P&O & the law - poverty to rise - migrant nurses face debt bondage
21 - 27 March 2022
Welcome to the first edition of The Week in Work newsletter, a weekly update on work news from the UK, with a little bit from around the world.
Last week’s headlines were dominated by the impact of the government’s latest budget, and the ongoing P&O Ferries dispute, where it is now clear that the company broke the law.
But there was a lot more, from revelations that NHS nurses recruited abroad are forced to pay thousands of pounds if they want to leave their jobs, to Uber’s deal with New York to list yellow taxis on its platform. To find out what else was shaping the world of work, just read on…
DISPUTES
P&O fought the law and the law lost: The CEO of P&O Ferries admitted before the Transport and Business Select Committees that the firm broke the law by not consulting unions prior to sacking around 800 seafarers. He said he would do it again if he had to.
It’s worth watching the full hearing (you can find it here) not only for the admission and the reactions from the RMT and Nautilus unions, but for the legal analysis by Professor Alan Bogg, who highlights the “enforcement crisis in UK employment law”. Bogg says that in a case such as this “the employer can calculate in advance what its financial liabilities will be and can then effectively buy itself out of the rule of law”.
Legal consultant Darren Newman delves deeper into this point in his blog and explains how it is a feature and not a bug of UK employment law:
“The P&O situation highlights a feature of UK employment law that is often under appreciated, but is striking for many who come to the UK from some other jurisdictions. UK employment law seeks to punish employers who act in breach of it – but does not stop them from doing so. If an employer makes the calculation that the financial consequences of ignoring the law are outweighed by the business benefits of doing so then it is free to go ahead.”
So it’s no surprise that later in the hearing government ministers, Paul Scully and Robert Courts, conceded that the government might not have legal redress against P&O. As the FT picked up, the ministers said the government would be looking to present measures to parliament this week intended to prevent similar situations occurring in future, but none of these seem to address the weaknesses highlighted above.
Unite suspends Coventry councillors: The Coventry refuse worker dispute keeps on heating up, with Unite general secretary Sharon Graham saying the union has suspended 11 of Coventry’s Labour councillors and will pull funding for the upcoming elections in May.
Graham says the councillors approved payments for replacement workers who are being paid more than what the strikers are demanding.
Unionising is no game: US game workers union CODE-CWA has created a video game that puts you in the shoes of a worker that is trying to defeat a union-busting employer. The union says creating the game was a way of addressing “anti-union measures taken at companies like Activision Blizzard”
University strikes continue: University workers were back on strike last week, with more strikes expected this week as part of the ongoing disputes over pensions and conditions.
GOVERNMENT
Mini-budget unleashes record drop in living standards: The government’s mini-budget announced last week is expected to drive 1.3 million people, including 500,000 children, below the poverty line this year, according to the Resolution Foundation. This means that the 2019-24 parliament will be the worst on record for plummeting living standards.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that virtually all workers will be paying more tax on their earnings in 2025 than they would have been paying without the government’s changes to tax and national insurance.
Public sector pay and job cuts: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury also went on Peston to effectively say that public sector wages will not keep up with inflation.
The call for public sector pay restraint comes days after it was revealed that over 1,000 people working for The Department for Work and Pensions will be losing their jobs as a result of the closure of 42 sites.
Sick pay: Coronavirus support payments, which allowed workers to claim statutory sick pay from the first day they were ill with Covid, came to an end last week. Now, workers will only be able to claim statutory sick pay from the fourth day they are ill.
LEGAL
Some trade union detriment is ok - Judge rules: Court of Appeal confirmed last week that the law does not protect employees from action short of dismissal if they take part in strike action, Personnel Today reports. This is part of the decision by Lord Burnett of Maldon, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, in a case brought by a care worker who was suspended after she helped organise a strike as a part of a dispute over sleep-in shifts.
Check-off checks out: The High Court has ruled that PCS members have a contractual right to check-off, the practice of having dues directly deducted from salaries, according to the union. Justice Choudhury said that by removing check-off the Home Office had breached members’ contracts and that PCS was entitled to redress. The case will now proceed to a remedy hearing.
Blacklisting inquiry: Unite has appointed barristers Nick Randall QC and John Carl Townsend to head up its investigations into the union’s collusion in the blacklisting of construction workers. The work of the independent investigators is expected to start officially on 11 April.
INSECURE WORK
A crisis of insecurity: The ease with which UK employers can sack workers highlights another rising problem within the UK, the rise of insecure work. A new report by think tanks Autonomy and CLASS published last week shows how insecurity has increased across almost every industry, region, age group and gender since 2005.
Using a new “insecurity index”, they explain that the mass unemployment that emerged from the 2008 crash didn’t simply disappear, but was transformed into underemployment, temporary work, zero-hours contracts and bogus self-employment.
They have a tool on their website that allows you to measure how your employment insecurity compares to that of other UK workers.
Uber lands NY taxi deal: Uber has reached an agreement to list all New York City taxis on its app, according to the Wall Street Journal. Uber has formed partnerships with some taxi operators overseas, but this will be its first citywide partnership in the U.S.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has reacted to the decision saying drivers will need protection from dismissal, higher rates and other guarantees.
Greggs rolls out the cops: Police were called to Greggs’s Newcastle HQ after Stuart/JustEat workers protested inside the company’s offices as part of their ongoing campaign against a 24% cut to their base rates, The Chronicle reports. The campaign led by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain has been branded the longest gig economy strike in history.
Calling out call centres: You might have never heard of Teleperformance, but it is one of the biggest call centre companies in the world, with over 400,000 employees. In the last couple of weeks, both UniGlobal and PIRC have written reports highlighting the terrible working conditions at the company which result in over three quarters of workers quitting within a year.
MIGRANT LABOUR
Migrants trapped in the NHS: Thousands of nurses that work for the NHS and were recruited from abroad are trapped in their jobs by contracts that force them to pay thousands of pounds if they leave, according to an investigation by Shanti Das at the Observer.
International nurses working for the NHS & care homes are being trapped in their jobs by contracts that require them to pay thousands if they try to leave. Workers can be tied into contracts for as long as five years and fees as high as £14,000, even in cases where they face bullying, discrimination, ill health and family emergencies.
Kanlungan, a charity for Filipino migrants, has likened this to a form of debt bondage.
Seasonal work pay: The government has confirmed that from 6 April workers hired from abroad to come work in UK farms through the Seasonal Worker Scheme should be paid at least £10.10 an hour, Farmers Weekly reports.
UNION WINS
Solihull refuse workers call off strike: GMB members voted to accept a pay rise of up to 5.26%, with a minimum of £10 per hour, the union says. The vote to accept the deal and call off the dispute passed on a very narrow 56%.
It’s not chicken feed: GMB members who deliver chicken to big chain restaurants and supermarkets have voted to accept a consolidation buyout which will see their pay increase by as much as £13,000, the GMB says. The drivers who work for Avara had previously voted for strike action.
WHAT’S COMING UP
30 March: TUC pensions conference.
1 April: Minimum wage set to increase.
2 April: Cost of Living Crisis National Day of Action.
11-14 April: NEU National Conference.
24-29 April: CWU National Conference.
28 April: Workers’ Memorial Day.
Upcoming strikes (courtesy of StrikeMap):
28 March-1 April: UCU strikes at 29 universities
28 March-9 April: GMB refuse worker strike at Worthing & Adur
29-30 March: NEU strike at Walthamstow Primary
1 April: UVW strike at Great Ormond Street Hosptial
Ongoing: IWGB Stuart/JustEat industrial action
Feedback
Did I miss anything or do you have a dispute, event, tribunal case or report that you think I should include? Email me on theweekinwork [at] gmail [dot] com.