For the voluntary sector remember all that glitters is not gold

Once upon a time in the Shire, the government decided that it wanted to stop investing in all machinery (snow ploughs, pneumatic drills, electric kettles, paper shredders etc) and instead wished to commission the invention of seven kinds of service to deliver the outcomes that the all the machines used to deliver. All the manufacturers and service providers in the Shire spent all their time for months and months for there would be no more purchases of machinery and adapting to this new environment would be the way their businesses would survive and the way that they would keep jobs for their staff. However as time went on, the requirements of the Shire kept changing:  

The new purchase must be suitable in the light, in the dark, in the summer and the winter, in urban environments and rural communities. Manufacturers and service providers came from far and wide to see if they could meet the challenges and win the prize of investment from the Shire. Artizans across all the towns and villages in the Shire sat up late at night and slaved over candlelight to come up with plans, designs, costings and risk analyses for all possible eventualities. They knew that Artizans and mythical beasts called bid writers across the country would also be competing for the same prize.

When the time came, they all submitted their plans to the Big Hall in the Shire and anxiously awaited the results of the government’s consideration. All were worried that the Shire government would decide to invest somewhere else and leave their workers jobless and at risk of their families being turned out on the streets. After some time three local lucky businesses were told that their plans were the best and that they were successful. In these places, there were parties with much fizzy pop and cakes as workers celebrated that they would have job security in the business that they worked in as their skills, hard work and industriousness was so obviously appreciated and rewarded by this success. For those that were unsuccessful there was sadness as in the few weeks before Christmas redundancy notices were handed out. Workers went back to their families and shared the bad news of their impending unemployment. Crisis plans were made to buy less presents for the festive period and turn off the heating more often. Some looked to find support from credit unions and foodbanks.

It was a Shire divided of those who were confident and had glasses full and those looking to the future to find a way of putting bread on the table anxious about making ends meet today. To those that had little to be hopeful for it was a time of great stress with little to look forward to. Children were told that there would be cut backs, mothers and fathers discussed how economies could be made in the household budget and wondered how they would cope with new babies and older relatives that had recently become ill and could no longer contribute money to the housekeeping.

Then suddenly on the Friday before Christmas there came the news that the government in the Shire had changed its mind and was thinking of a completely different plan. The politicians and the mandarins had decided the plan they had before was not the right plan. Instead, new plans included the selling off of the Big Hall and all the machinery for all the services. Instead, there would be big purchases of four magic beans and 95% of the people working in the Big Hall would also lose their jobs. Suddenly Christmas looked bleak for an awful lot of people. Suddenly all in the Shire were united by a future that looked bleak to all.

Zero Hours Contracts

 

"What are zero hours contracts?" asked someone at the Northampton Borough Council Diverse Communities Forum.

Despite the media storm over the past couple of days, it still seem that people don't necessarily notice how badly exploited those desperate for work can get.

Where I work zero hours contracts have been an issue to giving advice on discrimination for the past four years or so. In the past if a company offered work but said that they couldn't commit to how many hours they could give, applicants would perhaps take the role but look for something a lot better pretty quick. With little availability of fixed hours for people with little skills or little experience in particular in retail, service and logistics zero hours contracts are the only option for many. For those on benefits it presents a descent into revising and re-revising claims that can take weeks to process leaving a trail of debts and payday loans along the way. It offers no security and presents a situation where employees are hanging on a string.

My daughter worked for Sport Direct on a zero hours contract last year. Assigned a 6am to 10am shift, she was often asked to stay until 4pm or 6pm at in the evening. People feel obliged to say yes because they fear the work drying up. This will always place people with caring responsibilities or those disabled people who need more flexible working environments for them at a disadvantage.

Most crucially, zero hours contracts can hide a multitude of poor employer behaviour. A few weeks ago Magda and her husband Chris came into the office. Magda worked for a company that provided cleaner for local hotels. When Magda applied for and got her job, both she and Chris were pleased that it wasn't agency work and that it came with a written contract. Magda had a history of ill health and so had asked for lighter duties as reasonable adjustment which her manager agreed to. Every week Magda would get a call advising her of the shifts that she should undertake. Although lighter duties were given in the first few weeks, after a while Magda found herself being asked to do more and more heavy work, until one day she fell ill after her shift. She was taken to hospital where she was told that she had suffered a miscarriage. Although, she didn't know that she was pregnant this came as a big emotional blow to Magda and Chris. Chris called her manager and told him what had happened and re-stated his wife's need for light duties. It was agreed that Madga should be assigned to a different hotel where this was possible. She was working with a new team and after a few days another member of staff came into a room where she was cleaning and said that the rest of the team had noticed that she was only being given light duties and felt that she was being treated this way because she was Ukrainian. The woman that said this to Magda was White British and she said that the other team members would be setting up a campaign to get her out. Magda went into another room and called her manager who told her not to worry and that he would sort it out. Magda left her shift that day upset about what had happened. Then suddenly, she no longer received calls advising her of the hours to work. When Magda asked her manager about this he just advised that there was no more work for her. Magda and Chris came to Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council for advice and brought in the Magda's contract. They read thorough the contract and said, that surely something could be done as it didn't state that it was a zero hours contract. However since it didn't state any hour in the contract there was not obligation for her employer to give her hours given that she was not given the same consistent number of hours over a period of time.

It's clear in this situation and in many others that we have seen that zero hours contracts is a key safeguard to employer who either wish to discriminate or support others who discriminate as happened with Magda.

Magda and Chris's names have been changed to protect their confidentiality.

Trust ... the big issue for 2012

Things do look quite dire at the moment for most people; small businesses, large businesses, small countries and large countries, for young people and older people, for those in work and for those who are not.

2012 looks to be an anxious vulnerable time for so many of us.

In my mind, I play out a variety of game plans for both me and those around me.

When the NHS reform bill was voted through in May it was clear that things were much worse than we had thought. Sure, there had previously been student protests about tuition fee increases and the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance, but these could be seen by politicians as minority interests. Simply issues that concern the young and their parents. Not even all parents would be affected, just those with bright children of the right age group. However with the NHS reform bill, here was an issue that affected us all ... or perhaps all of us that did not have private health insurance. If there was to be a smidgeon of light at the end of the tunnel, it was the hope that there were enough MP’s of conscience to rebel on at least this issue. Over the last few weeks with the legal aid, sentencing and punishment of offenders (LASPO) bill going through the House of Lords, Norman Tebbit who famously stated that the unemployed should “get on their bikes” to find work becoming the darling of many a left-wing cartoonist, managed a gargantuan image shift by fighting to legal aid to be retained cases of alleged medical negligence involving children. When Tebbit comes to our rescue, what kind of an alternative dimension do we find ourselves living in.

As we enter a new year, in 2011 there have been mass statements of the need for a political change of direction such as the TUC rally on 26th March and the combined day of action on pensions on 30th November, where we saw that biggest demonstrations that the country has ever seen. However, with parliamentary politicians in their seats for the next few years there is no sign of any movement for a change in direction.

The unity that was achieved in the TUC actions in March and November has to be the way forward, but it seems hard to get agreement on the when and the why. It is important for the trade union movement to build community links as more and more will not be in work. These are not as strong as they could be and approaches from Unite in allowing a version of membership for those not in employment must be an approach that all unions should consider for the future. There needs to be far more encouragement and incentive for unions that have their strength regionally to build links and relationships locally as that is where change needs to be actioned, brick by brick.

The thing to avoid in 2012 is conflict within the Labour Party. Despite the loose lipped comments by some senior Labour MP’s, the last thing that the party and the country need is a ditching of Labour's leader. The other potential site of conflict is between the Labour Party and the Trade Union movement over more industrial action. Yes, there should be healthy debate within open democratic processes but when decisions are taken it would be better that the ego’s are put aside so that action for change can be as effective as possible.

So although the does seem to be despair ... lets be part of the difference we want to see.