distinct from free labour because the work is discounted against imagined future opportunities or earnings. But our research shows it also creates a power imbalance: in hoping to gain experience or make connections in your chosen industry, you might be so eager to get a foothold that you leave yourself open to exploitation in terms of working hours, pay and conditions.</p>
<p>In the creative industries, hope labour is widely understood as a necessary pre-condition to paid work. There is a need for people to “prove that they deserve to earn their living”, as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0018726720940777">one person told us</a> when we spoke about their experiences in the creative industries. This is how exploitative labour and working conditions become the responsibility of the hope labourer.</p>
<p>This form of self-exploitation is often understood as a rite of passage, or an obligation, even if it has a wider negative effect on the labour market. By working for free or at reduced rates, hope labourers downgrade the value of labour in the very sectors they wish to work in. They effectively become the gravediggers of their own and their peers’ careers.</p>
<p>And hope labour is only possible in certain settings. Creative and cultural jobs are often characterised by self-employment, uncertainty, project-based work, long hours, inequality and competition for scant opportunities. The resulting risks – not getting enough work to pay your bills – are transferred to workers, while employers are freed from the costs involved in standard employment. </p>
<h2>The rise of freelancers</h2>
<p>Work in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00187267211062863">TV and film</a> has transformed over the last 30 years. Freelancers make up <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/166804/diversity-in-tv-2019-freelancers.pdf">over a third</a> of broadcasters’ workforces, although many previously worked in-house. </p>
<p>Recruitment and vetting for freelance teams are often managed through informal social networks. Commissioning editors use their connections to build their teams. </p>
<p>And commissions are given to independent production companies, which can reduce, if not absolve, broadcasters from the legal responsibility for hiring labour and managing production. </p>
<p>People, therefore, see social networks as important gateways to work that ought to be extended and nurtured. To gain access to these groups, undertaking unpaid or under-compensated work in the creative industries can be considered a necessity – or even an opportunity – rather than a hindrance. </p>
<p>This leaves hope labourers both keen but also at risk of exploitation. They need to build experience, reputation, exposure, or simply maintain access to work opportunities. </p>
<p>Our research also shows that being passionate about your art or work can help to downplay the severity of these risks and unequal power relations. It creates a “<a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/cruel-optimism">cruel optimism</a>” that you can turn experiences of uncertainty and vulnerability into future security. In this way, work isn’t simply about earning, it’s a way to build reputation, gain creative freedom or fulfilment, and learn or enhance skills. </p>
<h2>Getting a reputation</h2>
<p>Reputations are important and travel widely in the creative industries, especially if you can keep your cool during tricky shoots or moments of stress. One freelance artist and curator that we spoke to during our study of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0018726720940777">hope labour</a> among creative freelancers, admitted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>there’s a trap that people fall into. I’m going to sound like a psychopath here, but that you have to be really nice with everybody all the time and that you have to be everybody’s best friend … People are trying to extract value from your time and they’ll keep taking that value if you keep giving them it as well. So you have to be careful with that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is how the exploitation of hopes and desires in creative work and employment creates persistent power asymmetries. When your working life is governed by anxiety and insecurity about your next contract, project or job, you might be unwilling to speak out for fear of reputational damage or reprisal. And the <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526144164/">precarious working conditions in creative industries</a> provide few safe spaces for dialogue and critique, rebuke and reform. </p>
<p>This leaves people open to witnessing or even being subject to the kinds of situations that have been alleged by the joint investigation into Brand. Production staff interviewed by Dispatches <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/18/first-edition-russell-brand#:%7E:text=Production%20staff%20on%20the%20programme,Brand's%20needs%2C%E2%80%9D%20they%20said.:%7E:text=%E2%80%98We%20were%20basically%20acting%20like%20pimps%20to%20Russell%20Brand%E2%80%99s%20needs%E2%80%99">talked about</a> “acting like pimps to Russell Brand’s needs”, hinting at a reluctance to upset the “talent”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Russell Brand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550049/original/file-20230925-25-anm63a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550049/original/file-20230925-25-anm63a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550049/original/file-20230925-25-anm63a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550049/original/file-20230925-25-anm63a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550049/original/file-20230925-25-anm63a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550049/original/file-20230925-25-anm63a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550049/original/file-20230925-25-anm63a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Russell Brand has denied recent allegations but recent media coverage has highlighted concerns about power imbalances in many workplaces in the creative industries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-oct-11-russell-brand-despicable-63047002">Chris Harvey/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the wake of the reporting, Philippa Childs, head of UK media and entertainment union Bectu, <a href="https://members.bectu.org.uk/advice-resources/library/3155">told broadcasters</a>: “In a sector where power imbalances are particularly extreme and the environment for junior freelancers can be incredibly precarious, it’s critical that victims can have confidence that their complaints will be taken seriously, investigated thoroughly, dealt with swiftly, and perpetrators held to account.”</p>
<p>The recently formed <a href="https://ciisa.org.uk/">Creative Industries Independent Standards Agency (CIISA)</a> offers the beginnings of an independent body for raising concerns about poor behaviour, workplace safety, and advice and protections. This could provide a way to challenge the disproportionate effects of a deregulated labour market on these freelancers. </p>
<p>If so, desires and hopes could be directed towards helping creative workers critique the way their industries are governed and managed. Hope, in this sense, would point to a different future that could be about fairness, equity and safety for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Hope labour’ leaves people working in creative industries open to exploitation as they try to develop their careers.Ewan Mackenzie, Lecturer in Work and Employment, Newcastle UniversityAlan Mckinlay, Professor of Human Resource Management, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2084762023-08-09T14:31:07Z2023-08-09T14:31:07ZA ‘shadow economy’ of firms like hand car washes and nail salons is exploiting workers – and regulations are making things worse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541785/original/file-20230808-25-2tqj1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C28%2C3837%2C2556&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">elly johnson/unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Almost a million UK workers do not receive holiday pay and the UK continues to lag behind most European countries in <a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2023/04/Enforce-for-good.pdf">tackling the exploitation of these workers</a>.</p>
<p>Our research indicates this is because the UK’s regulatory framework for businesses is too permissive. Its complexity also gives certain types of business cover to flout the rules. And regulators just don’t have the resources to monitor these businesses properly and force them to abide by the rules. </p>
<p>The regulatory framework for UK businesses needs to be redesigned to suit the current economic environment of restricted resources for investigating and punishing businesses for unlawful activities.</p>
<p>The permissiveness of the current rulebook is clear among business types such as hand car washes, nail bars, food delivery, construction and those operating within the gig economy. Businesses in these sectors often exist in a “<a href="https://pr.euractiv.com/pr/shadow-economy-contributes-over-10-uk-gdp-155969">shadow economy</a>” , providing legal goods or services but operating out of sight of regulators. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0268580919836666">Research</a> demonstrates that, across the UK economy, <a href="https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/measuring-the-global-shadow-economy-9781784717988.html">2 million people</a>, or roughly 9% of the employed private sector working population, work in the shadow economy. Their employers often openly display non-compliance with the minimum wage, health and safety regulations, paid holiday requirements and broader employment standards for worker welfare. </p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1143364/uk-labour-market-enforcement-strategy-2022-2023.pdf">Successive</a> labour market <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/labour-market-enforcement-strategy-2021-to-2022">enforcement strategy documents</a> highlight business types such as hand car washes and nail bars as some of the most common to break these rules. These reports say enforcement agencies must act decisively because such problems are more or less universal.</p>
<p>For hand car washes, for example, regulatory complexity enables non-compliance because regulators are too stretched to police them properly. Businesses in this sector are more likely to copy each other. This creates an alternative regulatory environment where unlawful activity occurs in plain sight – on the side of the road or on our high streets.</p>
<h2>Investigating problematic businesses</h2>
<p>The Home Office’s Modern Slavery Prevention Fund <a href="https://bit.ly/WIPRCWSreportHOMSPF">recently supported our team</a> at the Work, Informalisation and Place Research Centre and the Responsible Car Wash Scheme in mapping, classifying and investigating the most visibly problematic businesses across the three local authority areas of Leicester, Norfolk and Suffolk. </p>
<p>We shared the 12 “riskiest” businesses with local agencies including police, local authority staff and voluntary and community partners. These companies were identified by our research as most likely to flout rules and regulations. We visited and assessed these firms against the <a href="http://www.rcws.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Code-of-Practice-version-for-print-and-distribution.pdf">Responsible Car Wash Scheme Code of Practice</a>. </p>
<p>The businesses were told the team would return for another assessment and were given a period of time to improve their practice. This was to allow owners to locate key documents such as insurance papers, trade effluent consents and employment contracts before our second visit. </p>
<p>But our team <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0037/1876780/HOMSPF-Report-RCWS-WIP_NTU-Final-Report.pdf">recorded a significant level</a> of unlawful practice overall. There were also little, if any, attempts by these business owners to become compliant after our first visit. This mirrors our <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0034/1782295/WIP_GLAA_RCWS-Report-CAN-HAND-CAR-WASHES-BE-IMPROVED.pdf">previous work on voluntary licensing</a> of hand car washes in Slough, Luton, Hillingdon and Watford.</p>
<p>In a second part of our Home Office funded work, we ran workshops to discuss these problems. We included key enforcement agencies and local partners such as trading standards, fire and rescue services, the UK National Crime Agency, and voluntary and community organisations. When we talked to them about the challenges of working with businesses, they often blamed non-compliance on the UK’s complicated regulatory environment. </p>
<p>A lack of legal recourse to easily compel businesses to operate lawfully was also seen as a key factor. When businesses are caught breaking the rules, they can often “phoenix”, relaunching with a new legal owner. This further restricts regulators from properly censuring these companies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Back of man scratching head in front of white wall with " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536061/original/file-20230706-20-8zbmnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=179%2C67%2C7283%2C4540&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536061/original/file-20230706-20-8zbmnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536061/original/file-20230706-20-8zbmnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536061/original/file-20230706-20-8zbmnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536061/original/file-20230706-20-8zbmnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536061/original/file-20230706-20-8zbmnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536061/original/file-20230706-20-8zbmnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trying to decipher complex regulations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businessman-looking-connection-between-two-things-1348095338">ra2 studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Building a better enforcement strategy</h2>
<p>The current government has been unable to address this issue. But the opposition may struggle to do much better without focused engagement. Our paper on <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cje/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/cje/bead007/7099480?utm_source=advanceaccess&utm_campaign=cje&utm_medium=email">the fragmentation of labour market enforcement in the UK</a> coincided with an event to mark the release of a report called <a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/enforce-for-good/">Enforce for Good</a> by the Resolution Foundation. The keynote speaker <a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/playing-by-the-rules/">at the event</a>, Labour party deputy leader Angela Rayner, outlined how an incoming Labour government would make labour market regulation less complicated and more effective.</p>
<p>Rayner talked about introducing a single enforcement body for labour market regulation in the party’s first 100 days of parliament, if it wins the next election. This is something <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/good-work-plan-establishing-a-new-single-enforcement-body-for-employment-rights">the current government</a> has also explored but not enacted.</p>
<p>A single enforcement body could help resolve some of the problems around non-compliance on workers rights in the shadow economy. But its power relations and status with other important organisations such as HMRC needs to be clarified from the outset. Guidelines for joint operations would be needed early on to ensure efficient collective action.</p>
<p>This attention to enforcement is a positive first step. But more systemic change is needed to tackle all forms of unlawful practice. Even then, some sectors such as hand car washes will require a more specific approach. </p>
<p>Our research indicates that the complex and fragmented nature of regulation and enforcement of businesses must end. This should form a cornerstone of any policy development by current and future governments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rich Pickford has received funding from the AHRC, Home Office and the National Crime Agency in relation to work in this article. He runs Nottingham Civic Exchange a think tank based at Nottingham Trent University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Clark receives funding from The Art's and Humanities Research Council and the National Crime Agency in relation to the research in this article. Ian has also received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Director of Labour Market Enforcement at the Department of Business and Trade. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Collins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Enforcement of labour market regulation among small businesses such as hand car washes and nail salons is too complicated.Rich Pickford, Manager of Nottingham Civic Exchange, Nottingham Trent UniversityAlan Collins, Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Nottingham Trent UniversityIan Clark, Professor in Work and Employment, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2006852023-03-09T11:50:14Z2023-03-09T11:50:14ZStrikes bill could breach UK workers’ human rights and expose the government to legal challenges<p>UK workers’ human rights are at risk under government plans to curb strike activity, according to a report by parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights. The <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/49592/documents/2846">strikes (minimum service levels) bill 2023</a> aims to set requirements for the level of service needed in certain key sectors during strike action.</p>
<p>The bill is <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3396/stages">making rapid progress through parliament</a>. But it has already sparked concern from various quarters, including <a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/unions-france-germany-italy-and-spain-condemn-uk-government-attack-right-strike">unions</a> and the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/64313013.amp">International Labour Organization (ILO)</a>, a UN agency set up to protect social and economic justice via labour standards. </p>
<p>Most recently, a report from <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/human-rights-joint-committee/news/186524/strikes-bill-fails-to-meet-human-rights-obligations-jchr/#:%7E:text=Strikes%20Bill%20fails%20to%20meet%20human%20rights%20obligations,the%20Joint%20Committee%20on%20Human%20Rights%20has%20found.">the Joint Committee on Human Rights</a> said the bill falls short of UK human rights obligations. It has proposed five amendments to the new rules that it believes are needed to protect UK workers’ human rights. </p>
<p>The committee wants the government to provide more detail within the legislation about when restrictions on strike activity can be imposed, how far these limits can go and who should be involved in discussions before strikes. It also suggests more clarity on how employers decide who needs to work during a strike and greater protection from dismissal for people that do strike.</p>
<p>But even with the amendments, which are based on international standards for freedom of association and protection from discrimination at work, the UK government could still be at odds with these standards if the current version of the bill is passed.</p>
<p>The bill would allow the UK secretary of state to set minimum service levels for striking workers in the health, fire and rescue, education and transport sectors, as well as people working in the decommissioning of nuclear installations, the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, and border security. </p>
<p>Under the legislation, employers in these industries would give a “work notice” to trade unions seven days before a strike. This would identify the services covered by the rules and the names of employees required to work during the strike. </p>
<p>The employer would have to consult with the union about the content of the notice, with the trade union then taking “reasonable steps” to ensure the named persons comply with the notice. Failing to do so could leave the union liable for up to £1 million, while employees that join the strike would lose their automatic protection from dismissal. Any person named in the notice that refuses to comply would also lose this protection. </p>
<h2>A focus on specific human rights</h2>
<p>When it launched the bill in January 2023, the government argued the new rules were <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0222/ECHRMemoStrikes(MinimumServiceLevels)Bill2023.pdf">“necessary in a democratic society”, reflecting “a pressing social need”</a>. But the committee disagreed after examining the government’s policy statements and the <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/49906/documents/2979">impact assessment</a> for the bill. The latter has already been called “<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1137659/RPC-BEIS-5259_1__-_Strikes__Minimum_Service_Levels__Bill_IA_OPINION__f_.pdf">not fit for purpose</a>” by the Regulatory Policy Committee, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/regulatory-policy-committee/about">an independent watchdog</a>.</p>
<p>The joint committee’s five suggested amendments aim to address concerns about workers’ rights. They are based primarily on <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights-act/article-11-freedom-assembly-and-association#:%7E:text=Everyone%20has%20the%20right%20to,the%20protection%20of%20his%20interests.">Article 11</a> of the European Convention on Human Rights (which covers freedom of association). The amendments draw on the views about these issues of <a href="https://echr.coe.int/pages/home.aspx?p=home">the European Court of Human Rights</a> in case law which applies in UK law under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/contents">Human Rights Act 1998</a>. </p>
<p>In its report, the committee states that “freedom of association” under Article 11 covers the right to strike and that the bill does not adequately protect this right. The committee also warns that minimum service requirements could affect some groups more than others, such as <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/118459/html/">women that work as nurses</a>. This would breach Article <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Guide_Art_14_Art_1_Protocol_12_ENG.pdf">14</a> which protects against discrimination.</p>
<p>Bolder claims around “<a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/118472/html/">forced labour</a>”, which is covered by <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/minimum-service-levels-bill-modern-slavery-human-rights-committee/">Article 4 of the ECHR</a>, were not addressed in the committee’s report. This may be because the committee members represent a wide range of political views and they needed to reach a consensus on the report’s conclusions.</p>
<h2>Amendments in line with ILO standards</h2>
<p>The first amendment to the bill proposed by the committee reflects <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:70001:0::NO:::">ILO standards</a>, which the <a href="https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#%7B%22itemid%22:%5B%22001-187732%22%5D%7D">European Court of Human Rights also follows</a>. It sets out when minimum service levels should be triggered: </p>
<ul>
<li>to protect the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population</li>
<li>against an acute national crisis endangering the normal living conditions of the population or</li>
<li>to protect public services of fundamental importance. </li>
</ul>
<p>Second, the committee says the bill needs more specific details about limits on strike activity to make sure that any minimum service levels set by the secretary of state do not make strike activity ineffective. The <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/34217/documents/188239/default/">House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee</a> has also requested greater detail on the minimum levels and services covered by the bill. It said that the powers given to the secretary of state would be “inappropriate” if this information is not clearly stated in the legislation. </p>
<p>The third amendment again follows ILO norms. Rather than asking employers to simply “consult” with unions on work notices, the committee argues there should be a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/dialogue/ifpdial/llg/noframes/ch5.htm">negotiated settlement of minimum service levels</a>. It also suggests bringing an independent body into any disputes that arise. </p>
<p>The fourth amendment put forward by the committee would further restrict employers’ ability to choose who must work during a strike. The aim here is to ensure an employee’s trade union activity doesn’t influence their selection because, again, that could make strike action less effective. </p>
<h2>Can the Strikes Bill be salvaged?</h2>
<p>The fifth amendment in the committee’s report would prevent striking
workers from losing their automatic protection from unfair dismissal if a union failed to take “reasonable steps” to ensure named employees comply with a work notice issued under the bill. This is important because employees have no control over the steps a union might take in this situation. </p>
<p>However, this proposed amendment falls short. <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/human-rights-joint-committee/news/186524/strikes-bill-fails-to-meet-human-rights-obligations-jchr/#:%7E:text=Strikes%20Bill%20fails%20to%20meet%20human%20rights%20obligations,the%20Joint%20Committee%20on%20Human%20Rights%20has%20found.">The committee’s report</a> repeatedly says that it is unclear what steps would be “reasonable” or how a trade union or its members could know that this requirement was being met. This aspect of the bill clearly interferes with Article 11 rights relating to freedom of association, but the committee’s current amendments would not address this flaw in the new rules.</p>
<p>Overall, the recommendations would go some way towards protecting UK workers under international human rights law if the strikes bill is enacted. But even if it accepts these committee recommendations, the government could still be open to legal challenges to the bill, whether through judicial review before the European Court of Human Rights, or at the ILO.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tonia Novitz is Professor of Labour Law at the University of Bristol and a Vice-President of the Institute of Employment Rights, but the opinions provided here are her own. She gave evidence to the UK Joint Committee on Human Rights at a session held on 8 February 2023. </span></em></p>The UK parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has suggested changes to the strikes bill but even those may not go far enough.Tonia Novitz, Professor of Labour Law, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1955372022-12-11T13:32:47Z2022-12-11T13:32:47ZWhat do workers want? 5 key takeaways from the first citizens’ assembly on workplace democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499354/original/file-20221206-8459-g702oy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C33%2C7293%2C4715&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ontario Assembly on Workplace Democracy examined how everyday people experience work and what they want done to make work better and their voices heard.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine receiving a letter informing you that your job is relocating to another province. Your employment is contingent upon you moving and your employer refuses to discuss it with you. </p>
<p>Or imagine developing an innovative plan for more flexible at-home work options that will reduce your company’s carbon emissions and save your employer money. Your manager, instead of praising your efforts, admonishes you and tells you to focus on your core work — not to “rock the boat.”</p>
<p>Workers around the world face dilemmas like these on a regular basis. At their core, they touch on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12528">the notion of worker voice</a>: workers’ capacities and opportunities to speak up and effect change at work. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/quiet-quitting-and-the-great-resignation-have-a-common-cause-dissatisfied-workers-feel-they-cant-speak-up-in-the-workplace-190390">Quiet quitting and the great resignation have a common cause – dissatisfied workers feel they can't speak up in the workplace</a>
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<p>In light of the impacts of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnnywarstrom/2021/04/08/the-effects-of-the-pandemic-mean-that-employee-voice-has-never-been-more-important/?sh=a32624068925">COVID-19 pandemic</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/labour-talks-in-good-faith-1.6659193">recent labour disputes</a>, concerns about <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2021/11/30/the-labor-shortage-is-a-quality-jobs-shortage/?sh=38c25b8429b2">worker shortages</a> and <a href="https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-fuqua-insights/hemant-kakkar-value-employee-voice-firms-address-racism-inequality">racism and inequality</a>, a growing chorus of people are asking: how can all workers have the opportunity to meaningfully influence workplace decisions and have their voices heard?</p>
<h2>Worker voice</h2>
