Workers rights… July 18, 2017
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.trackback
It really is a sign of the times when in the Taylor Report (see here) in the UK on working conditions in the ‘gig economy’ has a suggestion that at times previously would have been seen as a given… that is higher rates for overtime. In the Taylor report this is dressed up as ‘higher minim wages’ for ‘non-guaranteed hours’. Have we fallen this far?
The report itself seems to fall far too short of the broader issues that all this raises… or as the guardian puts it ‘he has not blown away the uncertainties of a working life spent in the gig economy whose workers now number about 1.1 million’. The Guardian also notes the absurdity in some of the language…
[Taylor] has disappointed trade unions by not demanding full employment rights for people who work for companies such as Uber and Deliveroo. Instead, he has argued for the innovation and flexibility that both zero-hours and gig economy work, at their best, can enable. Exhausted warehouse workers on zero-hours terms may raise their eyebrows at that.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
Sean O’Grady in the Indie on how the UK can survive the hard Brexit he thinks is inevitable:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-david-davis-free-trade-migration-labour-laws-low-taxes-a7845421.html
And RIchard North on agriculture after Brexit day:
http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=86542
bjg
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Jesus Christ. That’s some quote.
The North piece is sobering.
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I don’t know what weight Sean O’Grady’s opinions carry, but they seem to fit in with one strand behind Brexit, a strand represented too by shrink-the-state austerians [Rick writes about the effects today https://flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2017/07/18/an-honest-debate-about-austerity-and-tax/%5D and these people https://redtapeinitiative.org.uk, about whom Private Eye had a short piece in its most recent issue.
In a context in which
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2017/07/17/legislation-that-is-and-is-not-the-deeply-problematic-repeal-bill/ it is not clear that Jeremy Corbyn’s pro-Brexit position can provide the protections that I am sure he would like to see.
bjg
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Oh ye of little faith!
Of course a ‘workers Brexit’ is possible. Tory ministers’ fiat ‘Henry VIII’ decisions will be vastly superior to the ECHR in protecting workers’ and human rights.
Only close your eyes and believe! Purple unicorns dancing on rainbows.
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So has pro-Brexit jc and the LP given many details on how they will protect workers’ rights and pay and conditions etc post-Brexit?
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This short clip clears up Labour’s position on Brexit once and for all:
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That’s a good question. Though I presume they’d try to retain the good stuff from the EU. But they will have other problems. A point made today in the Gaurdian was that the deficit in terms of funding due to devaluation, increased costs of trading etc would radically cut into the financial capability of a future BLP government to pursue its programmes. That in essence it would be having to play catch up to fix up the mess the Tory Brexit was causing.
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This is a job for … THE MASTER NEGOTIATOR!!!
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🙂
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