Peoples Republic of South Devon

Low pay trap

May 7th, 2008

posted by Cptn

The TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment, published today, reveals that 150,000 vulnterable workers in the South West “trapped in a continual round of low-paid and insecure work where mistreatment is the norm”.

According to the press release the ‘commissioners say they were shocked both by the extent of vulnerable work and that much of the poor treatment they found was “perfectly legal”. The report says that “employment practices attacked as exploitative in the 19th century are still common today” and that the “poor treatment at work that we have found should not be tolerated.”’

The report includes personal testimony from vulnerable workers in the South West, such as Tina’s, who ‘ worked for a large publishing company as a ‘Home Delivery Agent’ for 25 years, inserting leaflets into newspapers and managing their delivery. She received minimal piece rate pay and no benefits, and when the minimum wage came in her employer gave her a self-employed contract to get round paying the minimum wage. When Tina queried this she was sacked.’

TUC General Secretary and chair of the commission Brendan Barber told the PRSD: “All the commissioners, whatever their backgrounds, were shocked at just how vulnerable some workers are in the South West and the rest of the country today. Their treatment is a national scandal, and we need urgent action.

“But we have to cut thought the sterile debate that has turned any proposal to help even the most exploited people at work into a pro-union, anti-business old Labour move. Good employers have nothing to fear – and much to gain – from policies that stop them being undercut by bad employers who break the law or use loopholes to get round it.”

Commissioner and SERCO chairman Kevin Beeston said: “During my time on the Commission, meeting vulnerable workers and hearing the evidence first-hand for myself, I have become increasingly surprised by my own and society’s ignorance of these issues.

“It’s disappointing to see how low the morals of some unscrupulous employers can be, and it’s time society stopped turning a blind eye to these workplace abuses that are shaming the world of work and tarnishing the reputations of good employers.”

The report says that vulnerable workers suffer because they do not know their rights, lack an escape route from vulnerable jobs, cannot get their rights enforced – and often suffer when they try to – and that they fall through gaps in employment law that mean they do not enjoy the decent minimum standards to which the Government is committed.

Read the recommendations and how to protect to protect vulnerable workers on the TUC’s Vulnterable Employment website.

Entry Filed under: Society