<p>Worker voice doesn’t just empower workers. It also has <a href="https://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/workplace_democracy_for_the_21st_century">wide-ranging benefits for employers and broader society as well</a>. It can help protect workers’ interests, improve workplace performance and contribute to societal democratization.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, unless Canadian workers are covered by a collective agreement, opportunities to shape decisions at work are largely at the whim of their employer. This leads to situations in which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793918806250">some workers have ample opportunities</a> to speak up at work, while others — often those more marginalized — have almost none.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowd of people holding CUPE signs and flags marching down a sidewalk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499095/original/file-20221205-5837-c9nhld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499095/original/file-20221205-5837-c9nhld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499095/original/file-20221205-5837-c9nhld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499095/original/file-20221205-5837-c9nhld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499095/original/file-20221205-5837-c9nhld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499095/original/file-20221205-5837-c9nhld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499095/original/file-20221205-5837-c9nhld.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canadian Union of Public Employees education workers strike on the picket line in Kingston, Ont., on Nov. 4, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even our most robust channels, like collective bargaining and grievance procedures, have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/014764ar">criticized by some as being too adversarial</a> or not protective enough of individual rights and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3526-2">interests of their diverse membership</a>.</p>
<p>Clearly, our practices and systems need an upgrade. The question is: what kind of upgrade would best serve workers and our economy as a whole?</p>
<h2>Building a democratic assembly</h2>
<p>To tackle this issue, we gathered a group of 32 Ontarians to serve in the <a href="https://www.cirhr.utoronto.ca/news-events/ontario-assembly-workplace-democracy">Ontario Assembly on Workplace Democracy</a> (OAWD). This was a first-of-its-kind effort that used a democratic innovation known as a “<a href="https://participedia.net/method/4258">citizens’ assembly</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An infographic showing that 25 lottery participants came from southern Ontario, 5 came from eastern Ontario and 2 came from northern Ontario" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499347/original/file-20221206-2849-ashu5x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map showing a geographical breakdown of where participants were from.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://freevectormaps.com/canada/ontario/CA-ON-EPS-01-0001?ref=atr">(FreeVectorMaps.com)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The process involved selecting individuals through a <a href="https://www.masslbp.com/s/civiclotteryguide.pdf">democratic lottery</a>, which generated a group of participants representative of the diversity of the province in their union status, sector, gender, income level and age. They were far from the usual suspects typically involved in policy discussions about this topic.</p>
<p>Over five intensive working sessions spanning the summer and fall of 2022, OAWD members re-imagined how workers shape organizational decision-making in Ontario. </p>
<p>They had frank conversations with each other about their experiences speaking up at work, developed principles that should underpin any robust system of worker voice, and brainstormed recommendations for employers, unions and governments to improve worker voice. These discussions were aided by a dedicated team of facilitators and a diverse group of expert and stakeholder witnesses. </p>
<h2>Barriers to worker voice</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.cirhr.utoronto.ca/sites/www.cirhr.utoronto.ca/files/OAWD%20Final%20Report%20-%20Dec%202022.pdf">final report compiling the participants’ main conclusions</a> has just been published through the University of Toronto’s Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, which sponsored the project.</p>
<p>Insights from the final report have much to offer to workers, managers, labour advocates and policymakers. First, they pointed to numerous challenges and barriers people face when speaking up at work that need to be addressed.</p>
<p>Some of these barriers included fearing retaliation and negative repercussions from employers and a lack of structured opportunities for having their voices heard at work. Participants also highlighted that many people lacked basic information and knowledge about worker voice, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/rights-workplace.html">government protections under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms</a> and <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art2d.html">their right to unionize</a>.</p>
<p>Participants also highlighted how traditionally marginalized groups of workers, like migrant workers or those with disabilities, face systematic barriers to voice, especially when they brought up concerns about discrimination at work. </p>
<h2>Report recommendations</h2>
<p>After identifying these barriers, assembly participants produced a set of 14 comprehensive recommendations for improving worker voice. These recommendations were grounded in a common set of values, including the financial success and sustainability of the participants’ employers, a greater balance of power between workers and their employers, and accountability. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man, wearing wireless ear buds and sitting at a desk, speaks on a video call" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499355/original/file-20221206-7109-ashu5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499355/original/file-20221206-7109-ashu5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499355/original/file-20221206-7109-ashu5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499355/original/file-20221206-7109-ashu5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499355/original/file-20221206-7109-ashu5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499355/original/file-20221206-7109-ashu5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499355/original/file-20221206-7109-ashu5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Meeting virtually via Zoom over five sessions, assembly members came up with ways for workers to have more of a say in decision-making and imagine a better future for their workplaces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Managers, labour advocates and policymakers interested in worker voice can get started on five of these recommendations right now. Firstly, all of these groups can — and should — do a better job of educating workers about their rights and responsibilities when it comes to voicing ideas and concerns at work.</p>
<p>Secondly, employers can implement best practices to encourage worker voice at work, through things like worker councils and self-managed teams. Thirdly, employers should also ensure workers are both incentivized and protected to use these tools and resources. Fourthly, employers should measure their progress toward improving worker voice, and benchmark it against their competitors.</p>
<p>And lastly, labour unions can open themselves up to more involvement from their diverse membership and provide greater transparency about their finances and decision-making processes.</p>
<h2>Worker perspectives are critical</h2>
<p>While worker voice is important, it often flies under our collective radar. To date, much of the void has been filled by academics, think tanks and organizations like chambers of commerce and labour unions. But the perspective of everyday people is just as important.</p>
<p>The OAWD put a spotlight on how everyday people experience work and what they want done to make work better and their voices heard. Participants embraced their responsibility and worked hard to deliver on the assembly’s mandate. </p>
<p>To improve the ability of workers to have a say in workplace decision-making, these recommendations should be read and considered widely by policymakers, politicians, the media and the broader public. It is up to these leaders to listen to workers and take the necessary steps to create fairer, safer, more inclusive and sustainable workplaces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Pek served as the Steering Committee Lead for the Ontario Assembly on Workplace Democracy. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rafael Gomez is Director of The Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources (CIRHR) at the University of Toronto, which sponsored OAWD. Rafael Gomez also Chaired the steering committee of the OAWD.</span></em></p>Improving the ability for worker’s voices and perspectives to be heard in the workplace could have wide ranging benefits for employers and broader society at large.Simon Pek, Associate Professor of Business and Society, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaRafael Gomez, Professor of Employment Relations, Director of Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1868082022-08-08T17:50:10Z2022-08-08T17:50:10ZA summer of discontent? Why public sector workers are preparing to strike in B.C.<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477740/original/file-20220804-24-1nsyqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C26%2C5739%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">British Columbian workers in the public sector, transit and transportation have voted to take job action in recent weeks to fight for their right to earn livable wages.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Successful unionization drives targeting corporate employers like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-did-amazon-workers-win-the-fight-to-form-a-union-in-staten-island-but-not-in-alberta-181042">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/starbucks-union-labour-movement-1.6506307">Starbucks</a> have been big news in 2022. But much larger scale collective action in the Canadian public sector may also be on the cards. </p>
<p>In May, the Public Service Alliance of Canada — the country’s largest federal union — <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/05/18/Largest-Federal-Union-Canada-Talking-Strike/">walked away from contract negotiations</a>. In British Columbia, almost 95 per cent of the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bcgeu-strike-vote-1.6499549">voted, in July, to strike after negotiations broke down</a> over cost of living adjustments and wage protection from inflation.</p>
<p>It is not only workers in B.C.’s public sector who voted to take job action in recent weeks — the transit and transportation sectors face strikes by <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/07/05/port-of-vancouver-truckers-warn-of-strike-over-changes-to-upcoming-ban-on-older-rigs.html">truck drivers at the Port of Vancouver</a> and <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9011141/west-vancouver-blue-bus-workers-strike/">bus drivers in West Vancouver</a>.</p>
<p>And in addition to the approximately 33,000 BCGEU members covered by the recent strike vote, more than 350,000 public sector workers have agreements that expired or will expire in coming months. The <a href="https://bcpsea.bc.ca/teachers/teacher-collective-bargaining/collective-bargaining-2022/">B.C. Teachers’ Federation contract expired June 30</a> and B.C. Nurses’ Union members have been working <a href="https://www.bcnu.org/contracts-and-bargaining/bargaining">without a contract since March</a>, with <a href="https://www.bcnu.org/news-and-events/news/2022/provincial-bargaining-conference-postponed">bargaining delayed to the fall</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cargo containers and ships at the Port of Metro Vancouver are seen in an aerial view in Vancouver" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477741/original/file-20220804-21-k07exg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477741/original/file-20220804-21-k07exg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477741/original/file-20220804-21-k07exg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477741/original/file-20220804-21-k07exg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477741/original/file-20220804-21-k07exg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477741/original/file-20220804-21-k07exg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477741/original/file-20220804-21-k07exg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The United Truckers Association says its members have voted unanimously in favour of job action at the Port of Vancouver to protest a program that would force the phaseout of older trucks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other words, B.C. could be on the cusp of a major period of labour unrest, similar to what we are seeing in other parts of the world <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62134314">like the United Kingdom</a>. If the labour movement in Canada can mobilize working people, who are seeing and feeling <a href="https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/some-of-canadas-biggest-companies-saw-record-profits-during-the-pandemic">how corporations have profited from the pandemic</a> while ordinary people have paid the price, the change could be significant.</p>
<h2>Why are workers striking?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220720/dq220720a-eng.htm">Statistics Canada announced a rise in consumer inflation to 8.1 per cent</a> in June 2022. Skyrocketing inflation is the major cause behind worker unrest and collective action. </p>
<p>The main driver of inflation is the price of gasoline, but even excluding gas the consumer price index rose 6.5 per cent in June. Hourly wages, on the other hand, only increased 5.2 per cent. </p>
<p>The below-inflation increase in wages comes despite a <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220708/dq220708a-eng.htm">record low unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent</a>. A tight labour market is not resulting in above-inflation wage increases for most workers. Nor is there <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2022/07/20/got-a-raise-this-year-it-probably-didnt-match-inflation-or-cause-it.html">evidence of a wage-price spiral</a>, which is when wage growth drives price increases, which in turn drives wage growth in the economy. </p>
<p>Instead, corporate profits, global price increases, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-fragile-global-supply-chains-stronger-and-more-sustainable-169310">supply chain issues</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-recap-russian-threats-europe-frets-and-china-rises-187112">global conflicts</a> are making consumer goods more expensive, <a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/workers%E2%80%99-wages-haven%E2%80%99t-kept-rising-inflation-report">while wages fail to keep pace</a>.</p>
<p>But average wages and prices also mask variations in sector-specific pay increases, and its impacts on different groups of workers. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220720/cg-a004-eng.htm">The June Labour Force Survey showed differences</a> between the wage growth of unionized versus non-unionized employees nationally: the hourly wages of all workers with union coverage were up 3.7 per cent, compared with 6.1 per cent among non-unionized workers. </p>
<h2>Why are unionized workers falling behind?</h2>
<p>Recent research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives <a href="https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2022/04/Pressure%20cooker.pdf">analyzed trends in wages and inflation in Canada from 2020-22</a> and found that three of the four industries with the lowest wage gains were public administration, education and health care. </p>
<p>The report found that several provincial governments, including Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, were actively working to freeze those wages prior to, and even during, the pandemic. In B.C., despite a two per cent average annual increase in public sector wage settlements, the average public sector worker will take a 1.5 per cent pay cut this year.</p>
<p>This means that workers in some of the sectors most impacted by the pandemic, like health care, have gained the least from the recent economic recovery. Lower paid workers, such as care aides or educational assistants, also feel the impacts of inflation more acutely because they have to spend more of their income on necessities, like food and shelter.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in scrubs standing in front of the entrance to a hospital" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477739/original/file-20220804-7849-n21evt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477739/original/file-20220804-7849-n21evt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477739/original/file-20220804-7849-n21evt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477739/original/file-20220804-7849-n21evt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477739/original/file-20220804-7849-n21evt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477739/original/file-20220804-7849-n21evt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477739/original/file-20220804-7849-n21evt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers in sectors most impacted by the pandemic, like health care, have gained the least from the recent economic recovery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As <a href="https://www.policynote.ca/shortchanging/">economist Alex Hemingway has argued in his analysis of B.C.’s public finances</a>, the province can afford to pay its essential public sector workers much more. </p>
<p>Nor are wages the only issue. </p>
<p>Stephanie Smith, President of the BCGEU, told me the union wants the government to address issues made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic: occupational health and safety, especially mental health and stress; short staffing and excessive workloads; and workforce planning to recruit and retain workers in key services.</p>
<p>Clearly, there is a strong appetite among union members to act collectively to demand better wages and working conditions. </p>
<h2>Changing politics of labour</h2>
<p><a href="https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-122-what-drives-inflation">Economic historian Adam Tooze, who has analyzed</a> normal (1979-2019) and recent (2020-21) drivers of inflation in the U.S. and Europe, notes that the historical role of wages and corporate profits in driving inflation has been reversed. He found that wages have accounted for less than eight per cent of U.S. price increases since 2020, compared to corporate profits which accounted for almost 54 per cent.</p>
<p>A similar trend is seen in Canada. Workers understand that the cost of living is going up while their wages are going down. Moreover, when central banks raise interest rates to quell inflation, <a href="https://cupe.ca/how-do-rising-interest-rates-affect-workers">it hurts employment and wages</a> and makes life even more expensive for those with debt. </p>
<p>After <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2015005-eng.htm">years of declining union density</a> and subdued labour unrest, are we seeing a change in the politics of labour in B.C. and Canada? It’s too early to tell. </p>
<p>Tooze argues that the low-inflation environment of the last several decades is both a driver and a result of unequal class power. Governments and corporations have been promoting monetary policy that hurts workers and unions <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/2021-work-stoppages/">with little risk of retaliation</a>.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://centreforfuturework.ca/2022/07/08/snatching-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory/">balance of social power has not shifted dramatically</a>, the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/02/12/after-years-of-decline-the-percentage-of-unionized-workers-is-increasing-again-and-the-pandemic-is-likely-the-reason.html">upsurge in worker organizing</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jul/21/woodside-and-santos-reap-bumper-profits-as-ukraine-war-drives-energy-prices-higher">policy proposals for corporate taxes</a> could signal a change. In the meantime, the BCGEU members appear committed to strike action to get a fair contract that stops their wages falling farther behind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kendra Strauss receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). She is Research Associate of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) - BC Office </span></em></p>If the labour movement can organize and mobilize working people in B.C. and Canada, the change could be significant.Kendra Strauss, Director and Associate Professor, The Labour Studies Program, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1863642022-07-05T14:19:07Z2022-07-05T14:19:07ZUK strikes: six milestones in the history of industrial action in Britain<p>Holidaymakers and commuters are expecting significant disruption this summer following a recent <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/strikes-cripple-britains-railways-unions-warn-more-come-2022-06-23/">surge in strike action</a> in the UK and Europe. UK train drivers are the latest group to consider striking in what could be the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/07/05/ftse-100-markets-live-news-flight-cancellations-nuclear-power/">first national rail strike</a> in more than 25 years</p>
<p>Strikes – a withdrawal of labour from employers – have been happening ever since the workers at the Royal Necropolis at Deir el-Medina in Egypt <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-recorded-strike#:%7E:text=The%20first%20recorded%20strike%20in,that%20dates%20from%20that%20time.">organised an uprising</a> in 1152 BC over <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1089/the-first-labor-strike-in-history/">late wages</a>. British industrial action has a much shorter, but still turbulent, history that has often been fuelled by changing economic conditions. </p>
<p>Workers today face <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61891649">high inflation</a> and government reluctance to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61874732">raise public sector wages</a>, combined with the ongoing economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/fifteen-years-of-stagnant-incomes-left-british-families-brutally-exposed-to-cost-of-living-crisis-12645557">cost of living</a> crisis. With continued industrial action very likely in the months ahead. </p>
<p>Here are some major milestones in the history of UK strike action to date:</p>
<h2>1. Pre-20th century: law both restricts and supports union activity</h2>
<p>In Britain, <a href="http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/3042/">documented strike action</a> started in the 17th century, when groups of skilled workers used brief periods of industrial action to get better conditions of work and pay. During the 18th century, various pieces of <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/struggle_democracy/trade_unionism.htm#:%7E:text=part%20of%20workers.-,The%20Combination%20Acts,-%2C%20passed%20in%201799">legislation</a> made strikes illegal. </p>
<p>But when the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/trade-union#ref270634:%7E:text=for%20their%20workers.-,Legal%20precedents,-British%20unionism%20received">Trade Union Act of 1871</a> allowed trade unions to become legal bodies, a flurry of industrial activity occurred in industries such as <a href="https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/ab1c7f37-0f40-3af6-86de-f87445a955e8?component=d955a0bd-83e4-3329-aa29-19bf4f429981">coal mining</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/0078172X13Z.00000000031?journalCode=ynhi20">textiles</a>, as new unions fought for better conditions.</p>
<h2>2. Post-WWI: economic decline leads to demands for better pay</h2>
<p>Following a lull during the first world war, <a href="http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/1918_1939.php">industrial action intensified</a> in the 1920s as employers tried to reduce wages amid much post-war economic and political change. Nearly 8 million days’ work were <a href="http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/3051/">lost to strikes</a> in 1925, rising to 162 million lost days in 1926 when 1.7 million workers went on strike in support of a million miners. </p>
<p>Miners’ refusal to accept a 10% wage reduction that year, for example, led to a nine-day <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/thehistoryofstrikesintheuk/2015-09-21">general strike</a> in support of the locked out miners in May. During a general strike, the Trades Union Congress – a group representing the majority of unions in England and Wales – asks members of different unions to strike in support of affected workers.</p>
<p><strong>Working days lost to strike action, UK (1931-2020)</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing total working days lost to strikes in the UK 1931-2020" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472558/original/file-20220705-14-d4b58a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Total working days lost to strikes in the UK, 1931-2020 (000s)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/timeseries/bbfw/lms">Office of National Statistics</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Post WWII: governments struggle to tame union power</h2>
<p>Levels of strike activity in Britain fell again in the 1930s, but picked up significantly after the second world war. At this time, the majority of strikes – about <a href="http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/3042/">2,000 per year</a> – were unofficial, or not supported by trade unions. This prompted <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/industrial-unrest.htm">government</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41837392">calls for</a> greater union accountability, a cooling-off period before strikes, as well as ballots – or votes – on strikes. </p>
<p>The unions’ rejection of these suggestions led to further industrial conflict, including <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/edward-heath#:%7E:text=crippling%20were%20the-,miners%E2%80%99%20strikes,-of%201972%20and">two coal miners’ strikes</a> under Edward Heath’s 1970-1974 Conservative government. The strikes led to power cuts across the country and then an enforced three-day working week to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/gallery/2009/apr/16/past-conservatives">curb electricity use</a> as the striking coal miners forced the government to ration dwindling fuel supplies.</p>
<h2>4. 1970s: the failed social contract and the Winter of Discontent</h2>
<p>Harold Wilson’s Labour Party came to power in the 1974 general election and suggested a “<a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/miners-strike-social-contract.htm#:%7E:text=Labour%27s%20Social%20Contract">social contract</a>” with unions where they would curb wage demands in return for nationalisation and increased spending on social welfare. The government failed to deliver upon this agreement, however, and trade unions began to demand substantial wage rises to ensure members’ pay kept up with the high inflation of the late 1970s.</p>
<p>An effort by Ford factory workers to gain a 25% weekly raise in August 1978, for example, triggered nine weeks of strikes and was settled with a 16.5% wage increase. This kicked off a a period now known as the <a href="https://blogs.londonmet.ac.uk/tuc-library/2016/05/12/winter-of-discontent-part-2/">Winter of Discontent</a>. The following January, 20,000 railway workers held four one-day strikes over the course of the month. About 1.3 million municipal workers also called a one-day <a href="http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/3042/">national strike</a> for pay increases on January 22 1979.</p>
<p>The strikers were increasingly vilified by politicians and the media during this time. For example, a comment made by a councillor about the possibility of “<a href="http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/3042/">burials at sea</a>” due to a strike by Merseyside grave diggers in 1978 and 1979 saw trade unions publicly criticised for their lack of sympathy for the bereaved. Similarly, conservative politicians criticised the Labour government over a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/22/newsid_2506000/2506715.stm">January 1979</a> public sector strike that included refuse collectors and resulted in <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/22/newsid_2506000/2506715.stm">rubbish piled high</a> on the streets of central London. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472550/original/file-20220705-13-j0an4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472550/original/file-20220705-13-j0an4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472550/original/file-20220705-13-j0an4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472550/original/file-20220705-13-j0an4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472550/original/file-20220705-13-j0an4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472550/original/file-20220705-13-j0an4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472550/original/file-20220705-13-j0an4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher did much to curb trade union activity following her election in 1979.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. 1980s: the rise of Thatcherism and the decline of union power</h2>
<p>The election of Margaret Thatcher as Conservative prime minister in May 1979, signalled the start of a period of major restrictions on trade union power. Five <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-27607-3_10?noAccess=true">employment acts</a> and one <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/49/enacted">Trade Union Act</a> were introduced between the start of Thatcher’s two terms and the end of John Major’s Conservative government in 1997. These laws restricted the right of picketing, prevented unions bringing their members out in support of other unions and introduced fines and asset seizures for unions that struck without a ballot. </p>
<p>Some of this legislation was tested in another <a href="https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/features/mar04.shtml">miners’ strike</a> that lasted from 1984 into 1985. After a proposed 5.2% wage increase was rejected by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in October 1983, the National Coal Board (the UK corporation created to run nationalised coal mines) threatened to reduce output and was rumoured to have drawn up a list of pit closures. </p>
<p>An unballoted strike erupted on March 9 1984, which lasted for nearly a year. It progressed into a national strike as NUM leader <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/23/arthur-scargill-joins-rail-picket-line-sheffield-strike">Arthur Scargill</a> sent “flying pickets” – striking union members – to different picket lines around the country by car and coach. Mass picketing led to violent clashes and even deaths. There were also several legal twists and turns as the High Court fined the NUM <a href="https://apnews.com/article/21bff1746bb861656292ae2d5255b217#:%7E:text=is%20called%20off.-,Oct.%2010,-%2D%20The%20National%20Union">£200,000</a> and seized its assets because it had not called an official strike by ballot.</p>
<p>The strike ended without any settlement when the miners <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fromthearchive/story/0,,1429566,00.html">returned to work</a> without agreement on March 3 1985. After a year without pay, they had effectively been starved into submission.</p>
<h2>6. Present day: A return to the 1970s?</h2>
<p>Trade union power and activism has steadily declined since the turbulence of the 1980s. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/trade-union-statistics-2020">Membership</a> had grown from 4 million in 1914 to a peak of 13.2 million in 1979, but has since halved to about 6.5 million people. </p>
<p>The number of days lost to strikes in recent years is typically little more than one million, with the highest annual total of working days lost in one year <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/workplacedisputesandworkingconditions/articles/labourdisputes/2018#:%7E:text=by%20coal%20miners-,Since%202000,-%2C%20the%20highest%20annual">since 2000</a> was 1.4 million in 2011.</p>
<p>But industrial action is stirring again. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/18/rail-and-tube-strikes-to-go-ahead-next-week-rmt-union-confirms">transport</a> workers, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62009941">barristers</a> and <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/01/travel-summer-holidays-under-threat-from-airline-strikes-across-europe-16929191/">airline staff</a> have all called strike action in recent weeks, this figure may well be exceeded in 2022.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Laybourn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Strikes are happening across various UK industries at the moment, but what is the history of strike action in UK?Keith Laybourn, Professor Emeritus of History, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1832052022-06-06T20:03:43Z2022-06-06T20:03:43ZCollectivism — not individualism — is the path to reducing social and economic inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466675/original/file-20220601-49293-4dat9n.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6309%2C4200&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ontario Federation of Labour rallies in May called for improving workers’ rights and repairing deep inequalities that have been highlighted and deepened by the pandemic. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/collectivism-—-not-individualism-—-is-the-path-to-reducing-social-and-economic-inequality" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Last month, two large demonstrations took place in Ontario: the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/rolling-thunder-day-2-1.6436591">Rolling Thunder biker rally in Ottawa</a> and a series of rallies across Ontario <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8801583/may-day-rally-queens-park-toronto/">organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour</a>.</p>
<p>While both aimed to appeal to the frustration and anxiety of the average working person during this period of turbulence and uncertainty, the demonstrations couldn’t have been more different.</p>
<p>The bike rally <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PzRJfBQGhU">emphasized individual freedom over all else</a>, arguing that social obligations, like wearing masks to protect vulnerable people from disease, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDk1v5stVmg">restricted freedom to an unreasonable extent</a>. The labour rallies, in contrast, <a href="https://ofl.ca/event/may-1/">called for collective action and better government standards</a>.</p>
<h2>The appeal of individualism</h2>
<p>The Rolling Thunder biker rally took up where the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/whose-freedom-is-the-freedom-convoy-fighting-for-not-everyones-176336">freedom convoy left off</a>. It appealed to people’s rage and frustration and directed these emotions toward pandemic protections, and the experts and politicians who put them in place. Catharsis and disparagement were the dominant tone and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-rolling-thunder-motorcycle-convoy-ottawa-live-updates/">few coherent goals for change were expressed</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man holding a protest sign in a crowd of people" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466679/original/file-20220601-49499-7sneb7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466679/original/file-20220601-49499-7sneb7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466679/original/file-20220601-49499-7sneb7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466679/original/file-20220601-49499-7sneb7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466679/original/file-20220601-49499-7sneb7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466679/original/file-20220601-49499-7sneb7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466679/original/file-20220601-49499-7sneb7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A People’s Party of Canada supporter holds a sign during the convoy-style protest that participants called ‘Rolling Thunder,’ in Ottawa on April 30, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is much to be <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/03/sustaining-hope-in-uncertain-times">genuinely angry and scared about</a>. Pandemic lockdowns, and the economic and social disruption they bring, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00113921211050116">are frustrating</a>. There is still <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-the-past-colonialism-is-rooted-in-the-present-157395">ongoing colonialism</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-an-indigenous-doctor-i-see-the-legacy-of-residential-schools-and-ongoing-racism-in-todays-health-care-162048">systemic racism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/overturning-roe-v-wade-would-have-wide-reaching-implications-beyond-u-s-borders-183192">sexism</a>. Climate change is <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2021/08/09/ar6-wg1-20210809-pr/">widespread and only getting worse</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-fiscal-update-falls-short-in-facing-climate-change-and-income-inequality-150995">Wealth inequality is ever-growing</a>. Young people <a href="https://theconversation.com/home-sweet-home-is-a-dying-dream-federal-election-promises-wont-solve-affordable-housing-crisis-166300">can’t afford homes</a>. Jobs provide <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202100600004-eng">less stability</a>.</p>
<p>These challenges feel truly daunting. It’s not surprising that some have turned to individualistic solutions for broader social problems. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot">Over 40 years of government policy</a> has explicitly undermined the generosity and effectiveness of public services and our <a href="https://socialeurope.eu/public-services-and-the-common-good">collective commitment to the common good</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve been hammered with the message that <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-nonsense_n_5b1ed024e4b0bbb7a0e037d4">there is no alternative to individual striving</a>, and many have lost hope that something better is possible. But another way is possible, and we can look to the labour rallies as inspiration.</p>
<h2>Collectivism is the way forward</h2>
<p>Instead of succumbing to toxic individualism in the face of profound anger and grief, the labour protesters rallied around a clear, hopeful set of goals — a plan to improve workers’ rights and repair the deep inequalities both highlighted and deepened by the pandemic. </p>
<p>Among other things, <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/05/01/2433079/0/en/Ontario-Federation-of-Labour-demands-a-workers-first-agenda-ahead-of-June-2-provincial-election.html">the labour federation’s Workers First Agenda</a> calls for a $20 minimum wage, affordable housing and permanent paid sick days.</p>
<p>This alternate path of solidarity means joining with others to provide mutual support on the premise that small individual sacrifices result in <a href="https://equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level">bigger collective gains that make everyone better off</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1520819164964954113"}"></div></p>
<p>Collectivism means engaging in the difficult work of negotiating for our <a href="https://pressprogress.ca/here-is-what-everyone-in-canada-needs-to-know-about-how-collective-bargaining-really-works/">collective needs</a>, which is a more complex task than simply tearing things down. It means providing people with hope, even if the answers aren’t simple.</p>
<h2>Signs of hope in new organizing</h2>
<p>For decades, unions in Canada have been in a holding pattern. As Statistics Canada reported recently, while the overall percentage of workers in unions has remained fairly stable <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/14-28-0001/2020001/article/00015-eng.htm">at about 30 per cent since the 1990s</a>, private sector union membership has declined significantly and now stands at 15.3 per cent. </p>
<p>Despite some <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/01/16/unions-say-more-workers-looking-to-organize-during-the-pandemic.html">important</a> <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/8386793/nb-public-sector-ratify-contract/">exceptions</a>, most unions have not had great success with new organizing. Many have struggled to make <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/collective-bargaining-data/wages/wages-year-sector.html">significant progress in collective bargaining</a>. Part of what’s needed to increase union bargaining success is building more critical mass in the private sector.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-advantages-of-unionization-are-obvious-so-why-dont-more-workers-join-unions-164475">The advantages of unionization are obvious, so why don't more workers join unions?</a>
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<p>Our neighbour to the south shows us what an economy with few unions looks like. In the U.S., <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/23/385843576/50-years-of-shrinking-union-membership-in-one-map">the percentage of workers in unions has collapsed since the 1960s</a>, while the gap between rich and poor and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/09/26/income-inequality-highest-over-50-years-census-bureau-shows/3772919002/">a host of related social, political and economic ills</a> have expanded. </p>
<p>However, there is renewed interest in union organizing. Major efforts are underway at notoriously anti-union companies like <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/02/amazon-workers-just-voted-to-join-a-union-heres-what-happens-next-.html">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22993509/starbucks-successful-union-drive">Starbucks</a> and now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/technology/apple-store-union.html">Apple</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of people standing with their hands in the air and smiles on their faces" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466678/original/file-20220601-70867-x5hnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466678/original/file-20220601-70867-x5hnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466678/original/file-20220601-70867-x5hnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466678/original/file-20220601-70867-x5hnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466678/original/file-20220601-70867-x5hnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466678/original/file-20220601-70867-x5hnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466678/original/file-20220601-70867-x5hnjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Amazon workers in Staten Island, N.Y., voted to unionize in April 2022, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company’s history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>As of this writing, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/05/29/organizers-herald-100th-win-starbucks-unionization-wave-continues">100 Starbucks locations have won certification</a> and many more are in the middle of union drives. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-did-amazon-workers-win-the-fight-to-form-a-union-in-staten-island-but-not-in-alberta-181042">historic victory of Amazon workers at a warehouse in Staten Island</a> in early April has inspired many, although workers at a second nearby Amazon location voted against unionizing on April 25. </p>
<p>Union efforts are also underway at Amazon locations in Alberta, Ontario and Québec, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/amazon-hamilton-teamsters-union-effort-1.6449036">but none have succeeded yet</a>. A Starbucks <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/10/08/workers-are-looking-to-unions-for-pandemic-protections.html">successfully unionized in Victoria, B.C., in August 2020</a>. More breakthroughs could reignite hope for many private sector workers in Canada.</p>
<h2>The new face of labour</h2>
<p>Amid all this, a new generation of labour leaders are coming to the forefront in Canada. The <a href="https://canadianlabour.ca/who-we-are/officers/bea-bruske/">Canadian Labour Congress</a>, the <a href="https://ofl.ca/about/staff/">Ontario Federation of Labour</a> and the <a href="https://www.labourcouncil.ca/staff">Toronto and York Region Labour Council</a> are all headed by women, reflecting the fact that <a href="https://cupe.ca/union-membership-trends-and-challenges">53 per cent of union members are now women</a>.</p>
<p>More women and racialized people now lead central labour bodies’ executives: large unions like the <a href="https://www.cupw.ca/en/about-us/president%E2%80%99s-blog">Canadian Union of Postal Workers</a> and the <a href="https://www.etfo.ca/about-us/who-we-are/provincial-executive">Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario</a> are headed by Black women. For the first time, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/04/12/unifor-secretary-treasurer-lana-payne-running-for-national-president-to-replace-dias.html">a woman is running for president of UNIFOR</a>, the country’s largest private sector union.</p>
<p>Research shows that, when union leadership reflects the demographics of its workers, <a href="https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/75931">membership engagement and organizing success</a> improve. Workers believe their interests will be better met <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/27/amazon-union-drive-us-labor-future">by leaders who understand and relate to their experiences</a>. These lessons are important if Canadian unions are to connect with workers seeking better lives.</p>
<p>Beyond this, workers are aware that union leaders must be able to meet the urgent calls to address the ongoing systemic racism and discrimination in schools, workplaces, unions and beyond. As <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2021/what-role-do-unions-have-in-addressing-systemic-racism/">community and labour researcher Maya Bhullar notes</a>, structural injustices are often normalized in collective bargaining agreements, grievance-handling and other union processes. </p>
<p>In order to address these issues, union directives must reflect the needs of the racially and gender diverse communities they serve, and leaders who understand and relate to these experiences are the best ones for the job.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peggy Nash is a member of the New Democratic Party and is a board member of the Broadbent Institute and Canadians for Tax Fairness. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Ross receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a member of the Board of the Workers’ Arts and Heritage Centre.</span></em></p>In this time of unrest, insecurity and fear, unions and their new, more diverse leadership offer a path to improving workers’ rights and repairing deep social and economic inequalities.Peggy Nash, Senior Advisor to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts + Labour Management Relations, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityStephanie Ross, Associate Professor and Director, School of Labour Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1810192022-04-18T11:52:32Z2022-04-18T11:52:32ZNew budget offers Canada a chance to get employee ownership right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458267/original/file-20220414-12544-8s11rq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C163%2C4730%2C2997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leave a media scrum before the release of the federal budget on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa on April 7, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Government of Canada’s <a href="https://budget.gc.ca/2022/home-accueil-en.html">recently released 2022 budget</a> represents a significant step forward in Canada’s journey towards greater <a href="https://www.nceo.org/what-is-employee-ownership">employee ownership</a>. In this budget, the government committed to <a href="https://budget.gc.ca/2022/report-rapport/chap2-en.html">establishing an Employee Ownership Trust</a>. These trusts are <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/unlocking-the-potential-of-employee-ownership-in-canada-817196071.html">vehicles used to purchase and hold shares</a> in a company, in the interest of that company’s employees. </p>
<p>This is a big deal because the lack of such a tool in Canada, in contrast with countries like the U.K. and the U.S., has made it <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2021/make-employee-ownership-a-cornerstone-of-canadas-economic-recovery/">challenging for many Canadian businesses to transfer ownership</a> to their employees.</p>
<p>A Canadian economy grounded in greater employee ownership could have tremendous benefits for our workers, businesses and communities, as proponents <a href="https://www.employee-ownership.ca/s/Building_an_employee_ownership_economy_white_paper_March-2022.pdf">like nonprofit Social Capital Partners has argued</a>. Documented <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/od_working_papers/2/">benefits of employee ownership include</a> increasing workers’ wealth and satisfaction and boosting companies’ profitability, productivity and survival. </p>
<p>For Canadians hoping to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with better jobs, a stronger economy and reduced inequality, employee ownership is a promising way to get there.</p>
<h2>Employee ownership and employee participation</h2>
<p>While it is reasonable to assume that employee ownership automatically means the right to participate in company decision-making, this is not always the case. This dynamic can be seen in U.S. <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/esop.asp">Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)</a>, which have been a source of inspiration for many advocates of employee ownership in Canada. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JPEO-11-2020-0028">In these ESOPs</a>, companies’ boards of directors are usually the ones who select the trustees, while employees’ voting rights are usually limited to a narrow set of decisions, regarding topics like mergers and acquisitions. Unless companies involve employees in other ways, an employee’s ability to influence their company’s decision-making is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0143831X06069019">significantly constrained</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A group of people in business suits having a meeting around a table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458265/original/file-20220414-22-4kt13a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458265/original/file-20220414-22-4kt13a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458265/original/file-20220414-22-4kt13a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458265/original/file-20220414-22-4kt13a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458265/original/file-20220414-22-4kt13a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458265/original/file-20220414-22-4kt13a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458265/original/file-20220414-22-4kt13a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If we want to get employee ownership right, employee stock ownership plans need to be coupled with other opportunities for employee participation in decision-making.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>This matters for two reasons. First, if we want to achieve the countless benefits of employee ownership, we need to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311583094_Employee_Ownership_and_Shared_Capitalism_Assessing_the_Experience_Academic_Literature_and_Policy_Implications">couple ownership with opportunities for employee participation</a> in decision-making and supporting practices. </p>
<p>Second, and more broadly, for the growing number of people sympathetic to, or active in, the <a href="https://democratizingwork.org/">movement to democratize work</a>, settling on a model of employee ownership devoid of meaningful employee participation is a missed opportunity to tackle a broader array of social and environmental issues.</p>
<h2>Endless possibilities</h2>
<p>Fortunately, there are many promising practices that have been proposed or implemented for us to learn from to effectively fuse employee ownership with employee participation. </p>
<p>When it comes to employee involvement in the governance of employee-owned companies, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40862064?seq=1">one possibility</a> involves granting employees a role in electing some (or all) of their company’s board of directors. This would increase the likelihood of the company electing a trustee sympathetic to employee interests.</p>
<p>Another possibility involves incentivizing or requiring companies to <a href="https://www.nceo.org/articles/duties-esop-committee">have employee representatives on ESOP Committees</a> that oversee the administration of the plan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a suit standing behind a podium. Behind her, a crowd of people in masks and business attire sit and watch her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458244/original/file-20220414-12-wco6sz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458244/original/file-20220414-12-wco6sz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458244/original/file-20220414-12-wco6sz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458244/original/file-20220414-12-wco6sz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458244/original/file-20220414-12-wco6sz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458244/original/file-20220414-12-wco6sz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458244/original/file-20220414-12-wco6sz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 7, 2022. The new budget offers a change that effectively fuses employee ownership with employee participation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>It is important for employees to be involved early on in the development of employee ownership programs, either through <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/willr41&div=31&g_sent=1&casa_token=">incentivizing companies to disclose the details of their plans</a> or by giving employee representatives <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40862064?seq=1">a seat at the table </a>right from the start to ensure their interests are protected.</p>
<h2>Involving employees in operational decisions</h2>
<p>These practices work best when they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0143831X99202004">combined with opportunities for employees to participate</a> in more operational decisions, through practices like joint steering committees, granting employees more autonomy in day-to-day decision-making, comprehensive information sharing and extensive training and education. </p>
<p>Here, we can gain further inspiration from recent insights on <a href="https://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/workplace_democracy">workplace democracy in Canada</a>, which point to the possibility of adapting models like <a href="https://www.worker-participation.eu/National-Industrial-Relations/Countries/Germany/Workplace-Representation">German works councils</a> to the Canadian context. We could also leverage ideas from the realm of political science like the use of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1056492619868030">democratic lotteries</a> to select some employee representatives to bring a more diverse set of voices to the table.</p>
<p>These practices are just a small subset of those the Canadian government can explore with stakeholders, as it finalizes its Employee Ownership Trust framework. It is important to ensure that these consultations include all relevant stakeholders — especially the workers. </p>
<p>Some of these practices may be applicable to all Canadian companies and would benefit from standardized implementation, whereas others may be more company-specific and best left for each company to decide on with its employees. In either case, they show promise in helping us get the most out of this exciting development.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181019/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Pek receives funding from the University of Victoria's President's Chair award. He is affiliated with the the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing through this appointment as a Rutgers Research Fellow. </span></em></p>For Canadians hoping to emerge from the pandemic with better jobs, a stronger economy and reduced inequality, employee ownership combined with employee participation is a promising way to get there.Simon Pek, Assistant Professor, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1810422022-04-12T17:22:43Z2022-04-12T17:22:43ZWhy did Amazon workers win the fight to form a union in Staten Island but not in Alberta?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457507/original/file-20220411-24-jbdsay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3500%2C2263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Staten Island's Amazon distribution centre union organizer Chris Smalls celebrates with union members after getting the voting results to unionize their warehouse on April 1, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-did-amazon-workers-win-the-fight-to-form-a-union-in-staten-island-but-not-in-alberta" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Amazon workers in Staten Island have achieved something the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/technology/amazon-unions-virginia.html">company has been fighting for years</a> to prevent: a union.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/amazon-labor-union-alu-staten-island-organizing">breakthrough at Amazon’s JFK8 facility is being hailed</a> as the “most important labour victory in the United States since the 1930s.” That it was won by the independent <a href="https://www.amazonlaborunion.org">Amazon Labor Union</a> (ALU) is all the more significant, in light of the failures of larger and better-resourced unions like the <a href="https://ricochet.media/en/3846/how-amazon-beat-the-union-in-alberta">International Brotherhood of Teamsters</a> in Alberta, and the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/07/amazon-illegally-interfered-in-alabama-warehouse-vote-union-alleges.html">Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)</a> in Alabama.</p>
<p>Union organizing drives are context-specific, and the ALU still has significant challenges ahead, including Amazon’s attempts to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/09/amazon-new-york-warehouse-union-victory-nlrb">overturn the result</a> and the difficulty of <a href="https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Turning-the-Tables.pdf">achieving a first contract</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the victory in Staten Island and the defeats in Alberta and Alabama provide some key insights into the state of union organizing efforts at Amazon and beyond. </p>
<h2>Amazon working conditions</h2>
<p>Amazon is designed to have massive worker turnover. A 2021 <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2021/06/18/amazon-workforce-turnover-dominance-investigation/"><em>New York Times</em> investigation</a> found the turnover rate for warehousing and storage employees was 150 per cent. Whether or not this was the original intention, such a high rate of turnover is a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amazon-worker-turnover-anti-union_n_60ca1b3ee4b0d2b86a818d1b">major obstacle to organizing</a>.</p>
<p>Amazon workers are required to meet demanding quotas, which are enforced by intrusive <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy8n3j/amazon-delivery-drivers-forced-to-sign-biometric-consent-form-or-lose-job">digital tracking technology</a> and suffocating managerial oversight. Workers, unable to sustain the pace and strain, are fired or quit.</p>
<p>Amazon workers frequently skip washroom breaks in order to meet their quotas, resorting to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-have-to-pee-into-bottles-2018-4">urinating in bottles</a>. Despite the flippant denials of Amazon spokespersons, they later had to apologize when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/mar/25/amazon-delivery-workers-bathrooms-memo">leaked internal documents</a> proved they were aware of this issue.</p>
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<img alt="Man speaks into microphones while people holding protest signs that say 'Amazon Recognize the Union Now' stand behind him" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457505/original/file-20220411-11-6kdvsl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Amazon JFK8 distribution centre union organizer Jason Anthony speaks to media on April 1, 2022 in Brooklyn, N.Y.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)</span></span>
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<p>In 2018, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/11/amazon-warehouse-reports-show-worker-injuries/602530/">internal injury records</a> found that the rate of serious injuries in Amazon fulfilment centres was more than double the national average for the American warehousing industry. </p>
<p>These unsafe working conditions were <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/19/as-online-orders-surge-what-about-the-amazon-workers.html">exacerbated by the pandemic</a>. Crowded workspaces and limited paid sick days have caused outbreaks in warehouses, though the extent is difficult to determine, because, unlike Wal-Mart and various grocery chains, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-business-is-booming-at-amazon-canada-but-workers-say-the-pandemic-is/">Amazon refuses to release its numbers</a> on worker infections.</p>
<h2>Amazon’s anti-unionism</h2>
<p>When workers try to address these issues, Amazon uses <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-advantages-of-unionization-are-obvious-so-why-dont-more-workers-join-unions-164475">union substitution techniques</a> — such as paying comparatively higher wages — to dissuade workers from unionizing, as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-labor-busting-law-firms-and-consultants-that-keep-google-amazon-and-other-workplaces-union-free-144254">union suppression</a> to beat back any serious unionization effort.</p>
<p>Amazon <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/amazon-workers-delivery-drivers-unionize-1.6215475">retaliates against workers</a> trying to unionize. In a well-known case, an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/may/05/amazon-protests-union-organizing-cracking-down-workers">Amazon vice-president resigned in protest</a> against the firing of workers who blew the whistle on the rising COVID-19 infections in warehouses.</p>
<p>Amazon also <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpkxm/amazon-hires-trump-hotel-union-buster">spends millions on union-avoidance companies</a> who specialize in assessing which workplaces are most vulnerable to union efforts, providing anti-union media — such as posters, videos and websites — and <a href="https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/3/25/22996803/leaked-audio-amazon-workers-staten-island-captive-audience-meeting">conducting captive audience meetings</a>. </p>
<p>Employers and union-avoidance consultants use captive audience meetings to enforce anti-union talking points. These meetings are usually scheduled during working hours and worker attendance is mandatory. While legal, some <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1010463">labour scholars have questioned</a> whether this type of “forced listening” infringes on workers’ basic rights.</p>
<h2>“We literally work there”</h2>
<p>One of the reasons why Amazon workers in Staten Island were so successful is because they formed an independent, grassroots organization to unionize their particular workplace. Other efforts have been led by already established unions, like the <a href="https://rwdsu.sk.ca/">RWDSU</a> in Bessemer, Ala., or the <a href="https://teamsters.ca/local-unions/">Teamsters</a> in Nisku, Alta.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man handing flier to the driver of a car. In the background stands a massive building with the Amazon logo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457503/original/file-20220411-22029-kc151n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A member of the Teamsters Local Union 362 hands out flyers to Amazon employees, outside an Amazon facility, to get support and distribute information in Nisku, Alta., on Sept. 14, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span>
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<p>Union organizing is ultimately about relationships and trust. Organizers from within a workplace don’t have to develop relationships from scratch the same way organizers from outside an organization do. <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/amazon-labor-union-alu-staten-island-organizing">ALU organizers emphasized</a> that they “didn’t come from somewhere else to organize JFK8; we literally work there.” </p>
<p>This stands in stark contrast to the campaigns in <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/bessemer-alabama-amazon-union/">Alabama</a> and <a href="https://ricochet.media/en/3846/how-amazon-beat-the-union-in-alberta">Alberta</a>. In the latter case, the secretary treasurer of the Teamsters Local 362 acknowledged that “we didn’t have anybody on the inside” in the Nisku facility.</p>
<p>Independent, grassroots unions are able to avoid some of the baggage of more established unions. While the ALU faced specific criticisms by Amazon and its union-avoidance consultants, these largely revolved around the ALU’s upstart status. As Amazon’s <a href="https://www.unpackjfk8.com/unionfacts/#block-caa75241ac139189ca53">anti-ALU website</a> states, “the ALU has no track record that you can use to judge whether their representation would be worth it to you or not.” </p>
<p>The ALU also developed tactics that are much more effective when workers on the inside are organizing. For example, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-amazon-workers-beat-the-union-busters-at-their-own-game_n_624b0385e4b0e44de9c52704">ALU worker-organizers researched Amazon’s union-avoidance consultants</a> by scouring Labor Department reports and warehouse lists of third-party vendors. Then, in one-on-one conversations with their co-workers, they shared their research on how these consultants, whose typical rate is US$3,200 per day, “get rich ‘convincing poor people to stay poor.’” </p>
<p>The stark contrast between what Amazon was willing to pay these consultants and worker salaries persuaded many to support the ALU. These workers also organized their co-workers to fearlessly challenge anti-union talking points at the captive audience meetings, which inspired other, more cautious co-workers to do the same.</p>
<p>Despite the odds, the ALU succeeded where some of North America’s largest and established private sector unions have failed. The ALU has proven that one of the most powerful anti-union companies in North America can be unionized. This doesn’t mean that the already established unions can’t beat Amazon, but as the ALU has made clear, inside workers have to take the lead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Staten Island’s Amazon union has proven that one of the most powerful anti-union companies in North America can be unionized.Jordan House, Assistant Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityPaul Christopher Gray, Assistant Professor, Labour Studies, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1612792021-05-26T04:15:17Z2021-05-26T04:15:17ZDo I get time off work for my COVID shot? Can I take a sick day?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402220/original/file-20210523-17-1x8gf7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C998%2C615&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/middle-age-shop-assistance-woman-working-1815151826">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s COVID vaccine rollout has reached its next phase, now people aged 50 and over <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-over-50-and-can-now-get-my-covid-vaccine-can-i-talk-to-the-gp-first-do-i-need-a-painkiller-what-else-do-i-need-to-know-160357">are officially eligible</a> to receive their shot from a GP, respiratory clinic or mass vaccination hub. People under 50 are also getting vaccinated in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-25/who-is-eligible-for-sa-covid19-regional-vaccine-rollout-where/100163220">some states</a>.</p>
<p>These are the first age groups to be vaccinated in Australia likely to be in paid work. Until now, most people to have received their shot will have been <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/phase-1b#who-can-be-vaccinated-under-phase-1b">over 70</a>, and probably retired. So people eligible now might wonder how to fit in a vaccine appointment around work commitments. </p>
<p>If you need, or want, to be vaccinated during work hours, do you take a day’s leave or a sick day? And if you’re ill with side-effects, can you take a sick day to recover?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/im-over-50-and-can-now-get-my-covid-vaccine-can-i-talk-to-the-gp-first-do-i-need-a-painkiller-what-else-do-i-need-to-know-160357">I'm over 50 and can now get my COVID vaccine. Can I talk to the GP first? Do I need a painkiller? What else do I need to know?</a>
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<p>Let’s assume you’re not a doctor or nurse, or have some other occupation with a workplace, on-site vaccination clinic. This means the vast majority of Australians will need to factor in time travelling to the clinic, administration (such as filling in consent forms), the shot itself, <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/02/covid-19-vaccination-what-to-expect-when-you-have-your-vaccination-easy-read.pdf">15-30 minutes</a> waiting in case there are any immediate side-effects, and travelling back to work.</p>
<p>Let’s assume for now you’re an employee, <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00512">entitled to</a> paid annual leave and paid personal leave (which includes sick leave). If you’re a casual or independent contractor, the situation’s different and explained below.</p>
<h2>Can I get time off work to get my COVID vaccine?</h2>
<p>Whether you’re a full- or part-time employee, taking time off to get the COVID vaccine is similar to taking time off for the flu vaccine. You will usually need to take paid annual leave.</p>
<p>Unless your employment contract says otherwise, you <em>are not</em> entitled to take paid sick leave to get vaccinated. Sick leave <a href="https://coronavirus.fairwork.gov.au/coronavirus-and-australian-workplace-laws/covid-19-vaccinations-and-the-workplace/covid-19-vaccinations-workplace-rights-and-obligations">is only for</a> when you’re ill or injured. Being vaccinated is not considered an illness or injury. </p>
<p>Despite this, employers can exercise their discretion to allow you to take paid sick leave to get vaccinated.</p>
<h2>Can I take sick leave if I feel unwell afterwards?</h2>
<p>As a full- or part-time employee, you are entitled to take paid sick leave if you feel unwell after being vaccinated and can’t work.</p>
<p>You may need to provide reasonable evidence you are unfit for work, such as a medical certificate.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1387394990511468545"}"></div></p>
<h2>What if I’m a casual employee or an independent contractor?</h2>
<p>Casual employees and independent contractors are not entitled to paid annual leave or paid sick leave.</p>
<p>However, if you are a casual employee and are feeling unwell after receiving your vaccine, check if your organisation has a provision for “special paid sick leave”. <a href="https://www.australianunions.org.au/2020/03/17/list-of-employers-who-have-agreed-to-two-weeks-special-leave/">Some</a> <a href="https://workplace-policy.adm.monash.edu.au/workforce-management/leave/special.html">do</a>.</p>
<p>This type of special leave is not a mandatory legal entitlement. But if your organisation doesn’t provide it, you may be able to negotiate it. Independent contractors can also negotiate with the business that contracts them. </p>
<p>To address the hardships casuals and independent contractors face, Victoria has announced a two-year trial of its <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/secure-work-pilot-scheme">Secure Work Pilot Scheme</a>, which is due to begin by 2022.</p>
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<p>This will provide up to five days of paid sick leave and carer’s leave at the national minimum wage for casual or insecure workers in sectors with high rates of casual employment, such as aged care, cleaning and hospitality.</p>
<h2>What if I work in retail or hospitality?</h2>
<p>If you work in retail, hospitality or some other sector that puts you at higher risk of COVID due to increased customer contact, you might be wondering if there are special provisions for you. </p>
<p>Under workplace health and safety laws, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/vic/consol_act/ohasa2004273/s21.html">your employer must</a>, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide and maintain a work environment that is safe and without risks to health.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t mean your employer has to give you paid time off during working hours to get vaccinated. That’s different to, say, the employer of a construction worker who has to provide a hard hat or other personal protective equipment for safety reasons. </p>
<p>Vaccines and hard hats seem to be treated differently, even though you could argue they both protect workers from serious illness or injury.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-my-boss-make-me-get-a-covid-vaccination-yes-but-it-depends-on-the-job-154054">Can my boss make me get a COVID vaccination? Yes, but it depends on the job</a>
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<h2>What other options are there?</h2>
<p>If you’ve used up all your paid annual leave, you can request unpaid leave to get your vaccine.</p>
<p>Then there’s the alternative of booking an appointment for one of your days off, with some clinics offering extended hours, including evenings and weekends.</p>
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<p><em>The Fair Work Ombudsman has <a href="https://coronavirus.fairwork.gov.au/coronavirus-and-australian-workplace-laws/covid-19-vaccinations-and-the-workplace/covid-19-vaccinations-workplace-rights-and-obligations">more information</a> about your workplace rights and obligations when it comes to COVID vaccines.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161279/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Shi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s COVID vaccine rollout has now reached people of working age. Here’s what you need to know about taking time off for your shot and if you’ll get paid.Elizabeth Shi, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1506502020-11-24T05:13:34Z2020-11-24T05:13:34ZHating on the Woodville Pizza guy won’t fix a problem that was entirely foreseeable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370965/original/file-20201124-17-nzvvxo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4874%2C2814&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the course of a single week South Australia was plunged into one of the world’s strictest, and briefest, lockdowns.</p>
<p>The drama, estimated to have cost the <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/analysis/2020/11/23/what-went-wrong-seven-days-that-changed-sa/">state’s economy A$100 million</a>, came down to pizza – specifically, fears the state’s outbreak of COVID-19 was an especially virulent strain transmissable by pizza boxes.</p>
<p>In the end it actually came down to a kitchen hand lying about having a second job at a pizzeria, rather than simply being a customer as he first told contact tracers.</p>
<p>South Australian premier Steven Marshall has said authorities will use “all and every avenue to throw the book at this person”. Members of South Australia Police’s “Taskforce Protect” have reportedly combed through hundreds of hours of CCTV and seized phones, a laptop and a hard drive “directly related to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-24/what-we-know-so-far-about-taskforce-protect-pizza-bar-probe/12912402">the person of interest</a>”.</p>
<p>It is understandable state authorities would want to signal the importance of truthfulness in this scenario. But the instinct to grasp punitive measures fails to account for the cause of the problem. </p>
<p>This debacle again illustrates the problem of insecure and low-paid work, and the moral jeopardy it forces on hundreds of thousands of people really just trying to make ends meet. </p>
<p>We’ve seen this before, in Victoria, with the problem of nursing home staff and meat processing workers still going to work and not self-isolating despite having COVID symptoms.</p>
<p>Now South Australia has illuminated the problems of workers in “essential” jobs having to moonlight in second jobs, and perhaps feeling the need to lie about it.</p>
<p>We need a holistic response that considers the systemic reasons that force people into such situations to preserve their livelihood. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/workplace-transmissions-a-predictable-result-of-the-class-divide-in-worker-rights-143896">Workplace transmissions: a predictable result of the class divide in worker rights</a>
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<h2>Holding down second jobs</h2>
<p>At least two links in the chain of events leading to the South Australian outbreak highlight the problem of precarious and insecure work.</p>
<p>The first is how the pizzeria – the Woodville Pizza Bar – became a transmission vector. </p>
<p>That had to do with a kitchen hand at the pizzeria also working as a security guard at Peppers Hotel, one of the hotels being used to quarantine travellers returning to the state. He apparently caught the virus from a cleaner at the hotel, who caught it from a quarantined guest.</p>
<p>This part of the story has <a href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/sa-covid-lockdown-started-and-ended-with-woodville-pizza-bar-employee-c-1618380">prompted calls</a> for workers at quarantine hotels to be banned from from working second jobs. </p>
<p>To which the obvious retort should be: if we don’t want people to work two jobs, perhaps we should ensure they have enough hours and pay so they don’t need to.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uber-drivers-experience-highlights-the-dead-end-job-prospects-facing-more-australian-workers-116973">Uber drivers' experience highlights the dead-end job prospects facing more Australian workers</a>
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<h2>Migrants in plight</h2>
<p>The second link – the man who lied about working at the pizzeria – speaks to the predicament faced by tens of thousands of people in Australia on visas (in this case, a temporary graduate visa). In a bizarre coincidence, he too was working in the kitchen at another quarantine hotel (The Stamford). </p>
<p>There are an estimated <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/industrial-relations/publications/report-migrant-workers-taskforce">900,000</a> foreign nationals in Australia on visas with work rights, almost always with restrictions. The jobs they find are often insecure low-paid casual or gig jobs, possibly cash in hand. </p>
<p>Many of these jobs – in hospitality, for instance – were the first to disappear with lockdowns. And because they aren’t citizens, they have been excluded from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-temporary-migrants-need-jobkeeper-135688">federal government financial support</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-let-wage-exploitation-become-the-default-experience-of-migrant-workers-113644">We've let wage exploitation become the default experience of migrant workers</a>
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<h2>Address the problem, not the symptoms</h2>
<p>Sure lying is wrong – particularly if it shuts a city down.</p>
<p>But it should also be unsurprising in the face of fear – and fear of losing work is central to insecure work. </p>
<p>This is compounded for migrant workers by an additional fear: losing the right to stay in the country, through breaking rules that limit working hours. But they often have little choice, as the only way to make enough money to compensate for being exploited and <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/593f6d9fe4fcb5c458624206/t/5a11ff31ec212df525ad231d/1511128887089/Wage+theft+in+Australia+Report_final_web.pdf">often earning well below the minimum wage</a>.</p>
<p>What has happened in South Australia is a symptom of the same problem that bedevilled Victoria’s outbreak. It should have been foreseeable. Researchers have been warning about the negatives for years. The pandemic has made them plain.</p>
<p>A punitive and knee-jerk call for punishment is at best another half measure. It won’t fix the systematic problem of precarious work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gemma Beale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We need a holistic response that considers the systemic reasons that force people to lie about working.Gemma Beale, PhD Candidate, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1373672020-05-06T12:22:16Z2020-05-06T12:22:16ZTo understand the danger of COVID-19 outbreaks in meatpacking plants, look at the industry’s history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332828/original/file-20200505-83751-u4g5sv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1035%2C691&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers in a pork processing plant, 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_7-_Workers_in_a_Hog_Slaughter_and_Processing_Plant_Use_Hooks_and_Other_Tools_(27007559560).jpg">USGAO/Wikipedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Large meatpacking plants have become <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/5/1/21239396/covid-19-meatpacking-prison-jail-moral">hotspots for coronavirus infection</a>, along with jails and nursing homes. As of May 1, nearly <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6918e3.htm?s_cid=mm6918e3_x">5,000 packing plant workers in 19 states</a> had fallen ill, and 20 had died. </p>
<p>Packing plants from Washington state to Iowa to Georgia have <a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/22993-covid-19-meat-plant-map">temporarily suspended operations</a>, although President Trump has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-delegating-authority-dpa-respect-food-supply-chain-resources-national-emergency-caused-outbreak-covid-19/">invoked the Defense Production Act</a> in an effort to quickly restart these facilities.</p>
<p>As Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds put it in a press conference, virus outbreaks in packing plants are “<a href="https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/gov-reynolds-says-meatpacking-plants-will-stay-open-even-as-hundreds-of-workers-infected">very difficult to contain</a>.” But what makes these plants so dangerous? As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=W7VMrUkAAAAJ&hl=en">sociologist</a> who has studied <a href="https://www.academia.edu/15364925/From_Collective_Bargaining_to_Social_Justice_Certification_Workers_Rights_in_the_American_Meatpacking_Industry">food system labor issues</a>, I see two answers. </p>
<p>First, working conditions experienced in meatpacking plants, which are shaped by the pressures of efficient production, contribute to the spread of COVID-19. Second, this industry has evolved since the mid-20th century in ways that make it hard for workers to advocate for safe conditions even in good times, let alone during a pandemic.</p>
<p>Together, these factors help to explain why U.S. meatpacking plants are so dangerous now – and why this problem will be difficult to solve.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cZOT9YOtl0U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Employees at large meatpacking plants say they don’t feel safe from COVID-19.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A hard job in good times</h2>
<p>The meatpacking industry is an important job source for thousands of people. In 2019 it employed nearly 200,000 people in <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/naics4_311600.htm">direct meat processing jobs</a> at wages averaging US$14.13 per hour or $29,400 yearly.</p>
<p>Even in normal conditions, meatpacking plants are <a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/meatpacking/">risky places to work</a>. The job requires using knives, saws and other cutting tools, as well as operating industrial meat grinders and other heavy machinery. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10599240801985373">Traumatic injuries</a> due to workplace accidents are common, and mistakes can have <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/08/exploitation-and-abuse-at-the-chicken-plant">gruesome consequences</a>. Government researchers have also documented <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/updates/upd-03-27-14_b.html">chronic injuries</a>, such as repetitive motion strains, among packing plant workers. </p>
<p>The same conditions that lead to these accidents and injuries during normal times also contribute to the spread of coronavirus. To understand this connection, it is first important to know that meatpacking is a volume industry. The higher a plant’s daily throughput – that is, the more animals it turns into meat – the more lucrative it is.</p>
<p>For instance, one Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which shut down indefinitely in April after <a href="https://www.dglobe.com/newsmd/coronavirus/5382800-Sioux-Falls-pork-plant-COVID-19-cases-near-900-as-officials-prep-re-opening">hundreds of workers</a> tested positive for COVID-19, employed 3,700 people and produced <a href="https://www.smithfieldfoods.com/press-room/company-news/smithfield-foods-to-close-sioux-falls-sd-plant-indefinitely-amid-covid-19">18 million servings of pork daily</a>.</p>
<p>To maximize efficiency, production takes place on an assembly line – or more accurately, a disassembly line. Workers stand close together and perform simple, repetitive tasks on animal parts as the parts stream by. </p>
<p>Production lines move quickly, with industry averages ranging from <a href="https://thecounter.org/usda-final-approval-faster-hog-line-speeds-pork-processing/">1,000 animals per hour in pork processing</a> to over <a href="https://thecounter.org/usda-approves-poultry-slaughterhouse-increase-line-speed-food-safety/">8,000 per hour in chicken plants</a>. In October 2019 the Trump administration <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/72fa69e6-5e16-4347-83b4-4e3361317272/2016-0017+.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&useDefaultText=0&useDefaultDesc=0">eliminated limits on production line speed</a> in pork processing plants, and it has also <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/04/24/usda-let-poultry-plants-move-faster-crowd-lines-covid-coronavirus-spread-meat-packing-workers/3013615001/">waived limits for individual chicken processing plants</a>.</p>
<p>The speed and organization of meatpacking both promote the spread of coronavirus. Employees labor alongside one another, working at a rate that makes it difficult, if not impossible, to practice protective behaviors such as covering sneezes and coughs. </p>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/meat-poultry-processing-workers-employers.html">guidelines</a> to allow meatpacking workers to continue working during the pandemic. They include spacing workers at least six feet apart and installing barriers between them. Some plants have <a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/23006-shielding-line-workers-during-a-pandemic">adopted these controls</a>, but the pressures of rapid production may well limit their effectiveness. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332819/original/file-20200505-83730-15dv0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Meat processing stations at the JBS Beef Plant in Greeley, Colo., equipped with new sheet-metal partitions, April 23, 2020. As of early May 2020 the plant had recorded more than 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 6 employee deaths.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/meat-processing-stations-at-the-jbs-greeley-beef-plant-news-photo/1220671197?adppopup=true">Andy Cross via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Unionizing the industry</h2>
<p>Understanding why meatpacking workers tolerate these difficult and dangerous conditions requires a look at the industry’s history. </p>
<p>Many people assume that jobs in packing plants have always been as difficult and dangerous as those depicted in journalist Upton Sinclair’s famed 1906 novel “<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/140/140-h/140-h.htm">The Jungle</a>.” That book described meatpacking workers in early 20th-century Chicago facing <a href="https://talkpoverty.org/2019/01/10/sinclair-jungle-immigrant-narrative/">similar conditions to those in the modern industry</a>.</p>
<p>But this assumption conceals an important story. For several decades after World War II, conditions in meatpacking plants steadily improved as a result of pressure from workers themselves. </p>
<p>Starting in 1943, the United Packinghouse Workers of America, a labor union, <a href="http://www.ufcw.org/about/ufcw-history/">organized meatpacking employees in major cities</a>. At the height of its influence, this union secured “<a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/bls/bls_1063_1952.pdf">master agreements</a>” with the largest firms, such as Armour and Swift, ensuring standard wages and working conditions across the industry.</p>
<p>One source of the UPWA’s influence was its ability to build <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1093/ohr/26.1.23">interracial alliances</a>. Racial antagonism between black and white workers, linked to job discrimination and the use of black workers to break strikes in the early 20th century, had historically undermined union efforts in meatpacking plants. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332835/original/file-20200505-83779-1pabj9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UPWA District Area 5 Members Parade float, circa 1960, Chicago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.chipublib.org/blogs/post/labor-of-love-revs-addie-and-claude-wyatt-photographs/">Source: Chicago Public Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRP5mNYn1fucFAR86LZAobFtvUzWm6ykOPeqZ-kdod_d-rgjBRa&usqp=CAU">union’s logo</a>, which depicted clasped black and white hands, symbolized its ability to bridge these differences. Its <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/united-packinghouse-workers-america-upwa">support for the civil rights movement</a> in the 1960s also revealed its commitment to racial equality.</p>
<h2>A changing labor force</h2>
<p>But by the 1970s, the union was in decline. A key factor was industry leaders’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1526/003601107782638701">decision to shift production</a> from cities with a strong union tradition, like Chicago and Kansas City, to small towns scattered across the Great Plains and the southeastern United States. </p>
<p>Rural work forces are more difficult to organize than their urban counterparts for many reasons. Most small towns do not have a history of union activity, and anti-union sentiment is often strong – as shown by the prevalence of <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/right-to-work-laws-and-bills.aspx#chart">right-to-work laws</a> in many rural states. </p>
<p>Moreover, packing plants are often small towns’ only major employers. Workers and municipal authorities alike <a href="https://www.thehawkeye.com/news/20200427/if-we-lost-tyson-we-lost-everything">depend on plants</a> for jobs and tax revenue. This relationship creates enormous pressure to treat meat processing companies with deference.</p>
<p>Additionally, meatpacking <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=41120">consolidated</a> in the late 20th century. Plants grew larger, and a relative handful of firms such as <a href="https://www.cargill.com/meat-poultry/beef-business">Cargill</a> and <a href="https://www.tysonsustainability.com/food">Tyson</a> came to dominate processing of <a href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/43.5/cattlemen-struggle-against-giant-meatpackers-and-economic-squeezes">beef</a>, <a href="https://www.wattagnet.com/articles/26925-top-5-broiler-producers-dominate-us-production">poultry</a> and other meats. Consolidation gives these firms greater ability to control working conditions and wages.</p>
<p>Finally, today’s plants often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2005.00079.x">recruit workers from Mexico and Central America</a>, some of whom may lack legal authorization to work in the U.S. They also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-019-00694-9">hire refugees</a> who may be unfamiliar with U.S. labor protections and have few other employment possibilities.</p>
<p>These workers’ precarious legal and economic standing makes it hard for them to challenge employers. Cultural differences, language gaps and racial prejudice can also pose obstacles to collective action.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1256330283432828929"}"></div></p>
<h2>The challenge of coronavirus</h2>
<p>Workers’ organizations have not disappeared. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has <a href="http://www.ufcw.org/2020/04/28/order/">called on the Trump administration</a> to ensure safety during the pandemic, but it is fighting an uphill battle.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-taking-action-ensure-safety-nations-food-supply-chain/">President Trump’s reassurances</a> that closed plants will reopen safely, I expect that the pressures of efficiency and limits on workers’ ability to advocate for themselves will cause infections to persist. </p>
<p>In meatpacking as in other industries, the pandemic has revealed how people who do “essential” work for Americans can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-call-workers-essential-but-is-that-just-referring-to-the-work-not-the-people-137460">treated as if they are expendable</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Get our best science, health and technology stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/??utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-best">Sign up for The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137367/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Haedicke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred at more than 100 US meatpacking plants. Geography, workforce demographics and economic concentration make it hard for workers to fight for better conditions.Michael Haedicke, Associate Professor of Sociology, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158442019-04-26T01:51:02Z2019-04-26T01:51:02ZLabor’s crackdown on temporary visa requirements won’t much help Australian workers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270933/original/file-20190425-121228-r7auy7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=143%2C425%2C3832%2C2311&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Labor wants higher minimum pay for temporary visa holders, but most are already being paid much more.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bill Shorten is holding out the prospect of protecting Australian workers from foreign ones. </p>
<p>He has pledged to <a href="https://www.billshorten.com.au/protecting_local_workers_restoring_fairness_to_australia_s_skilled_visa_system_tuesday_23_april_2019">tighten the visa system</a> for short-term skilled migrants, ensuring they have to be paid more so that “it isn’t cheaper to pay an overseas worker than pay a local worker”.</p>
<p>But the evidence does not support his claim that his policy proposal will boost local jobs and wages. He said</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are more than 1 million underemployed Australians wanting more work and youth unemployment is at 11.7%</p>
<p>At the same time, there are almost 1.6 million temporary visa holders with work rights in Australia, with the top end of town turning to temporary work visas to undercut local jobs, wages and conditions</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Requirements have already been toughened</h2>
<p>The first point to note is that Shorten’s policy relates only to short-term visas for skilled migrants. Up until 2017, these were known as 457 visas. Their number peaked at 126,000 in 2012-13.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=205&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270910/original/file-20190425-121228-cnjtch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/457Visa">Parliamentary Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull replaced the 457 visa with the <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/temporary-skill-shortage-482">482 visa</a>, partly in response to evidence that some employers had <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leaked-report-raises-concerns-over-457-visa-20141018-117wfc.html">exploited the 457</a> to employ foreign workers on low wages.</p>
<p>The new visa required</p>
<ul>
<li><p>applicants to demonstrate work experience (minimum two years) and English language proficiency</p></li>
<li><p>the sponsoring employer to demonstrate lack of success in finding a local worker to do the job </p></li>
<li><p>the salary level to be at the market level for the role, and above what is known as the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold. This is now about A$54,000. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Since August 2018, employers of workers with 482 visas have also had to pay a fee to the Department of Education and Training to subsidise apprenticeships. Known as the <a href="https://www.tssimmigration.com.au/migration-news/blog/the-new-skilling-australians-fund-saf-levy/">Skilling Australians Fund Levy</a>, it ranges from $2,400 to $7,200, depending on the length of the visa and the employer’s annual turnover. </p>
<p>The core of Labor’s policy is to increase the income threshold to $65,000, a figure that will be indexed annually. The skilling levy would be 3% of the income threshold, a level that for some businesses would be <a href="https://www.australianchamber.com.au/news/labors-proposed-changes-to-temporary-skilled-migration-impose-big-costs-on-small-business/">an increase of 63%</a>.</p>
<h2>Skilled migrants are not the problem</h2>
<p>The most recent statistics published by the federal government (for 2017-18) show a total of <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/temp-res-skilled-rpt-summary-30062018.pdf">83,470</a> people on temporary skilled worker visas (both 482 visas and residual 457 visas). </p>
<p>This means Shorten’s reference to the almost 1.6 million temporary visa holders with work rights in Australia – such as backpackers and international students (who we know are often <a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-let-wage-exploitation-become-the-default-experience-of-migrant-workers-113644">exploited by unscrupulous employers</a>) – is something of a red herring. Labor’s proposal won’t make any difference to them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/crackdown-on-foreign-workers-is-part-of-shortens-wages-campaign-115816">Crackdown on foreign workers is part of Shorten's wages campaign</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Even if the 83,470 workers that the policy would affect were being employed to undercut local wage expectations, their number – less than 1% of Australia’s <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6306.0May%202018?OpenDocument">10 million</a> total employees – is simply not enough to influence market wages. In no occupation are visa holders more than 1% of total employees.</p>
<p>But there’s scant evidence to suggest the 482 visas are routinely used to employ cheaper workers. The average base nominated salary for visas in 2017-18 was <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/457-quarterly-report-31122017.pdf">$94,800</a>, well above the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6306.0May%202018?OpenDocument">average full-time wage</a> (about $85,000) and even higher than the $54,000 or Labor’s proposed $65,000 minimum.</p>
<p>Admittedly, averages don’t <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2018/06/08/average-australian-wages-revealed/">tell the full story</a>. But in only one sector – food and accommodation, accounting for 10.7% of visas granted – was the average wage lower than $65,000. </p>
<p>It suggests that raising the income threshold won’t have much impact.</p>
<h2>Labor’s proposals would be felt in the regions</h2>
<p>There is one possible exception to this: regional and remote Australia, which has benefited the most from temporary skilled worker visas. If the market wage for say, an early career chef, is below $65,000 (which it could be for some places in Australia), a restaurant or café employer in a small town would no longer be able to employ a migrant worker at the going rate, and it might also struggle to find would be be a $7,800 levy. </p>
<p>Labor’s proposal would impose higher relative costs on regional employers. </p>
<p>Claims about the impact of temporary work visas on employment and wages have been heard but seldom subject to rigorous analysis.</p>
<p>A significant inquiry into short-term migrant work visas in Australia was conducted by a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook44p/TempSkilledMigration">Senate select committee</a> in 2015-16. It <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/temporary_work_visa/Report/c03">noted an inverse relationship</a> between 457 visas granted and the unemployment rate. In other words, the visas were associated with low, rather than high unemployment rates.</p>
<p>This suggests visas are meeting genuine skills shortages rather than displacing Australian workers.</p>
<h2>Migrants create as well as fill jobs</h2>
<p>Migrant workers are also consumers. They spend their income, contributing to demand for goods and services from local businesses, which adds to the demand for workers generally.</p>
<p>The same dynamics apply as those involving all migrants. As peer-reviewed <a href="https://crawford.anu.edu.au/files/uploads/crawford01_cap_anu_edu_au/2018-05/policy_note_-_immigration.pdf">research</a> by researchers at the Australian National University has shown, migration has had “no detectable effect on employment or wages of all workers who have lived in Australia for more than five years”.</p>
<p>These findings are essentially supported by the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/migrant-intake/report/migrant-intake-report.pdf">Productivity Commission</a>. </p>
<p>In sum, there’s little evidence that Australia’s current visa program for temporary skilled migrants has a negative effect on local jobs or wages. </p>
<p>Labor’s plans are unlikely to achieve anything positive. They might even hurt.</p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dog-whistles-regional-visas-and-wage-theft-immigration-policy-is-again-an-election-issue-113557">Dog whistles, regional visas and wage theft – immigration policy is again an election issue</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ross Guest does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bill Shorten’s promise to tighten the visa system for short-term skilled migrants won’t do anything for local jobs or wages.Ross Guest, Professor of Economics and National Senior Teaching Fellow, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1093572019-02-08T11:32:05Z2019-02-08T11:32:05ZLópez Obrador clashes with courts after vowing ‘poverty’ for Mexican government<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257819/original/file-20190207-174880-ydnlpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">López Obrader wants to cut salaries for all government workers in Mexico, including himself.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Mexico-Fuel-Theft/af44b632456944778936c2f4902a0db6/60/0">AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s rare for presidents to advocate for poverty, but that’s just what <a href="https://theconversation.com/andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-was-elected-to-transform-mexico-can-he-do-it-99176">Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador</a> is doing.</p>
<p>At a press conference on Feb. 1, López Obrador said his government would embrace what he called “<a href="https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2019/02/01/version-estenografica-de-la-conferencia-de-prensa-matutina-del-presidente-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-36/">Franciscan poverty</a>” if it would “transfer funds to the people” and achieve “development, jobs and welfare.” </p>
<p>Francis of Assisi was a Catholic saint who <a href="https://www.friarsofstfrancis.org/the-spirit-of-poverty-of-st-francis-of-assisi/">disdained material wealth</a> to follow Christ as a poor man.</p>
<p>López Obrador’s poverty vow is more bureaucratic than religious. As part of an ambitious effort to fight poverty and reduce government corruption, the president proposed to cut the salaries of public officials, including his own, <a href="https://www.animalpolitico.com/2018/07/amlo-austeridad-corrupcion-puntos/">slash federal budgets</a> and <a href="https://expansion.mx/finanzas-personales/2018/08/01/eres-empleado-de-confianza-asi-te-afectaran-las-decisiones-de-amlo">lay off 70 percent of non-unionized federal workers</a>. An estimated <a href="https://twitter.com/Viri_Rios/status/1018880589850701824">276,290</a> public employees will lose their jobs.</p>
<p>After lawsuits were filed by <a href="https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/la-corte-congela-el-tope-a-salarios-pese-a-resistencia-habra-austeridad-delgado/1283451">opposition political parties</a> and Mexico’s <a href="http://www.cndh.org.mx/sites/all/doc/Acciones/Acc_Inc_2018_105.pdf">National Human Rights Commission</a>, the Supreme Court in December <a href="https://www.scjn.gob.mx/sites/default/files/acuerdos_controversias_constit/documento/2018-12-07/ACU%207-12-18%20ISDAI%20105-18.pdf">granted a temporary suspension</a> of López Obrador’s new <a href="http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LFRemSP_051118.pdf">Federal Law of Public Servant Salaries</a>. </p>
<p>Saying that even austerity budgets must guarantee the basic functioning of the government, Justice Alberto Pérez Dayán said López Obrador’s plan cannot go into effect until the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality. </p>
<p>The decision has set up a standoff between the president and the courts, with Mexico’s federal budget and <a href="https://www.proceso.com.mx/570407/el-pueblo-se-cansa-de-tanta-pinche-transa-dice-amlo-confirma-intervencion-ante-scjn-video">judicial independence</a> hanging in the balance.</p>
<h2>Reducing inequality, one tree at a time</h2>
<p>López Obrador and his leftist Morena Party won a <a href="https://centralelectoral.ine.mx/2018/07/08/confirma-ine-resultados-de-eleccion-presidencial-2018/">landslide victory</a> in Mexico’s 2018 general election on promises that they would transform Mexico, empowering the underprivileged in a country with gaping inequality.</p>
<p>Since taking office on Dec. 1, López Obrador has suggested creating some 20,000 jobs in fruit production and wood harvesting by <a href="https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/lopez-obrador-vuelve-a-sus-origenes-presenta-en-tabasco-sembrando-vida/1293984">planting trees</a> on a million acres of land in rural southern Mexico. He has also proposed paying <a href="https://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/busca-lopez-obrador-llegar-a-85-millones-de-apoyos-a-adultos-mayores/1289997">small monthly pensions of up to 2,550 pesos</a> – around US$134 – to Mexicans above the age of 68 and to people with <a href="https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2018/12/20/destinara-gobierno-presupuesto-historico-para-personas-con-discapacidad-en-2019-presidente-de-mexico/">disabilities</a> who lack social security benefits.</p>
<p>Leftist governments usually fund social programs like this by raising taxes on the wealthy. López Obrador says he <a href="https://expansion.mx/economia/2018/11/26/estas-son-las-12-promesas-economicas-de-amlo">won’t do that</a>. Instead, his administration hopes to recover public funds by cracking down on <a href="https://books.google.com.mx/books?redir_esc=y&id=0-zmDQAAQBAJ&q=corrupcion#v=onepage&q=corrupci%C3%B3n&f=false">rampant corruption</a> and saving money with <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2018/07/16/actualidad/1531708329_222187.html">fiscal austerity</a>. That’s where the salary cuts and mass layoffs come into play.</p>
<p>López Obrador is an <a href="https://lopezobrador.org.mx/2017/11/04/asamblea-informativa-en-susticacan-zacatecas/">admirer of Benito Juárez</a>, the indigenous president who ruled Mexico from 1858 to 1872. Juárez extolled the virtues of selfless public service, <a href="http://www.biblioteca.tv/artman2/publish/1852_153/Discurso_pronunciado_por_Benito_Ju_rez_gobernador_del_estado_de_Oaxaca_ante_la_X_Legislatura_al_abrir_el_primer_periodo_de_sus_sesiones_ordinarias.shtml">saying</a> public servants should “devote themselves to work assiduously while resigning to live in … honorable modesty.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257823/original/file-20190207-174851-1bz67cx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Los Pinos presidential palace in Mexico City is now open to the public.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Los_Pinos%2C_Mexico_2018.jpg">Drkgk/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>López Obrador flies commercial and has refused to take up residence in the Los Pinos presidential palace, turning it into a cultural center. </p>
<p>He also set his salary at a “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-11/amlo-eyes-salary-of-mexico-supreme-court-head-in-austerity-push">moderate</a>” 108,000 pesos, about <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/amlo-slash-60-his-salary">$5,700 a month</a> – roughly $68,400 a year. That’s 60 percent less than his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, who earned <a href="https://adnpolitico.com/presidencia/2018/07/15/lopez-obrador-fija-en-108-000-el-tope-de-sueldos-para-funcionarios-en-mexico">the equivalent of $14,200 a month</a> in 2018.</p>
<p>The wage gap between average workers and the Mexican head of state was the highest in the world last year, according to a <a href="https://www.ig.com/uk/forex/research/pay-check#/salary">report by the IG Group</a>, a British financial services company. On average, Mexican workers earn around $15,311 a year. </p>
<p>López Obrador’s voluntary pay cut has drastically reduced the difference between his income and <a href="https://www.efe.com/efe/english/life/mexican-households-have-an-average-of-3-8-members-843-in-monthly-income/50000263-2666718">everyone else’s</a>.</p>
<h2>Attacks on the judiciary</h2>
<p>Since <a href="http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/1_270818.pdf">the Mexican Constitution</a> mandates that no public official should make more than the president, however, López Obrador has also effectively capped wages for all government employees. </p>
<p>To his mind, that’s a good thing.</p>
<p>The days of having “a rich government with a poor population” are over, the president <a href="https://aristeguinoticias.com/0812/mexico/quienes-deberian-impartir-justicia-estan-dando-un-mal-ejemplo-amlo/">told a crowd</a> in December. He was speaking in the western state of Nayarit, pledging aid for victims of a recent hurricane. </p>
<p>In the same speech, López Obrador attacked the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend his pay cut plan, accusing Mexican judges – not just Justice Pérez Dayán – of selfishly wanting to keep their salaries and benefits intact. </p>
<p>In fact, <a href="http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/1_270818.pdf">Article 94 of the Mexican Constitution</a> explicitly prohibits reducing the salary of judges at any time during their appointment, a guarantee of judicial independence that <a href="http://www.ordenjuridico.gob.mx/Constitucion/1857.pdf">dates back to 1857</a>.</p>
<p>In 2018, Supreme Court justices earned <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/ministros-aceptan-reducir-25-sus-salarios">269,215 pesos</a> – around $14,000 a month. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court has since <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/ministros-aceptan-reducir-25-sus-salarios">agreed</a> to take a 25 percent pay cut “in accordance with the new policy of austerity that the presidency has demanded of the Supreme Court of Justice.” That puts their 2019 salaries at about $10,500 a month, not including benefits. </p>
<p>In adopting this measure, the Supreme Court also clarified that, as an independent branch of government directly protected by the Constitution, the judiciary is not bound by the salary standards established by López Obrador. The justices will decide how to implement austerity within the court system. </p>
<h2>Judicial battles ahead</h2>
<p>The Supreme Court is expected to make a definitive ruling on the <a href="https://eljuegodelacorte.nexos.com.mx/?p=9321">two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality</a> of the Federal Law of Public Servant Salaries some time this year. </p>
<p>Over <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/mas-de-20-mil-piden-amparo-contra-la-ley-de-salarios">20,000 public servants have also filed individual complaints</a> in federal courts, saying salary cuts violate their labor rights. Under Mexican law, <a href="http://sjf.scjn.gob.mx/sjfsist/Documentos/Tesis/257/257483.pdf">legislation is deemed retrospective</a> – and thus unconstitutional – if it affects the vested rights of individuals. Employers, including the federal government, cannot unilaterally reduce their employees’ wages.</p>
<p>At least <a href="https://elfinanciero.com.mx/nacional/en-38-dias-12-mil-817-trabajadores-despedidos-o-en-vias-de-serlo">12,817 Mexican public servants</a> have already been laid off under López Obrador’s austerity plan. Many of those who have kept their jobs have seen their <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cartera/cero-prestaciones-burocratas-eventuales-y-por-honorarios">social security benefits and vacation time</a> eliminated under the new law.</p>
<p>Beyond its questionable constitutionality, López Obrador’s de facto salary cap on public servants does not take into account the expertise, seniority or skills required of high-level positions. Less than $5,700 a month is simply insufficient payment for the most highly skilled workers, Mexican constitutional <a href="http://www.enciclopediagro.org/index.php/indices/indice-de-biografias/102-arteaga-nava-elisur">expert</a> Elisur Arteaga told the newspaper <a href="https://www.razon.com.mx/mexico/juristas-ley-de-salarios-al-vapor-habra-amparos/">La Razon</a> last year. He expects talent will flee the government for the private sector.</p>
<p>Nobody in Mexico thought that transforming the country would be easy when they voted López Obrador into office. To <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/11/28/opinion/1543428474_358305.html">paraphrase Mexican pundit Jesús Silva-Herzog</a>, fixing Mexico’s bloated and corrupt government was work for a surgeon with a scalpel. </p>
<p>López Obrador, it’s becoming clear, prefers a machete.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In 2002, Luis Gómez Romero contributed to a constitutional amendment aimed at establishing that no public servant can receive remuneration higher than that established of the President of Mexico, which later became law.</span></em></p>Mexico’s new president has reduced his own salary and demanded that all federal workers
– including lawmakers and judges – take a massive pay cut, too. That may be illegal.Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1034082018-09-30T10:43:59Z2018-09-30T10:43:59ZWhy do people work? Respect trumps money in South Africa case study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236832/original/file-20180918-158243-7c4ink.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Relationships at work affect employees' decisions to stay in jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstok/LongJon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In South Africa, <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2018.pdf">more than</a> 50% of working age adults don’t have jobs. But is the country asking the right questions when it comes to understanding what drives people’s employment-related decisions? Research on unemployment mostly <a href="http://www.econ3x3.org/article/reservation-wages-found-surveys-can-be-very-misleading">focuses on</a> getting wages right. But there are also many non-monetary reasons that motivate South Africans’ work-related decisions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070.2018.1403219">My research</a>, conducted over the period of a year in KwaZulu-Natal province, sought to understand these decisions. My work included interviews and observations with 77 South Africans who were either unemployed, self-employed or earning low wages, as well as owners and managers of 25 businesses.</p>
<p>I found that while pay and profit are not irrelevant in employees’ decisions about work, overemphasising monetary factors hid important motivators. Relationships were often a more significant factor than wages for decisions to accept, keep, or quit jobs. </p>
<p>This brings to South Africa questions being asked by researchers in the US, who have found that workers <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Why_We_Work.html?id=w5m2oQEACAAJ">cared less</a> about pay. Often <a href="http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/record=b3182579%7ES8">labour legislation</a> is focused on wages, and the means of negotiating wages is often so bureaucratic and impersonal that it breaks down relationships.</p>
<p>These findings lead to a new way of thinking about employment that moves beyond minimum wage adjustments, job creation incentives, and skills training for would-be workers. This is important: a simplistic understanding of worker motivations among South African policymakers can produce policies that rely too much on wage manipulation to shape employment outcomes, and management styles that run counter to what keeps workers engaged. </p>
<h2>Importance of relationships</h2>
<p>Of 77 people I interviewed about work, 39 mentioned quitting a job they disliked. Often people did not offer reasons for leaving jobs; of those who did give reasons, the most common involved relationships. </p>
<p>Fifteen people cited poor treatment by an employer, including five mentions of racism and one of sexual assault. Eight mentioned coworker problems, including backstabbing, false accusations, and jealousy. Only three people included too little pay as a reason for leaving. </p>
<p>In every case when pay was mentioned, people talked about pay in the context of human valuation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was not paid enough to put myself in that danger</p>
</blockquote>
<p>or </p>
<blockquote>
<p>only the old people will take that kind of pay, because they don’t know about the changes happening in the world, and they don’t have a relationship with the
boss to speak up. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The factors that job-seekers said influenced their decisions had less to do with wages than with good relationships in the workplace. These factors included their employer’s demeanour, workers’ inclusion in decision-making and leadership, perceived social distance between employees and employers, and the overall level of trust between employees and employers.</p>
<p>Relationships among coworkers also affected whether employees stayed in jobs. Conflicts often arose because people were promoted to higher positions than others who were seen as having culturally higher status because of age, gender or experience. </p>
<p>For instance, middle-level black managers – especially when young or female – were especially likely to worry about coworker relationships as they navigated a middle place between gaining favour with higher (often white) managers and not “acting above” other employees. Such jealousy and disdain often prompted various forms of mistreatment that could cause people to quit.</p>
<p>Relationships at home were another significant reason affecting employment. The work opportunities available to low-skilled workers often prevented them from spending time with children, partners and parents. This often caused conflict that could lead them to quit.</p>
<p>Relationships at home were often further strained because, as the breadwinner, low wages had to be spread too thinly among dependants. Aside from changing their relationship with relatives, several interviewees spoke of the predicament of needing to earn money while knowing they would keep little of their wages. One interviewee went as far as switching to a lower-paying job because the timing of paydays allowed her to better manage family members’ financial requests.</p>
<h2>Ideal work situation</h2>
<p>People often focused on the word “respect” (<em>inhlonipho</em> in isiZulu) when describing ideal work relationships – even in low-wage jobs. Respectful relationships were demonstrated through: rotating all workers into leadership roles, paying a portion of the employees’ children’s school fees, expressing gratitude, having employees at all levels share lunch rooms, offering training and hiring primarily from the families and acquaintances of current employees. In some cases, they created jobs specifically for relatives of employees, signalling trust.</p>
<p>This is not to say that pay doesn’t matter. In listing their reasons for starting jobs, employees nearly always cited pay-related reasons, but the reasons were often tied to shifts in relationships – like the loss of a breadwinning relative. But once in a job, when relationships went badly, money was not enough to keep people in jobs.</p>
<p>In a country with a long history of painful employment experiences systematically delineated along racialised lines, black people have long been treated as holding a lower value, not only as workers but as humans. This study has shown how dehumanising treatment defies a relational morality that is central to many black people’s work-related decisions.</p>
<p>This is a signal to policymakers that measures to improve relationships must be considered – and often these are too little or no cost. These include; flattening institutional hierarchies, building gratitude into workplace routines, improving policies for handling workplace disputes, and otherwise improving trust and communication between managers and employees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Jeske does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While pay and profit are not irrelevant in employees’ work decisions, there are other motivators.Christine Jeske, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Wheaton College (Illinois)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1038022018-09-24T16:08:59Z2018-09-24T16:08:59ZLabour and John McDonnell are right to give workers a stake, says company law professor<p>The shadow chancellor’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45621361">conference speech</a> on September 24 set out the Labour Party’s radical new economic policies to tackle inequality and increase industrial democracy. John McDonnell paid tribute to the “brilliant” work of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank and its recent report <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/2018-08/1535639099_prosperity-and-justice-ippr-2018.pdf">Prosperity and Justice</a>, upon which much of Labour’s polices are based. His speech included striking proposals on employee ownership and employee representation on the board.</p>
<p>Under the proposals, all UK listed companies with more than 250 staff would be legally required to transfer 1% of their ownership into an “inclusive ownership fund” of collectively held shares. Employees would have the same voting rights as shareholders but, unlike shareholders, their dividends would be capped at £500 a year. Any surplus – estimated at £2.1 billion – would be transferred back to social services as a “social dividend”. </p>
<p>Companies, McDonnell rightly stated, benefit from the vast investments made by society, so they should contribute to its upkeep. The inclusive ownership fund would be locked into the company, non-transferable and administered by a board of employee trustees. </p>
<p>In respect of corporate governance, all companies with over 250 employees would be required to have one third of its board peopled by employee representatives.</p>
<p>For the many corporate law and governance scholars who have argued for similar changes, there is much to be celebrated in these bold proposals. But, as they stand, they are not without issues that need teasing out. Here are a few.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1044193469432913921"}"></div></p>
<h2>Unclear effects</h2>
<p>It is not clear how employee share ownership will reduce the social, economic and environmental problems caused by the way that companies are currently run for shareholders. This has long been an issue highlighted <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/political-economy/rethinking-society-21st-century-report-international-panel-social-progress?format=WX&isbn=9781108399579">by corporate law scholars</a>.</p>
<p>The IPPR report itself argues that the shareholder value focus of UK companies prioritises short-term returns over long-term investment, in which dividends trump investment in production. It notes that 55% of cash flow is devoted to dividends today, compared with 39% in 1990. And this is regardless of actual profits, which have been much lower since the 2007-08 financial crisis.</p>
<p>Indeed, the short-term goals of shareholders are further amplified today because the majority of FTSE shares are owned by foreign investment funds whose management are rewarded for short-term returns. Giving employees the same shareholder voting rights as shareholders would only act as a counter to these powerful interests if the numbers were comparable – which seems unlikely.</p>
<h2>Failure to protect employees</h2>
<p>Both McDonnell and the IPPR say worker ownership and control will enhance company efficiency, pointing to the success of European economies. McDonnell points out that employee ownership is four to five times higher in Germany and encourages productivity and long-term thinking. Similarly, the IPPR report states: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Countries which adopt stakeholder models of corporate governance with formal means of employee representation have stronger R&D investment performance, higher productivity and lower inequality than shareholder centric models.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But these stakeholder systems have consistently failed to protect employees. The legally mandated representation of employees on the supervisory boards of large companies (but not the management board) current in Germany has not protected employees from the huge inroads into their rights as workers in such legislation as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/01/germany-hartz-reforms-inequality">Hartz reforms</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237781/original/file-20180924-85785-fbq42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237781/original/file-20180924-85785-fbq42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237781/original/file-20180924-85785-fbq42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237781/original/file-20180924-85785-fbq42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237781/original/file-20180924-85785-fbq42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237781/original/file-20180924-85785-fbq42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237781/original/file-20180924-85785-fbq42j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Board representation might not be enough to protect worker rights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-people-meeting-discussion-corporate-team-335173421">Rawpixel/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Supervisory boards are designed to protect the company, and its profitability, rather than its employees. This is one reason for the longstanding rejection of this model by UK trade unions <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1409733?seq=6#metadata_info_tab_contents">in the past</a>. As UK companies are currently structured to have a single board of directors (unitary boards), McDonnell’s proposals would increase the areas in which employee representatives could participate. </p>
<p>But, to be effective, Labour’s proposal would need to be clear about employee roles on boards – is it for the protection of shareholder value (in which employees would participate) or the protection of jobs and investment? And, if it’s the latter, how they would realistically achieve this.</p>
<h2>Problematic details</h2>
<p>It is also worth noting that the EU has dramatically shifted away from the idea of stakeholder governance to shareholder empowerment. So, when espousing the benefits of the EU’s approach to corporate governance (as both McDonnell and the IPPR do), the UK should proceed with caution.</p>
<p>Over the last ten years, the EU has launched and spread “stewardship codes”, which encourage more shareholder involvement in governance. Plus, the EU’s <a href="https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9b871b38-3d20-11e7-a08e-01aa75ed71a1/language-en">Shareholder Rights Directive 2017</a>, which gives more powers to shareholders to dictate company policy, was adopted in spite of the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/company/docs/modern/com2010_284_en.pdf">EU’s own</a> <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/company/docs/modern/com2011-164_en.pdf">reports</a> showing that shareholder primacy drove the destructive short-termism and risk taking that caused the global financial crisis. </p>
<p>Finally, the claim that employee engagement enhances efficiency is highly problematic as it collates what is good for employees with what is good for shareholders. Yet, what has produced good returns for shareholders is a low paid, flexible domestic workforce and offshore workers that are highly exploited, as well as huge corporate debt to fund share buy backs <a href="https://www.bis.org/review/r150811a.pdf">and speculative financial investments</a>. </p>
<p>So, there is a lot of detail to iron out. But what remains heartening in McDonnell’s speech was Labour’s mission to treat workers – and to make companies treat workers – not as costs or welfare burdens, but as the creators of value who are entitled to the “full fruits of their industry”. Or, at least, to some of it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorraine Talbot is affiliated with the International Panel for Social Progress.</span></em></p>All companies with over 250 employees would be required to have one third of its board comprised of employee representatives.Lorraine Talbot, Professor of Company Law in Context, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996172018-07-11T11:13:01Z2018-07-11T11:13:01ZTwo tiny but mighty new trade unions offer UK a better way to ‘take back control’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227133/original/file-20180711-27021-14h4usm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eorphotography/8076759765/in/album-72157631744579023/">Eyes On Rights / flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people in the UK interpret “take back control” as “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321586299_Take_Back_Control_of_Our_Borders_The_Role_of_Arguments_about_Controlling_Immigration_in_the_Brexit_Debate">close the borders</a>”. But there are other ways for people to restore their communities and standard of living without trying to keep out the immigrants. Two small unions, the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) and United Voices of the World (UVW), show us how.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://iwgb.org.uk/about/">IWGB</a>, formed in 2012, and the <a href="https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/about/">UVW</a>, formed in 2014, organise the most vulnerable of London’s immigrant workers: low paid, outsourced, often employed as so-called “independent contractors”. They include cleaners, carers, couriers, bar staff and security guards. These men and women, working alongside their British-born colleagues, are the very people supposedly <a href="https://theconversation.com/rivers-and-swarms-how-metaphor-fuels-anti-immigrant-feeling-33556">swamping the country</a> and driving down wages. </p>
<p>Yet through these two unions they have taken on powerful employers, from global giants like Uber and Deliveroo to outsourcing companies at the Royal Opera House, the London School of Economics, and other cultural meccas. And they have often won. I spoke to the leaders of IWGB and UVW to and found out how – through self-reliance, community building and collective action – they have taken back control.</p>
<h2>Self reliance</h2>
<p>The prevailing emotion among low-paid workers is fear: fear of management and fear of getting the sack. They have little experience with unions, and no control over their jobs. </p>
<p>IWGB and UVW organisers must first convince workers that they have the power to act and that they can cause change. They try to avoid what the UVW’s general secretary, Petros Elia, calls a “doctor-patient relationship”, where workers wait for a quick consult with the organiser, who then cures their ills.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227137/original/file-20180711-27018-19lckoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227137/original/file-20180711-27018-19lckoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227137/original/file-20180711-27018-19lckoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227137/original/file-20180711-27018-19lckoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227137/original/file-20180711-27018-19lckoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227137/original/file-20180711-27018-19lckoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227137/original/file-20180711-27018-19lckoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UVW members making themselves heard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/uvwunion/photos/a.786502864751288.1073741832.703269199741322/1747899611944937/?type=3&theater">UVW</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They preach instead the gospel of self-reliance, or at least a version of it. The IWGB’s Ecuadorian-born president, Henry Chango Lopez, puts it simply: “We let the workers run their own affairs.” New members compile their own demands and plan their own campaign, while organisers provide guidance and head office provides legal support. Workers are encouraged to trust their own abilities, and take control of their own campaigns. </p>
<h2>Strength in numbers</h2>
<p>But they do not do this alone. The IWGB and UVW place more stress on strikes and other kinds of collective action than most other unions. This is partly because the employers they encounter – outsourcing companies, “platforms” such as Uber and Deliveroo, and other hirers of low-cost labour – are even less likely than others to grant demands such as the London living wage without a fight.</p>
<p>Their campaigns are noisier and more raucous than the average picket line. Strikes by IWGB cleaners at the University of London, for example, were set to <a href="http://theprisma.co.uk/2013/03/03/why-the-cleaners-bang-on-drums/">banging drums</a>. UVW cleaners at 100 Wood St, home to investment banks Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, staged loud protests, organised flash mobs and occupied buildings for 61 days during the <a href="https://www.uvwunion.org.uk/100-wood-street/">longest strike</a> in the history of the City of London. At these times, Chango Lopez says, “invisible workers become visible” – not to mention audible. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"989420354924941312"}"></div></p>
<p>Isolated individuals change nothing – but even the most vulnerable people, some of whom speak few words of English, can change a great deal if they come together. Chango Lopez remembers how cleaners at the University of London – outsourced, marginalised and on minimum wage – used to suffer harassment and feared losing their jobs and being unable to pay their bills. </p>
<p>After eight years of sustained protests, strikes and campaigns they have transformed their situation, won the London living wage and will soon be brought back <a href="https://iwgb.org.uk/2018/05/24/iwgb-campaign-wins-major-concession-for-outsourced-workers-at-university-of-london/">in-house</a>. British workers of all kinds should heed that lesson, as strikes fall to their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/30/strikes-in-uk-fall-to-lowest-level-since-records-began-in-1893">lowest point</a> in more than 100 years.</p>
<h2>Building community</h2>
<p>These strikes and campaigns all rest on the wider community of members. The IWGB and UVW both aim, as Elia puts it, “to build as many links of solidarity as possible between members, and between workplaces”. When one branch decides to take action, head office encourages the other branches to lend their support by joining their protest and writing letters and emails to the employer in question. Head office becomes the hub of a community in which each branch knows that the rest have their back. </p>
<p>Activists from both unions try to make their office a place where first-time visitors come back twice. They encourage new recruits to meet members seasoned by strikes and campaigns who can pass on their experience and the conviction that fighting and winning is possible. Formal meetings double as social events, where everyone can relax and get to know each other over a drink and to the sound of music. Activists at the UVW offices rate themselves as highly on the dancefloor as on the picket line.</p>
<p>They have built these communities despite the many linguistic and cultural cleavages among their membership. Members come from all over the world – including Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia and the UK. The majority of UVW members – and a large minority of IWGB members – hail from Latin America. Spanish is spoken more often than English at the UVW head office, and their long, sprawling meetings take place in Spanish and Portuguese as well as English. Both unions run English language classes for non-native speakers, so they can work more closely with their colleagues and better understand what employers tell them. </p>
<p>Some people fret that immigrants won’t assimilate. But they can rest assured that the UVW and IWGB do more to integrate their foreign-born members than the government, which has <a href="http://www.refugee-action.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Safe-but-Alone-final.pdf">slashed funds</a> for English teaching for new migrants. And they have a thing or two to learn from this varied collection of British and foreign-born workers, who have overcome their vulnerabilities to better their pay and working conditions.</p>
<p>Forget closing the borders, or maintaining the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-immigration-policy-has-made-britain-a-precarious-place-to-call-home-95546">hostile environment</a>” against migrants. Working people shouldn’t rely on Brexit – or the European Union – to protect their jobs, communities and lives. The self-reliance, collective action and community spirit practised by the Independent Workers of Great Britain and United Voices of the World are a much better way to take back control.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Parfitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>And it doesn’t involve immigrant bashing. Quite the opposite.Steven Parfitt, University Teacher in History, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/959762018-05-03T08:42:01Z2018-05-03T08:42:01ZThe need to work less is a matter of life and death<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217315/original/file-20180502-153881-nrikep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-beard-his-small-yellow-dog-419511310?src=3LYT07B6QtW1Oo7aILoqrQ-1-39">shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The May bank holiday is intimately linked to labour history and to struggles over time spent at work. In the US, <a href="http://time.com/3836834/may-day-labor-history/">May Day has its origins</a> in the fight for an eight-hour work day at the end of the 19th century. This fight was – and remains – a quest for a broader ideal, namely the achievement of a life beyond work.</p>
<p>Yet, on this May bank holiday, we are struck by the lack of progress towards this ideal. Work has not diminished in society. Rather, it has continued to dominate our lives, often in ways that are detrimental to our health and well-being. <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/ib348-trends-us-work-hours-wages-1979-2007/">Many US workers</a> have found themselves working more than eight hours a day – the dream of working less promoted by their forebears has turned into a nightmare of long hours of work, for no extra pay. UK workers have not fared much better, at least in recent years, facing <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/speech/2015/labours-share.pdf?la=en&hash=D6F1A4C489DA855C8512FC41C02E014F8D683953">lower real pay</a> for the same or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/mar/27/britons-working-longer-hours-with-no-gain-in-productivity-study-finds?_ga=2.203676887.613595515.1525272548-1992824070.1525272548">longer hours of work</a>.</p>
<p>The irony of course is that capitalism was supposed to offer something different. It was meant to offer a life of more leisure and free time. Technology was supposed to advance in ways that would bring bank holidays every month, possibly even every week. Luminaries like economist John Maynard Keynes <a href="http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf">dreamt</a> of a 15-hour work week by 2030. Yet capitalism has produced the exact opposite. Its effect has been to preserve and extend work. It has also created problems in the content and meaning of work.</p>
<p>The circumstances are such that rather than idle away and enjoy our time off on bank holidays we are likely to spend it exhausted, stressed, and annoyed about a world that is less than what it can be.</p>
<h2>Work’s not working</h2>
<p>As an example of the problem of modern work, consider a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43973147">recent report</a> from the industry group, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). It showed how increasing numbers of workers are turning up for work while ill. They are displaying what is termed “presenteeism”. Of the more than 1,000 organisations that were surveyed, 86% reported workers attending work while ill. This number was up from 26% in 2010, when the survey was last undertaken.</p>
<p>The CIPD also found high numbers of workers prepared to work while on holiday. Work, it seems, extends to time when workers are neither paid nor physically at work.</p>
<p>One reason for this behaviour is the pervasive work ethic. The idea of work remains strong and prevents any hint of slacking off. The work ethic can reflect – in the case of some middle-class jobs – high intrinsic rewards, but it also reflects on societal norms and imperatives that privilege and sanctify work. Needless to say, these norms and imperatives suit the material interests of employers.</p>
<p>Another reason for workers’ commitment to work is the pressure of financial necessity. Stagnant and falling real wages mean workers have to keep working in order to live. Keynes’s dream of a 15-hour work week by 2030 assumed benevolent employers passing on the productivity gains made from technology in the form of shorter work hours. It did not contemplate a world where employers would pocket the gains for themselves, at the expense of more work for workers.</p>
<p>The demand of employers that we work more has been intensified by changes in technology that have bound us to work. Smartphones mean instant access to email and offer a constant connection to work. Being on call when not at work is part of the modern work culture.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217303/original/file-20180502-153869-1d8bnb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217303/original/file-20180502-153869-1d8bnb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217303/original/file-20180502-153869-1d8bnb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217303/original/file-20180502-153869-1d8bnb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217303/original/file-20180502-153869-1d8bnb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217303/original/file-20180502-153869-1d8bnb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217303/original/file-20180502-153869-1d8bnb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tech means we can work anywhere – and everywhere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/ourQHRTE2IM">Alex Kotliarskyi/unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is also a direct power aspect in the sense that work now is often <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/05/nearly-10-million-britons-are-in-insecure-work-says-union">precarious and insecure</a>. People dare not show a lack of commitment for fear of losing their jobs. How better to show commitment than to attend work while ill and work during holidays?</p>
<p>The modern phenomenon of presenteeism is a pathology linked to a workplace setting where workers lack control. It reflects a situation that is imposed rather than chosen and one that is operated against employees’ interests.</p>
<h2>Killing time at work</h2>
<p>Yet all the evidence is that long hours are bad for health and ultimately productivity. Workers working long hours are more likely to have a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11020089">heart attack</a>, suffer a stroke, and experience depression. Coming to work ill is also likely to make you feel more ill. And could make others around you ill.</p>
<p>Recent research from the US suggests that <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-workplace-cause-of-death-20180323-story.html">toxic workplaces</a> (excessive hours, stressful work regimes) are a public health disaster. These workplaces have been shown to shorten lives – they are literally killing workers.</p>
<p>The alternative is for employers to reorganise work. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-10/the-six-hour-workday-works-in-europe-what-about-america?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=webfeeds">Evidence</a> suggests shorter work hours can boost health and productivity, providing potential win-win outcomes for employers and workers.</p>
<p>Given such evidence, why do employers keep pushing workers to work more? The simple answer relates to the capitalist system itself. The imperative for profit translates into a drive to work more. Technology, for similar reasons, becomes a tool for control and for pumping out more work. </p>
<p>While employers may benefit from less work, they work within a system that prevents this goal. Working less is inimical to a system where profit matters more than the pursuit of well-being in and beyond work. Deaths through overwork are a necessary by-product.</p>
<p>The May Day bank holiday ought to be a time for celebration, a recognition of how far we have come as a society in reducing work. Instead, it brings into sharp relief a world not won – a world lost to a system that privileges profit over people.</p>
<p>If we want a better future, we need to continue the collective struggle for less work. Our lives may depend on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Spencer has previously received funding from ESRC, EPSRC, and FP7. </span></em></p>Work dominates many of our lives, often in ways that are detrimental to our health and well-being.David Spencer, Professor of Economics and Political Economy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/893952017-12-20T13:59:22Z2017-12-20T13:59:22ZTory attack on Working Time Directive signals a post-Brexit race to the bottom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200186/original/file-20171220-5004-1m3z5cr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Working Time Directive is designed to stop this kind of behaviour.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/men-work-tired-fall-asleep-after-613630757?src=KWT85dtIHLGiPJ5ehYcIHQ-1-5">shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pro-Brexit Conservative government ministers like Michael Gove are demanding the EU Working Time Directive be scrapped, <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/theresa-may/news/91527/fury-brexit-ministers-urge">according to reports</a>. In a <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/boris-johnson-brexit-mustnt-leave-us-a-vassal-state-p9zrf9n6s">Sunday Times interview</a>, foreign secretary Boris Johnson urged prime minister Theresa May to negotiate a Brexit trade deal enabling Britain to ditch EU laws, warning about being a “vassal state” of Brussels. </p>
<p>EU employment rights have faced prolonged <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-brexit-would-be-bad-for-employment-rights-55890">opposition</a> from Conservative MPs. They are seen to impede the flexibility of UK business and labour markets. It is no surprise then that the directive is being attacked by right-wing Brexiteers, with <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5156079/brits-post-brexit-overtime-boom-eu-limits/">The Sun newspaper claiming</a> they have widespread cabinet support to axe it after Brexit. This is despite <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-conservatives-promise-to-maintain-eu-level-workers-rights/">previous promises</a> by the prime minister that: “The Conservatives will guarantee all rights that workers currently enjoy as we leave the European Union.” </p>
<h2>What is the Working Time Directive?</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=706&langId=en&intPageId=205">EU Working Time Directive</a> enshrines minimum health and safety requirements for organising working time in EU member states. Workers have legal rights to a weekly working time limit of 48 hours, minimum paid holidays, statutory rest periods. </p>
<p>Significantly, however, it also permits member states like the UK “opt-outs” from the maximum 48-hour week, as long as individual workers agree.</p>
<p>The directive was transposed into UK law under <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/contents/made">The Working Time Regulations 1998</a>, implementing the following main rights:</p>
<ul>
<li>A limit of 48 hours that a worker can be required to work in a week – though individuals may choose to work longer by opting out.<br></li>
<li>Paid annual leave of 5.6 weeks a year. </li>
<li>11 consecutive hours’ rest in any 24-hour period.<br></li>
<li>A 20-minute rest break if the working day is longer than six hours.<br></li>
<li>One day off each week.<br></li>
<li>A limit on the normal working hours of night workers to an average eight hours in any 24-hour period.<br></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5156079/brits-post-brexit-overtime-boom-eu-limits/">The Sun</a> quotes a government minister claiming that axing the directive “will give employers the added flexibility they will need once we have left the EU” and enable British workers to earn higher wages by allowing “millions of people to earn vital overtime cash”.</p>
<p>But this claim is contestable. It fails to recognise that many individuals can already voluntarily opt-out of the directive and work more hours if they want to. Plus, according to a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/389676/bis-14-1287-the-impact-of-the-working-time-regulations-on-the-uk-labour-market-a-review-of-evidence.pdf">government impact report</a> looking into the matter, “no clear conclusions can be drawn” about the directive’s impact on wages.</p>
<h2>Adverse consequences</h2>
<p>Various commentators warn of the <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2017/12/what-right-wingers-tell-you-about-working-time-directive-wrong">adverse consequences</a> for workers’ health and well-being if the directive is axed. Doing so would remove legal rights to paid holidays, maximum working hours and rest breaks – potentially opening the door to further employer exploitation of workers who have weak bargaining power and/or no collective trade union representation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200190/original/file-20171220-4973-1f1z8z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200190/original/file-20171220-4973-1f1z8z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200190/original/file-20171220-4973-1f1z8z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200190/original/file-20171220-4973-1f1z8z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200190/original/file-20171220-4973-1f1z8z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200190/original/file-20171220-4973-1f1z8z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200190/original/file-20171220-4973-1f1z8z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Holidays are overrated anyway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/O2wgGEZVvA4">Nikos Zacharoulis via Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trades Union Congress general secretary, Frances O’Grady <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/theresa-may/news/91527/fury-brexit-ministers-urge">commented</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is a straight-up attack on our rights at work. Millions could lose their paid holidays, and be forced to work ridiculously long hours.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Charlotte Cross, director of the Better Health at Work Alliance, told <a href="http://www2.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2017/12/18/government-may-scrap-working-time-regulations-reports-claim.aspx">The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)</a> that it “could be a damaging step for employee well-being in a workforce already plagued by high stress and poor mental health”.</p>
<p>Further, <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/about-eurwork/working-time-and-work-life-balance">current research</a> suggests that restricting working time is beneficial for everyone – workers, employers, citizens, customers. Workers have stronger health and safety protection; citizens and customers are less exposed to dangerously stressed workers. Employers benefit from more productive workers, avoid deteriorating quality of service associated with overworked staff, and reduce risk of workplace accidents.</p>
<p>So there are valid arguments for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-working-less-22454">working fewer</a> – not more – hours, or to distribute working hours more equitably. The UK has a polarised labour market: some employees work too many hours, whereas others experience underemployment and zero hours contracts. Scrapping the Working Time Directive protections would be detrimental for workers, especially those who already experience precarious working conditions. </p>
<h2>Did workers vote for this?</h2>
<p>It seems doubtful that many who voted for Brexit voted to remove legal rights to paid holidays, rest breaks, and maximum hours, hence the spinning of facts by right-wing politicians and media. Many workers may be unaware that these rights originated from EU employment legislation, and what they will lose if they are removed. </p>
<p>Even before Brexit kicks in, the UK labour market is <a href="https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/work/trends/labour-market-regulations">one of the most lightly regulated in the EU</a>. This is despite EU employment laws, which have often been implemented in a minimalist way – the UK opt-out from the 48-hour week is a prime example of this.</p>
<p>If the Conservatives remain in power and the Brexiteers broaden their deregulation of EU employment rights post-Brexit, the attack on the Working Time Directive could signal a more extensive dismantling of protections for vulnerable workers. The concern is that a race to the bottom will unfold with a continued quest for even greater labour market flexibility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89395/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Dobbins has received research funding from The British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council, the European Commission. </span></em></p>The Working Time Directive enshrines legal rights to rest periods, paid holidays and a maximum 48-hour working week.Tony Dobbins, Professor of Employment Studies, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/827262017-09-08T15:45:56Z2017-09-08T15:45:56ZNot lovin’ it: how insecure work creates insecure lifestyles for the poorest in society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185253/original/file-20170908-25853-1s1whzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=lb-59856941&offset=1&sort=newestFirst">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The claim that Eskimos have 50 words for snow may be apocryphal, but it neatly illustrates the truism that our vocabulary becomes more extensive and nuanced for phenomena we encounter frequently.</p>
<p>The bog-standard job of the 20th century was formal, full-time and permanent. Recently the lexicon for other kinds of jobs has expanded. Work can be temporary, fixed-term, seasonal, project-based, part-time, on a <a href="https://fullfact.org/economy/facts-about-zero-hour-contracts/?gclid=CI2Kn7fomdQCFdRAGwoduBEGVA">zero-hours</a> contract, casual, agency, freelance, peripheral, contingent, external, non-standard, atypical, platform-based, outsourced, sub-contracted, informal, undeclared, insecure, marginal or precarious.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MxUYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=%22Self-entrepreneurs%22+uber&source=bl&ots=Z3qPWTLBOM&sig=7WwQpfgj5pr7s5zilI8qZSdA3q4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid5aS195XWAhXBAsAKHa9wCkYQ6AEIMzAA#v=onepage&q=%22Self-entrepreneurs%22%20uber&f=false">Self-entrepreneurs</a>” now do “Uber-jobs” – a term that arose (mimicking the earlier pejorative term “McJobs” for low pay/quality work) to describe the use of workers who are technically self-employed in the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38930048">gig economy</a>. The atypical job is no longer quite so atypical. <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/587285/IPOL_STU(2016)587285_EN.pdf">Insecure work</a> has become an important phenomenon. </p>
<p>Employment is a field where predictions of the future have been reliable, because the trends have been clear for some time now that growth in insecure employment has reached a point to become a subject of study. In the 1990s, management guru <a href="https://www.london.edu/faculty-and-research/lbsr/the-shamrock-organisation#.WZv-mzsrK1t">Charles Handy</a> talked about the organisation of the future having a clover leaf design, with three kinds of human resource: full-time employees, casual staff and outsourced workers.</p>
<p>This threefold division was echoed in economist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jan/09/politicalcolumnists.comment">Will Hutton’s</a> darker prediction of a society in which 30% of people were disadvantaged and marginalised, 30% led insecure lives and 40% were privileged. </p>
<h2>Visions of 21st-century careers</h2>
<p>Careers in the start of the 21st century, we were told, would become “boundaryless” (hopping from project to project, not limited to one organisation), “portfolio” (multiple parallel jobs with multiple employers), and “protean” (with shapeshifting workers reinventing themselves as required).</p>
<p>Careers experts began to argue that the workers of the future needed to be ultra-flexible. Say goodbye to the job for life. Learn career management skills to dance nimbly to the tune of the new labour market. But this prescribed wisdom is problematic for four reasons.</p>
<p>First, job insecurity is has always existed; it was once the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gig-economy-is-nothing-new-it-was-standard-practice-in-the-18th-century-81057">historical norm</a>. The construction industry has always been project-based and seasonal like agriculture; seafarers were traditionally hired for a voyage. The entertainment industry was literally the “gig economy”. These are among the industries that routinely discarded workers when the job was done.</p>
<p>What is new is the extension of insecure work into industries where it was not previously common. This has been facilitated by new technology and the widespread use of contractual arrangements that seek to limit workers’ rights.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185263/original/file-20170908-25859-1negzsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185263/original/file-20170908-25859-1negzsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185263/original/file-20170908-25859-1negzsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185263/original/file-20170908-25859-1negzsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185263/original/file-20170908-25859-1negzsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185263/original/file-20170908-25859-1negzsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185263/original/file-20170908-25859-1negzsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Companies like Deliveroo have been criticised for their pay and working conditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/york-ukseptember-28-2016a-cyclist-increasingly-490881778?src=zMIbsaKIv2VtUCyXCZpw0w-1-8">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, the vision of a <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-24/edition-2/career-concepts-21st-century">brave new world</a> of portfolio, boundaryless, and protean careers was intended for professionals who could sell high-value parcels of work. It suits those with enough economic confidence to fly without the safety net of a regular income. These ideas were not dreamed up for the bicycle courier, the taxi driver or the peripatetic care worker, and certainly not for those trapped in a <a href="https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/low-pay-no-pay-cycle-understanding-recurrent-poverty">low-pay, no-pay cycle</a>.</p>
<p>Third, the career management rhetoric lost sight of the distinction between <em>is</em> and <em>should</em>. Growth in atypical working patterns does not imply a moral imperative that workers should facilitate this development by shaping themselves into the desired mould. Particularly where some employers might be seeking to offload responsibility for sick pay, holiday pay, and travel between jobs.</p>
<p>Flexibility in human resources allows employers to scale operations up and down rapidly, and with minimal cost. This is not just about keeping wage bills down, but also about employers reducing levels of economic risk, while workers increase their share of risk bearing. The challenge of global competition may be inevitable, but an unquestioning compliance with employer regimes for sharing wealth and risk is not. </p>
<p>Finally, new technology facilitates rapid allocation of work tasks. At the same time it can dismantle jobs into discrete micro-tasks for which labour can be bought and sold remotely. In doing so it may have the side effect of de-personalising the relationship between worker and supervisor and removing workers from social interaction with their fellow staff. A lifestyle of isolated and isolating tasks make it harder to forge a strong sense of social identity.</p>
<h2>Insecurity in the UK</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/627671/good-work-taylor-review-modern-working-practices-rg.pdf">The Taylor Review</a> of Modern Working Practices is intended to signal that the UK government has woken up and smelled the coffee. It advocates the introduction of a new “<a href="http://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/what_dependent_contractor_taylor_review.aspx">dependent contractor</a>” status for workers, but for the most part its recommendations are timid. Recently, the gig economy’s biggest fish, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/25/uber-deliveroo-chiefs-grilling-mps-gig-economy-self-employment">Uber and Deliveroo</a>, were taken to task by MPs. But so far it has been in employment law disputes, and not in Whitehall, that things have moved on.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185254/original/file-20170908-25875-1j16319.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185254/original/file-20170908-25875-1j16319.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185254/original/file-20170908-25875-1j16319.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185254/original/file-20170908-25875-1j16319.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185254/original/file-20170908-25875-1j16319.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185254/original/file-20170908-25875-1j16319.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185254/original/file-20170908-25875-1j16319.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Theresa May launched a review to secure better protections for workers, but it was largely regarded as timid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.paimages.co.uk/search-results/fluid/?q=The%20Taylor%20Review&amber_border=1&category=A,S,E&fields_0=all&fields_1=all&green_border=1&imagesonly=1&orientation=both&red_border=1&words_0=all&words_1=all">PA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Insecure workers may have to adapt. But they can resist too, although it is not easy. They are not well placed to afford trades union membership membership, being troublesome can lead to reduced work offers, and their identification with a trade may be limited. Nonetheless in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/19/uber-appeal-uk-employment-ruling-drivers-working-rights">early skirmishes</a> of what is likely to be a long-running social conflict it is the unions that have emerged with initial success.</p>
<p>The latest example is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/04/mcdonalds-workers-strike-cambridge-crayford">McDonald’s</a>, where staff at two fast food outlets have just taken the unusual step of striking to demand better pay, more secure contracts and union recognition. </p>
<p>This is not just an issue of workers’ rights. When people become locked into long-term lifestyles of insecure work, it interacts with other issues. With the high cost of housing, it traps individuals in a life cycle limbo of dependency on parents. There are reasons to believe that poor quality jobs with insecure work patterns have <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-zero-hours-contracts-could-be-making-you-ill-77998">harmful effects on health</a>. These detriments fall disproportionately on those in the least prosperous socio-economic groups. </p>
<p>As for the way we educate young people about careers, exhortations to flexibility are good only up to a point. We need to equip workers of the future to collaborate to promote and safeguard their interests, and give them a fair chance to redress the power imbalance in contemporary labour markets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pete Robertson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When people get locked into the gig economy, it adversely affects other areas of their lives, from health to housingPete Robertson, Associate Professor, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/804842017-07-05T10:49:48Z2017-07-05T10:49:48ZBank of England strike threat signals failures in plan to dent union power<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176878/original/file-20170705-30015-1b2tx0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=150%2C98%2C2000%2C1206&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bank-england-city-london-uk-night-119973589?src=qSXPIUB9WxCUoEnW4xzJfw-1-25">Bikeworldtravel/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Bank of England isn’t known as a hotbed of worker activism, but it might be about to offer the firmest proof yet that the UK government’s efforts to dent union power have gone awry. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/trade-union-act-becomes-law">Trade Union Act 2016</a> was supposed to reduce strike action still further from <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/workplacedisputesandworkingconditions/articles/labourdisputes/latest">current historic lows</a>. Instead, it looks as if the length of individual strikes will increase, creating more days “lost” per strike. </p>
<p>At the Bank of England, Unite union members in the maintenance and security departments are to go on strike for <a href="http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/bank-of-england-staff-to-strike-for-first-time-in-50-years/">four days at the end of July</a> to try to end the continued imposition of below-inflation pay rises. The union has told the bank’s governor, Mark Carney, that he can “no longer turn a blind eye to what is happening on his own patch” and is calling on the bank to agree to talks on a pay deal which <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cab4e12e-5fd2-11e7-91a7-502f7ee26895?mhq5j=e2">might avert the first walkout in more than 50 years</a>. </p>
<p>Under the Trade Union Act, unions now have to pass two new thresholds to gain a lawful mandate for strike action. In addition to getting a simple majority of those voting for action, the turnout has to be at least 50%. In a number of sectors deemed “essential”, such as transport and education, all those voting for action must also represent 40% of all those entitled to vote. In other words, non-voters are counted as “no” votes. </p>
<p>The changes have delivered a couple of significant defeats for the unions so far – for UNISON <a href="http://www.unison-scotland.org/service-groups-and-sectors/local-government-pay2017/">local government workers in Scotland</a> and RMT members <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tube-strike-over-clash-with-fare-dodger-is-called-off-a3568786.html">on the London Underground</a>. And it’s not yet clear whether more or less ballots for action are now being organised. We won’t know that until the figures for 2016 are published by the government next summer.</p>
<h2>Fight or flight</h2>
<p>But what is clear so far is that among the ballots that have resulted in mandates for action, the predominant strategy of one-day strikes, (or a series of one-day strikes) is coming to an end. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176876/original/file-20170705-29986-1wxwb9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176876/original/file-20170705-29986-1wxwb9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176876/original/file-20170705-29986-1wxwb9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176876/original/file-20170705-29986-1wxwb9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176876/original/file-20170705-29986-1wxwb9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176876/original/file-20170705-29986-1wxwb9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176876/original/file-20170705-29986-1wxwb9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Clouds gather for BA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_hartland/6228401858/in/photolist-auobSW-UfsBGL-v1GG5m-5no488-4dCLRe-TTngyc-rj95wM-qcb8eS-SCCeMX-nuZN7H-3fdAbF-oMve9Q-pw7wRM-hx9fs2-pwnwud-efXfo6-r1iWRz-fQCAN8-rkazn9-kFNPoJ-fcTzMo-qkakRo-qYHT3t-qm5nCJ-RCpKAs-TG5zR5-R4aGni-SJhQ6b-HziLfd-oBgPJ9-kuucuG-nuBG9z-EYHVZK-U6Hftx-nzDVQE-nZk1CU-p8eWSj-meZvup-UkzJcF-pLRF21-ovznuU-miBFWz-rDfVPe-prADS2-4qsWjZ-qK2Nrz-kQqMMZ-UdN4sL-noFjWj-fNRJ1L">Martin Hartland/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The strike at the Bank of England is only the most recent case to gain prominence. At British Airways, fellow members of the Unite union have <a href="http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/british-airways-accused-of-seeking-to-punish-workers-on-poverty-pay/">just begun a 16-day strike</a> while other Unite members at Manchester housing repair company, Mears, have announced they <a href="http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/mears-manchester-housing-workers-set-to-begin-all-out-strike-action/">will strike for four weeks</a> from Saturday July 8. </p>
<p>Workers at both <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/05/british-airways-ba-cabin-crew-begin-six-days-strikes">British Airways</a> <a href="http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/05/09/meers-manchester-housing-upkeep-workers-to-strike/">and Mears</a> have already taken considerable strike action. There are dozens of other examples of action taken by Unite, backed by strike pay from the union’s own <a href="http://unitelive.org/dark-day-rights/">£35m fund</a>. There is also mounting evidence elsewhere – from the education unions (EIS, NUT, UCU) to the PCS civil servants’ union <a href="http://reidfoundation.org/2017/06/trade-union-act-2016-examining-the-impact-of-the-new-act-upon-strikes-and-industrial-action/">that this clear pattern is emerging</a>.</p>
<p>The three cited Unite examples of strike all have quite different causes: pay at the Bank of England, victimisation at British Airways and new contracts at Mears. But the new law is making them act in a very similar fashion. This is because of two other important parts of the Trade Union Act. First, unions are required to give 14 days’ notice of action to employers – up from seven. And the length of a lawful mandate is capped at six months, which can be increased to nine but only with the agreement of the employer. Previously, there was no cap on the length of the mandate. </p>
<p>So, in order for action to be effective, it has to be more hard-hitting because employers have longer to prepare for it. This means unions are front-loading their action into longer and more concentrated actions in smaller time frames. They are also doing this because they know they have to get their skates on. Unions cannot afford to have their mandates eroded by employers that play for time by stringing out negotiations. The clock is always ticking in their heads towards the six-month expiry date. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176882/original/file-20170705-30009-azh1lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tick tock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29008389@N03/5937058272/in/photolist-a3CYzE-n4frBm-qqKqan-7wVtPq-fUfXdX-8n7hC5-58y9YD-dZf9Uc-k66EEC-SMsxrk-4H5MtF-7NhG7h-UTUdm7-GfqBS-kpx3ch-dUEnqt-juBCAE-9AgDky-bugVJs-8QLNKa-fEUN9F-oGm94c-6KDfND-ciJxhb-4LLTh1-buCpGE-doY8SD-f1EtaB-8QLNoF-8AGyag-2s1oN-5mc2Gv-fEUKtp-8Mfmvr-uUxw1U-mL8Eq4-dtiW6i-oBfkAQ-8AGxdT-cb8HoL-9iofY7-asfinm-oEfYXN-niyrbd-P9aKsy-62gDom-4gErVt-qGBcDi-5KCCXT-amUBd3">Cindy Schultz/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ballot boxing</h2>
<p>There is also evidence that some workers have decided to increasingly ignore the new law by taking unofficial, unballoted action. Wildcat action has been seen <a href="https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/44588/Post+workers+unofficial+walkout+forces+Royal+Mail+bosses+to+lift+reps+suspension">at the Royal Mail</a> and among <a href="https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/44400/Unofficial+action+by+migrant+workers+at+London+hospital+beats+back+multinational">hospital workers in London</a>. This has the element of surprise and the nature of the action is not limited by the balloting restrictions. Of course, it is unlawful, but so far no one has been sacked for organising such action – as they can be under the Employment Act 1990.</p>
<p>Even if the Trade Union Act does lead to fewer strike ballots, fewer votes for strikes and fewer strikes themselves, it has already not only lengthened the duration of those strikes that do occur but it has also made them more difficult to resolve because it has forced union members to act in a more assertive and aggressive manner. </p>
<p>All this was entirely predictable. During public consultation on the new Act in 2015, human resources professional body, the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD), warned the new provisions were always likely to “<a href="http://www2.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2015/09/09/trade-union-reforms-are-outdated-response-warns-cipd.aspx">harden attitudes</a>”. In truth, this is exactly what happens when a government introduces an act to solve a problem that does not actually exist, and for which there is no public demand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregor Gall is editor of the Scottish Left Review magazine and director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation.</span></em></p>New legislation has forced stronger action and might see the first walkout at Threadneedle Street in more than 50 years.Gregor Gall, Professor of Industrial Relations, University of BradfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/790672017-06-09T12:50:29Z2017-06-09T12:50:29ZShock Labour surge gives unions a chance to ramp up pressure on a fragile government<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173144/original/file-20170609-4785-1oppwrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C12%2C4205%2C2777&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-4th-june-2016-editorial-433580581?src=5NMU7FzAoMeuxfsF2Ml8Yg-1-8">John Gomez/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the vast majority of unions in Britain, the idea of the Labour party fighting a general election with a dream leadership team of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell was manna from heaven after the era of New Labour. From 1997 to 2010, many unions believed Labour governments were a case of <a href="https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Power-Principles-New-Labours-Sickness-Essays/17534916256/bd">“power without principles”</a>. The unions did manage to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11412031">get Ed Miliband elected</a> as leader in 2010, rather than his more centrist brother David, but that did little to shift the balance in the equation between power and principles come the 2015 general election. </p>
<p>The latest vote witnessed an unexpected and significant Labour advance despite a viciously hostile press and deep internal party divisions. Theresa May’s gamble on a snap election <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/election-2017-40171454">has failed miserably</a>; a hung parliament the result. But Corbyn’s union backers are still likely to find themselves holding principles without power. </p>
<p>The 14 unions <a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/trade-union-and-labour-party-liaison-organisation-tulo">affiliated to the Labour party</a>, representing some 3.5m members, were joined by non-affiliated unions like the <a href="http://www.pcs.org.uk/">PCS civil servants’ union</a> and the <a href="https://www.rmt.org.uk/home/">RMT transport union</a> in urging members and their friends and families to vote Labour. Corbyn and McDonnell aligned Labour with unions’ ideology <a href="https://theconversation.com/labours-manifesto-shows-it-is-the-true-party-of-workers-rights-77801">more than ever before</a>; their reward came in organised events like “<a href="https://unitecommunityleeds.wordpress.com/2017/06/02/trade-union-tuesday/">Trade Union Tuesday</a>” on June 6 when union members were encouraged to get out and campaign for Labour.</p>
<h2>Pressure power</h2>
<p>These campaign efforts may have been more in hope than expectation, given the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/07/tories-on-12-point-lead-over-labour-in-final-pre-election-poll">extent of the Conservative lead</a> in many polls, but the results that came in overnight brought a Labour victory frustratingly close. And despite a clear surge in support, unions now face the prospect of a weakened Conservative party, aided by the <a href="http://www.mydup.com/">Democratic Unionist Party</a> in Northern Ireland, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2017/jun/09/election-2017-theresa-may-speaks-outside-downing-street-after-shock-result-hunh-parliament-live">will govern</a> with a sustained focus on austerity, making no effort to close the gap between rich and poor, pursuing further privatisation and seeking to water down employment rights as part of its Brexit plan. </p>
<p>So what do unions do now? Labour politicians might suggest starting preparations to win the 2022 election (or even an unscheduled one before then). But that will be scant comfort for the 6.5m union members seeking progress in the here and now.</p>
<p>But what if the Labour party, working with the unions, decided that the best course of action, for now, is to be found outside parliament? Even election winners can find themselves in office but not in power. When the margins are as tight as they now seem, real political power depends on citizens either positively accepting the new government or or at least reluctantly acquiescing.<br>
When neither seems guaranteed, then it may well be that there is more value in opposing the new government through extra-parliamentary resistance. Indeed, a weakened coalition government, with May at the helm or any other Conservative, will be more susceptible to external pressure.</p>
