Women's Views on News |
| Support Sport Direct’s workers Posted: 02 Sep 2016 01:52 PM PDT
Sports Direct, which has been making headlines over the last year for the appalling working practices both in its warehouses – where most of its workers are Eastern European migrants – and shops, has its annual shareholder meeting on 7 September. Now is a good time to take action for migrant and women workers' rights and against the precarious contracts that mean workers feel unable to challenge abuse in their workplace. Earlier this summer, an investigation by MPs found Sports Direct was treating their workers as commodities not human beings. With MPs expecting answers from the company before the end of September, the pressure is on for Sports Direct to change its ways. Major investment groups, not usually concerned with workers' rights, are now getting behind a resolution tabled by Unite the Union to ask at the shareholders' meeting for an independent inquiry into working conditions at Sports Direct, which is the UK's largest sports retailer. Sports Direct is emblematic of the economy-wide shift to precarious contracts that means as many as 4.5 million workers are on some form of insecure contract, unable to plan their lives or support their families as their hours and schedules are unpredictable. And other employers will be watching to see what happens. War on Want is campaigning to stop Sports Direct and help stop a race to the bottom where all workers will lose out. Migrant workers make up the majority of workers at Sports Direct's warehouse; many are recruited in Eastern Europe. They often face the worst working conditions, including precarious contracts, which can mean the fear of losing future work leaves them unable to challenge abusive bullying behaviour. If you have no fixed-hours contract but run from hour to hour you cannot raise any work issues if you want more hours of work – and pay. It is also the same for women workers, who have to shut up regardless of the abuse and discrimination they are forced to endure. MPs on the Women's and Equalities Select Committee recently found that rising discrimination against pregnant women and mothers at work was partially explained by the increasing numbers of women who are on precarious contracts. Agency workers, such as the majority of Sports Direct warehouse staff, are not entitled to the same maternity protection as other workers. And one woman worker who went in to work at Sports Direct's Shirebrook warehouse while in labour, for fear of losing future work. She ended up giving birth in the toilets. Now is the time to demand an end to precarious contracts. If we stop Sports Direct in its tracks, and demand MPs stand with migrant workers and act now to end precarious contracts, we can build a society where everyone, including women and migrant workers, is assured of dignity at work, a living wage and the option of protection by a trade union in their workplace. The precarious nature of work in the UK – and its consequences – has been on the rise since the mid-1970s, corresponding with a weakening of trade unions, deregulation and free market economics. Forty years ago, Asian women workers challenged abuse in their workplace, Grunwick, a photo processing plant in Willesden, in North West London. They decided to fight against the racist and sexist abuse they suffered in the workplace and for the right to have a trade union represent them. War on Want, together with workers and trade unionists up and down the country, supported their struggle in what was one of the longest and most bitter labour struggles in British history. Now we must support Sports Direct workers. Please take whatever action you can. Here are three simple ways you can add your voice to all those calling for change: 1 – Join a demonstration at a Sports Direct store near you. Actions are taking place on 3 September throughout the UK. There is a full list of the day’s actions here. 2 – Join the great #SportsDirectShame high street re-brand (something you can do on your own). Learn more and order your tags here. 3 – Email your MP to demand they end precarious contracts and stand with migrant workers. 4 – If you have taken the action already, please share it on Facebook or Twitter to invite your friends to do the same.  |
| Maternity discrimination at work: no more Posted: 02 Sep 2016 01:37 PM PDT
Pregnant women and mothers report more discrimination and poor treatment at work now than they did a decade ago, according to a report published by the Women and Equalities Committee recently. And, the report continues, with record numbers of women in work in 2016, the situation is likely to decline further unless it is tackled effectively now. The Women and Equalities Committee has called for UK women to have protections similar to those in Germany, where a dismissal ban prevents pregnant employees being made redundant except in very rare cases such as gross misconduct by the worker, or the employer getting into severe financial difficulties, resulting in multiple job losses. MPs are demanding action, and have called on the government to publish an ambitious, detailed plan within the next two years or risk a further rise in pregnant women and mothers being forced out of their work. Pregnancy discrimination in the UK is present in all industries and income brackets, studies have found. However, differences do exist. For instance, those on low incomes tend to face discrimination when pregnant, while those on higher incomes tend to experience discrimination on their return to work. The Committee's recommendations include changing health and safety practices, preventing discriminatory redundancies and increasing protection for casual, agency and zero-hours workers. Research carried out by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and published earlier this year not only revealed that pregnant women and mothers now face more discrimination at work than they did a decade ago, it also resulted in six areas for action being identified. It found for example that 11 per cent of women – one in nine, or about 54,000, women – reported being either dismissed, made compulsorily redundant when others in their workplace were not, or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave their job. During their inquiry, prior to publishing this report, MPs also heard evidence that pregnant women and new mothers who faced discrimination at work were not taking action to ensure employers complied with existing protections. Witnesses speaking to the Committee argued that the current three-month time limit on pregnancy and maternity discrimination cases did not recognise the pressures on expectant mothers and the report recommends that the time limit is extended to six months. The Committee also recommends a substantial reduction in tribunal fees for discrimination cases, which currently can be up to £1,200. The Committee also heard evidence that there is a clear need for new and expectant mothers who are casual, agency and zero-hours workers to be properly protected. Casual, agency and zero-hours workers do not have the same pregnancy and maternity entitlements as women who are classed as employees. Both Citizens Advice and Catherine Rayner of the Discrimination Law Association suggested that the number of women now in this kind of work may be one reason for the increase in numbers of women faced with pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the past 10 years. And women in this group, the Committee found, are more likely to report a risk or impact to their health and welfare than other types of worker and more likely to leave their employer as a result of health and safety risks not being resolved, but less likely to feel confident about challenging discriminatory behaviour. The Committee has also recommended that paid time off for antenatal appointments is extended to all workers to include casual, agency and zero-hours workers after a short qualifying period. Other recommendations made in the Committee’s report include: Requiring employers to undertake an individual risk assessment when they are informed that a woman who works for them is pregnant, has given birth in the past six months or is breastfeeding. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) should include this requirement in its guidance to employers by the end of 2016; New and expectant mothers who are concerned that their health and/or the health of their baby is being put at risk by their work should have an easily accessible, formal mechanism made available so they can compel their employer to deal with such risks appropriately; The government should work with the main organisations which provide free, good quality, one-to-one advice to women on pregnancy and maternity discrimination to monitor the uptake of and estimated unmet need for such advice; and Given the uncertainty about what Brexit will actually mean, a statement of the government’s intention to ensure that rights and protections at work are not eroded would provide welcome reassurance during the current period of transition. The rights and protections currently available to new and expectant mothers under UK employment law go beyond what is required by EU law and employees and workers do not want to see them diminish. To read the report's conclusions and recommendations in full, click here. The Committee's chair, Maria Miller MP, said: “There are now record numbers of women in work in the UK. “The government’s approach has lacked urgency and bite. “It needs to set out a detailed plan outlining the specific actions it will take to tackle this unacceptable level of discrimination. “This work must be underpinned by concrete targets and changes to laws and protections to increase compliance by employers to improve women’s lives.”  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Women's Views on News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |