Victory for the App Drivers & Couriers Union “James Farrar, general secretary of the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU), said: "Rather than fix its broken business model, Uber was determined to double down on misclassification at the cost of worker rights, passenger safety and the avoidance of VAT. "Our victory will now make misclassification … Continue reading Minicab Union Victory
Policing Bill: picketing in the crosshairs Read Lord Hendy’s article in the Morning Star, followed by his intervention in the House of Lords on the same subject. There you will also find the opinion of Lord Paddick, former senior police officer, that what the police need is not more laws but more suitably trained officers. The intervention … Continue reading The Right to Picket
Sahra Wagenknecht’s ‘The Self-Righteous’. Labour Affairs is pleased to publish below our own English translation of the Foreword to Sahra Wagenknecht’s ‘The Self-Righteous’, published in Germany earlier this year (Die Selbstgerechten: Mein Gegenprogramm – für Gemeinsinn und Zusammenhalt. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2021). The book has had a significant impact in Germany where Wagenknecht is … Continue reading Sahra Wagenknecht—The Self-Righteous
THE MELANCHOLIA OF CLASS BY CYNTHIA CRUZ I REPEATER BOOKS £10.99The tyranny of the middle-class worldview CHRIS MOSS (Morning Star Monday November 22 2021) recommends a perceptive analysis of the dichotomy between working-class identity and its repudiation by contemporary society. Aspiration, assimilation, alienation and class are knottily intertwined in con- temporary Western societies. Success is deemed to … Continue reading The Melancholia of Class
Skills and Post 16 Education Bill Debate 21 October 2021 For an analysis of T-levels see What am I going to do next (Part 10) in this issue of the magazine. 50% of young people do not go to university. Of those, only 20% have access to education and training. That is because there is not the same … Continue reading The launch of T Levels — Parliament Notes 1
Parliament debate 22 October 2021 https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2021-10-22/debates/BFCF71FC-1BE2-488A-A926-7EA0A1E1F36A/EmploymentAndTradeUnionRights(DismissalAndRe-Engagement)Bill?highlight=barry%20gardiner#contribution-1EA2B774-28DC-4ED0-B891-48FDCD646E7D During the Covid pandemic firms like British Airways fired part of their staff and rehired them on reduced terms and conditions. The Labour MP Barry Gardiner presented a Private Member’s Bill to end this practice. No MP on either side defended the practice, but still the Bill was not passed. Conservatives … Continue reading Fire and Rehire Bill — Parliament Notes 2
We reproduce Stan Keable’s statement, the full story can be read on the website of Jewish Voice for Labour. Statement by Stan Keable, Tues Oct 26 2021 [Three and a half years after his sacking for a comments about Zionism during the ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration in parliament square, Stan Keable welcomes a small victory in … Continue reading A small victory for freedom of speech: the reinstatement of Stan Keable
EUGENIA RUSSELL explores how meaningful employment can be created for prisoners and ex-offenders (Morning Star 23/10/21) THERE are not many businesses that employ prisoners in a meaningful way, but those that do deserve to be known about and supported by the public. A prime example is The Clink charity, which equips prisoners with catering skills that will … Continue reading Where to get your photos printed
We have mentioned before in this magazine the work of the Institute of Employment Rights (IER). The Labour Party Green Paper: New Deal for Working People, is the outcome of discussions with the Power in the Workforce Taskforce chaired by Andy McDonald MP, with legal assistance of John Hendy QC and Prof Keith Ewing, both of … Continue reading An End to Bogus Self-employed Status – Parliament Notes 2
By Pete Whitelegg Back in February the Supreme Court made a landmark judgement concerning a case that had been wending its way through the British legal system for at least the last five years. The case, Royal Mencap Society Society vs. Tomlinson-Blake, addressed the issue as to whether sleepover shifts are subject to the National … Continue reading When work is not “actual” work
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