<p>This would revive memories of the early 1970s when the new Conservative government of Edward Heath was made a lame duck by popular opposition. His Industrial Relations Act 1971 became a dead letter <a href="https://books.google.es/books/about/Glorious_summer.html?id=0InVAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">after a massive struggle</a> by the unions and he performed a number of critical U-turns. Come the election of February 1974, when he posed the question, <a href="https://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/who-governs-britain-the-last-time-the-tories-called-a-snap-election/">“who governs Britain?”</a>, he was told it was no longer him.</p>
<h2>Leading the fight</h2>
<p>But unlike the early 1970s, the Labour party now has a leader who <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34184265">will not have to be forced</a> into supporting extra-parliamentary resistance. When the union movement contemplated <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9977306/Millions-will-answer-call-for-general-strike-says-union-boss.html">mass resistance</a> to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition after the 2010 general election, they did not find much of a friend in <a href="https://theconversation.com/miliband-and-labour-must-reconnect-with-working-class-15978">Ed Miliband</a>. The critical question now is whether Corbyn and McDonnell – as key national figures – will lead the extra-parliamentary resistance on behalf of the unions.</p>
<p>If they did, along with the left-leaning leaderships of most major unions, this could become an irresistible force. If the 1970s are too long ago to recall for many, the fight against the poll tax in the late 1980s and early 1990s is a more recent example of <a href="https://www.socialist.net/poll-tax-pamphlet-1990.htm">successful extra-parliamentary action</a>. Through a campaign of non-payment, Margaret Thatcher’s robust image as the “Iron Lady” was left as scrap; she was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/thatcher-resigns-from-archive">gone by November 1990</a>.</p>
<p>What Corbyn also has to offer is that he has connected with young people, evidenced by <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/whos-backing-jeremy-corbyn-young">his two campaigns for the Labour leadership</a>, the setting up of the <a href="http://www.peoplesmomentum.com/">Momentum movement</a> from the first of these campaigns and his <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-lead-conservatives-theresa-may-you-gov-latest-poll-jeremy-corbyn-general-election-a7761336.html">strong polling with younger voters</a>.</p>
<p>So can the vigour of youth be used to create for the unions a popular rebellion like that of the early 1970s? It will certainly be needed as levels of strike activity <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/labourdisputesintheuk2016">remain very low</a>. For the unions, the problem in helping to be part of that rebellion is twofold. First, union membership among <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/616966/trade-union-membership-statistical-bulletin-2016-rev.pdf">18 24-year-olds is well under 10%</a>. Second, union membership is stronger (at around 30%) <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/616966/trade-union-membership-statistical-bulletin-2016-rev.pdf">among workers aged over 50</a> but many of these workers were not especially favourable to Labour during the campaign.</p>
<h2>Game on?</h2>
<p>To be part of the rebellion, unions have to both mobilise young people who are not yet their members, and old workers who are already members. But fusing struggle in the workplace and in communities – like combining the fight against the Industrial Relations Act 1971 and the poll tax – could offer the most effective way for the unions and the Corbynistas to mount a rear guard action against a new Conservatine-led government elected by less than 30% of those entitled to vote.</p>
<p>It will then be important to see what comes of a Trades Union Congress call for a meeting of public sector unions on June 14. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, has called for that to be a <a href="http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/25554/31-05-2017/mobilise-for-a-mass-movement-after-8-june">“council of war”</a> in the event of a Tory victory. In truth this is not yet iron-clad. Should the Tories’ coalition with the DUP quickly hit rough waters then we might find ourselves all back at the ballot box sooner than we might like. That would truly be “game on” for the unions after decades of neo-liberalism and austerity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregor Gall is the editor of Scottish Left Review and the director of the Jimmy Reid Foundation.</span></em></p>A new generation of workers has underpinned a successful election for Jeremy Corbyn. But can they be harnessed to recreate the power of the poll tax protests?Gregor Gall, Professor of Industrial Relations, University of BradfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/761962017-04-20T23:20:40Z2017-04-20T23:20:40ZWhat Gorsuch’s conservative Supreme Court means for workers<p>As Neil Gorsuch takes his seat on the Supreme Court, the 4-4 ideological stalemate that plagued the institution after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia has been broken, reestablishing its conservative tilt. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-supreme-court-matters-for-workers-67498">In an article I wrote last year</a> on the implications of Donald Trump getting the chance to fill Scalia’s seat, I described how the conservative members of the court have long held a 5-4 majority that routinely ruled for businesses over workers. </p>
<p>So now that they have their majority back, what does this portend for the court and cases involving worker rights? A careful look at Gorsuch’s record demonstrates, I believe, how this will be bad news for American workers and anyone who cares about economic justice.</p>
<h2>Religion in the workplace</h2>
<p>As an appellate judge on the 10th Circuit, <a href="https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/12/12-6294.pdf">Gorsuch joined the majority</a> in June 2013 granting Hobby Lobby, a chain of craft stores, the right to deny legally mandated contraception to its workers on religious grounds. The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf">Supreme Court affirmed that opinion</a> a year later.</p>
<p>The key context here is that limiting women’s access to birth control has been shown to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-limiting-womens-access-to-birth-control-and-abortions-hurts-the-economy-57546">increase economic inequality</a>. Without control over the timing and size of their families, women struggle to complete their educations and advance in the workplace. In turn, this depresses their family’s income. </p>
<p>Yet Gorsuch and the Supreme Court majority have ranked the religious beliefs of business owners over the health care needs of workers. Indeed, in a subsequent case, Gorsuch <a href="https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/13/13-1540.pdf">joined a dissent</a> that argued that asking a religious organization to simply fill out a form to opt out of the contraception requirement is too great a burden. </p>
<p>This issue is likely to return to the court, where Gorsuch will certainly break a 2016 impasse <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1418_8758.pdf">that sent a similar case</a> back to lower courts for resolution. Future cases are also likely to raise more conflicts over religion in the workplace. </p>
<p>As Justice Ginsburg warned in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf">her Hobby Lobby dissent</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Suppose an employer’s sincerely held religious belief is offended by health coverage of vaccines, or paying the minimum wage … or according women equal pay for substantially similar work?” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Worker safety and the ‘frozen trucker’</h2>
<p>So what about his record on worker rights? His opinion in what has become known as the “frozen trucker” case illustrates Justice Gorsuch’s <a href="https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/15/15-9504.pdf">lack of empathy</a> for blue-collar workers. </p>
<p>In 2009, a truck driver was trapped in his cab after the brakes on his trailer froze in subzero temperatures. Before long, the driver was losing sensation in his limbs and having trouble breathing. After calling his employer and waiting for over three hours for a repair vehicle, he unhitched his truck and drove to a nearby gas station. He was fired for abandoning his haul. </p>
<p>The majority of the three-judge appellate court upheld the Department of Labor’s decision that the trucker’s termination violated a law permitting drivers to “refuse to operate” trucks in unsafe conditions. Gorsuch dissented, however, arguing the statute did not protect the trucker but instead directed him to “sit and wait for help to arrive (a legal if unpleasant option).” </p>
<p>Gorsuch’s narrow and selective reading of ambiguous statutory terms led the majority to quote his own words from the oral argument back to him: “Our job isn’t to legislate and add new words that aren’t present in the statute.”</p>
<p>Gorsuch’s dissent makes clear that he is a textualist, meaning he looks solely to the plain meaning of a statute without regard to its context or congressional intent in enacting it. It also suggests that Gorsuch is out of touch with the realities of life in the modern day workforce outside a judge’s rarefied chambers. </p>
<h2>A boon for arbitrators</h2>
<p>Gorsuch also appears likely to continue the court’s embrace of mandatory arbitration, which Scalia spearheaded in a <a href="http://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Schwartz.pdf">series</a> of 5-4 decisions that limited the rights of consumers and employees to have their day in court. </p>
<p>In the employment context, mandatory arbitration means that disputes on issues such as discrimination, unpaid wages and sexual harassment are heard in a private forum that has no right of appeal and <a href="http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1959&context=facpub">favors businesses</a>. Arbitration agreements <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2775437">are usually buried</a> in the fine print in one-sided contracts, and most employees have no option but to sign if they want the job. </p>
<p>In his own jurisprudence, Gorsuch <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/03/judge-gorsuchs-arbitration-jurisprudence/">generally enforced the presumption in favor</a> of arbitration, even where the contractual terms were contradictory or ambiguous. His views on arbitration <a href="https://www.law360.com/articles/887293/gorsuch-and-the-future-of-class-action-waivers">will become clearer</a> when the Supreme Court hears a pivotal case in October that will decide whether employers can evade class actions by forcing workers into individual arbitrations. </p>
<p>These class action waivers <a href="http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2019&context=articles">are increasingly popular</a> among employers, yet they destroy the ability of employees to bring cases together that would individually not attract a lawyer due to small dollar amounts. </p>
<h2>Furthering unions’ decline</h2>
<p>Finally, Justice Gorsuch <a href="https://www.bna.com/gorsuch-bring-conservative-n73014450227/">is expected</a> to align himself with Justice Scalia’s critical views on organized labor. </p>
<p>Justice Scalia’s death in February 2016 granted unions a reprieve in a case involving the constitutionality of requiring public workers to pay their fair share of union dues, even if they aren’t members. That case <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-915_1bn2.pdf">was decided just a few weeks later</a> in a 4-4 split that left a lower court’s decision upholding such fees intact. </p>
<p>The issue is certain to return to the court in the future – with Gorsuch a likely fifth vote to rule against the unions.</p>
<p>Union membership <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/benefits-of-collective-bargaining/">is associated</a> with a wage premium of 13.6 percent as compared with nonunionized workers, according to the progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute. At the same time, the decline in union membership <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-us-labor-unions-and-why-they-still-matter-38263">is a factor in growing economic inequality</a> due to the wage depression suffered by union and nonunion members alike. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/02/24/donald-trump-claims-remake-gop-party-american-worker/PeF6IjybU9C77idKYgIshK/story.html">President Trump claims</a> to be a champion for America’s forgotten workers. Yet his main accomplishment in his first 100 days is the appointment of Gorsuch.</p>
<p>For all the reasons I’ve outlined, I expect the appointment of Gorsuch to undermine the rights of workers, including Trump’s supporters, and further weaken the middle class.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76196/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michele Gilman is affiliated with the ACLU of Maryland and the Women's Law Center of Maryland.</span></em></p>With Neil Gorsuch’s appointment to the high court, conservatives regain their 5-4 majority, which will likely benefit employers over workers.Michele Gilman, Venable Professor of Law, University of BaltimoreLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/702812017-01-22T19:10:17Z2017-01-22T19:10:17ZExplainer: what rights do workers have to getting paid in the gig economy?<p><em>The gig economy is offering Australians jobs, but it comes at a cost. These are often temporary positions, where workers are independent and have to take on more risks.</em></p>
<p><em>In our series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/working-well-in-the-gig-economy-35122">Working Well in the Gig Economy</a> we ask experts how workers can cope in this new environment.</em></p>
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<p>Most workers want to be paid a fair rate for their work, they want to receive their pay promptly, and they don’t want to lose the opportunity to work in their chosen job for an unfair reason. This is particularly important when workers have invested their own capital in a vehicle or equipment for doing the job. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/gig-economy-19448">Gig economy</a> workers – who don’t have the same rights to award wages and unfair dismissal protection that regular employees enjoy – face some challenges in securing these needs.</p>
<p>When a worker agrees to provide services on a platform (such as Uber or Airtasker) they will be asked to agree to a contract. The contract they sign (and this may effectively be by clicking ‘Agree’ on a screen) will determine their rights, subject only to the unfair contract terms provisions in the Australian Consumer Law. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/sch2.html">The law provides</a> that unfair terms in standard form small business contracts are void, and cannot be enforced. It lists many ways in which a contract will be unfair. Examples of this are terms that allow one party to vary the price or payment terms, or terminate the contract prematurely.</p>
<p>So it’s important these workers take the time to read the contract, and to look out for terms about pay rates, payment terms, and job security. They need to look out for clauses that allow the platform controller to increase their own commissions or reduce the price of services; and beware of clauses that allow them to cut off their access to the platform without notice or reasons. </p>
<p>I was able to obtain a copy of the standard form contract between the organisation behind Uber (Rasier Pacific VOF) and its Australian drivers in May 2016. The terms of this agreement appear to be similar, if not the same, as those of the UK Uber contract. This type of contract was examined in a <a href="https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/judgments/mr-y-aslam-mr-j-farrar-and-others-v-uber/">well-known case</a> between Uber and drivers, decided on October 12 2016.</p>
<p>The English Tribunal held that a statement in the contract declaring that Uber is not a provider of or agent for transportation was not true, and that Uber did in fact engage its drivers as “workers”, according to the definitions in the UK law. This meant drivers could claim rights to be paid the minimum wage. </p>
<p>However this doesn’t necessarily mean that Australian Uber drivers would be found to be “employees” under the equivalent law - the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C01108">2009 Australian Fair Work Act</a>. This is because Australian entitlements to national employment standards and modern award conditions apply only to “employees”, defined as having its ordinary meaning under the common law. An extensive body of case law deals with the distinction between an “employee” working under a “contract of service”, and an independent (self-employed) contractor, working under a “contract for services”. </p>
<p>The British decision, disregarding the contract terms, may prove useful in showing that Australian Uber drivers are working under a services contract for the purposes of both the Australian Consumer Law, and also the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/num_act/ica2006255/">Independent Contractors Act 2006</a> (which permits review of unfair or harsh contract terms). A services contract is a contract for the performance of work (rather than for the sale of goods or the provision of finance, for example). Uber’s contract attempts to describe itself as a contract for the provision of a telecommunications tool, but the British decision decided that it was a contract for the performance of work. </p>
<p>Some of the terms in the Australian Uber contract are dubious. For example clause 4.4 in the contract allows Uber to change its own percentage commission from fares at any time, without notice. </p>
<p>Another clause, 14.1, allows Uber to change any term of the contract, at any time, without notice. And it can deactivate a driver’s access to the app without notice, if customer ratings fall below an acceptable level. These are likely to be relevantly unfair terms according to Australian Consumer Law. </p>
<p>Of course, Uber and other platform controllers may never seek to rely on these kinds of terms in practice, especially if they want to keep the goodwill of their drivers or workers. But if a working relationship sours for any reason, it’s the worker who is in the weaker position, should the platform controller decide to rely on its contract terms.</p>
<p>The best advice for workers would be to negotiate for fairer terms, but this is likely to be futile. These contracts, like many consumer contracts, are in standard form, and platform controllers have no interest in negotiating individual arrangements. </p>
<p>That’s why collective bargaining through an association of workers is so useful. Hirers may ignore a single worker, but they have an incentive to listen when all of the workers speak in a common voice. The right to bargain collectively is another advantage enjoyed by employees covered by the Fair Work Act, over workers in service contracts. </p>
<p>Individual workers’ access to legal remedies to challenge the fairness of service contracts can be expensive and inconvenient. It’s far better to read contract terms carefully before you sign, and make a realistic assessment of what you can expect to make from the work before investing in a new vehicle or equipment to do the work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joellen Riley Munton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gig workers need to be aware of their contract terms and band together in order to maintain their working rights and pay.Joellen Riley Munton, Dean and Professor of Labour Law, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/696432016-11-30T23:31:55Z2016-11-30T23:31:55ZRestoring the construction watchdog ABCC: experts respond<p><em>The Turnbull government has finally got its way and will now re-install the construction industry watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). We asked a panel of experts what this means for the industry and its workers.</em></p>
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<p><strong>David Peetz, professor of employment relations, Griffith University</strong></p>
<p>Amendments agreed to by the government mean that the ABCC looks like it will, in effect, have virtually no more powers than Labor’s Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate.</p>
<p>The main difference between the two bodies (as staff will simply transfer) is that the ABCC legislation will give effect to the government’s building industry code. That requires all companies doing construction or related work for the Commonwealth to follow the code’s policies on trade unionism, especially in the content of their enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs). If firms don’t comply, they won’t get any Commonwealth work.</p>
<p>However, the code itself will be delayed. Whereas previously it was, in effect, retrospective, employers will now have until the end of November 2018 to negotiate new EBAs, so most existing EBAs will not be affected. </p>
<p>The prospect that there would be a rush to reopen existing EBAs has now passed. So too, therefore, has the associated fear that this would lead to higher wage increases, to compensate for provisions unions would have to give up to enable compliance with the code. There might still be wage effects in the future, but there certainly won’t be the rush.</p>
<p>There is still the prospect that the code itself may be disallowed — the Senate has the power to do that. <a href="#http://www.afr.com/news/policy/industrial-relations/nick-xenophon-flags-new-concerns-over-abcc-bills-20161020-gs6t6m">Senator Nick Xenophon may still be troubled by</a> giving too much power to one body, one that would be “investigator and assessor of compliance and … responsible for … sanctions”. Others in the Senate would be even more concerned.</p>
<p>Even if the code survives, the new ABCC won’t lead to any major productivity benefits, despite claims made along those lines for almost a decade. The research basis for those claims has <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=fb74c8ce-5257-4297-9108-800fef48f91e&subId=31985">long since been found to be defective</a>. </p>
<p>And with so much of the ABCC’s time to be spent on managing new Australian content and local worker rules in construction (forced upon the government by the Senate), costs in the industry are likely to go up, not down. After all, if local workers and materials were cheaper, firms would already be using them.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull invested so much political capital in the ABCC bill that he had to get it passed, no matter the cost. The headlines may be favourable for a day or two. But these developments could further undermine his credibility with the Liberal Party base, particularly if the code is disallowed.</p>
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<p><strong>Eugene Schofield-Georgeson, lecturer at University of Technology Sydney law school</strong></p>
<p>The laws that have re-established the ABCC will not help the workers who have already lost their lives because of failed safety precautions. Five Australian construction workers <a href="https://www.cfmeu.org.au/news/black-armband-day-thursday-3rd-november">have been killed</a> on building sites over the last five weeks during the debate on the Australian Building Construction Commission (ABCC) bills. Another 25 workers have lost their lives in the construction <a href="http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/swa/statistics/work-related-fatalities/pages/worker-fatalities">industry this year alone</a>. In fact, by reducing the power of unions to inspect and operate on building sites and by persecuting unionists in a quasi-criminal tribunal, a revived ABCC jeopardises safety protections for construction workers and waters down workplace rights in the industry.</p>
<p>The political horse-trading that has led to the passage of these bills has done little to rehabilitate them into something that is worthy of an advanced and reasonable industrial democracy. Indeed, these laws place Australian workers in the construction and allied industries at a significant disadvantage to their employers as well as workers in other industries. No comparable law regulates other industries in such a manner.</p>
<p>In this legislation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/bikies-unions-and-the-abcc-spinning-the-policing-of-work-22479">the union-busting</a> and potential for <a href="https://theconversation.com/fair-work-or-more-productivity-revived-abcc-will-deliver-neither-21353">civil rights infractions</a> that characterised the introduction of these laws into parliament by the Abbott government in 2013 remain mostly intact. These laws include increased penalties for unions in the construction and allied industries in respect to unlawful industrial action (similar to those under corporations law) and compulsory acquisition of information in relation to suspected contraventions of the Act or a building law (meaning no “right to silence” or privilege against self-incrimination). It also means retrospective prosecutions for infractions of ABCC legislation; a civil standard of proof for quasi-criminal prosecutions; reduced powers for unions to inspect and operate on building sites; and deregistration of non-compliant unions.</p>
<p>Cross-bench senators David Leyonhjelm and Derryn Hinch, who voted with the government in support of this legislation, did manage to secure a number of concessions to ensure some compliance with the rule of law. These include: no reverse onus of proof for defendants prosecuted by the ABCC (like most criminal jurisdictions); a requirement that the ABCC be subject to judicial review (in accordance with Chapter III of the Australian Constitution); and annual reporting provisions for the ABCC as an executive branch of government (like any other branch of executive government).</p>
<p>The United Nations condemned the former ABCC from the Howard era for breaching international labour law conventions. The revived version is similar in most respects.</p>
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<p><strong>Phillip Toner, senior research fellow in the department of political economy, University of Sydney</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=fb74c8ce-5257-4297-9108-800fef48f91e&subId=31985">Research shows</a> that the ABCC has no discernible effect on construction industry labour productivity. Instead, long-running trends in labour productivity are governed by a multiplicity of factors. The key point is that the factors determining the rate of productivity growth in the construction industry are outside the scope of activity of the ABCC.</p>
<p>Labour productivity in construction is pro-cyclical, meaning it typically increases when activity picks up in the sector and the existing stock of employed construction workers is fully utilised. Similarly, it diminishes as a building boom accelerates. This is because less efficient firms are drawn into production, and there are inevitable inefficiencies are created by logistical and work scheduling problems. Construction sites become more crowded as work progresses. </p>
<p>The ABCC is not in a position to influence this as its remit is to monitor and enforce industrial relations through the Fair Work Act. Its role is not to evaluate the productivity performance of construction firms or tell builders how to build. </p>
<p>Another important factor in explaining low productivity growth is the corporate strategy of major constructors and construction clients. This is one of intensifying subcontracting and shifting risk down the contractual chain.</p>
<p>This results in a fragmented industry structure, or a proliferation of very small firms and self-employment. The predominance of small firms and self-employment constrains productivity as they <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/10/46970941.pdf">have a much lower propensity to invest</a> in R&D, innovation, capital equipment and training compared to larger firms. </p>
<p>This explains why, despite accounting for over 10% of total employment, the construction industry accounts for <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/5204.02014-15?OpenDocument">less than 2% of the total national capital stock</a> (the total value of productive equipment, and buildings used for production). The construction industry capital to labour ratio is less than 20% of the economy wide ratio.</p>
<p>The role of the ABCC is not to examine the investment behaviour of firms in the construction industry and tell them how to invest, so it wouldn’t solve this problem either.</p>
<p>The bad relations and competition between head contractors, contractors, and subcontractors and then self-employed workers reduces the incentive to invest in productivity improvements. Businesses further up the contractual chain use their market power to absorb the higher margins, productivity improvements and cost reductions made by subcontractors further down the contract chain. </p>
<p>The role of the ABCC is not to monitor contractual relations between these contractors in the construction industry. Issues to do with the abuse of market power, for example between a head contractor and a subcontractor, are governed instead by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Peetz receives funding from the Australian Research Council and, as a university employee, has undertaken research over many years with occasional financial support from governments from both sides of politics, in Australia and overseas, employers and unions.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eugene Schofield-Georgeson is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the New South Wales Council of Civil Liberties (NSWCCL).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phillip Toner has done consulting work for the CFMEU and the Australian Industry Group. </span></em></p>A group of experts dissect what the re-introduction of the ABCC means for the construction industry and its workers.David Peetz, Professor of Employment Relations, Griffith UniversityEugene Schofield-Georgeson, Lecturer, University of Technology SydneyPhillip Toner, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Political Economy, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.