Archive for December, 2008
A large percentage of people in the U.K have “working” jobs. In the past these workers have tried, successfully, to form unions, based loosely around communist ideals of the power of the people. A company is nothing without its workforce however the very people who work the hardest jobs are today the least respected and underpaid.
Unions in the past have changed this perspective and raised the status of the ordinary worker to one of a united, powerful front that rivalled the government for its leverage. My question is what happened to the union? Where did this power house disappear to?
A single worker, by themselves, has very little power to change anything. I have heard many co-workers at many different jobs complaining about bad rates of pay and yet are powerless to do anything for fear of being fired. The main things that seem to establish a workers rate of pay are market pressures and a comparison, by the company, of similar rates of pay in the area. It is not beyond belief, my belief anyway, that companies would conspire to lower the average pay in an area for similar jobs.
What is to stop companies from manipulating worker pay so as to keep it low? The government has obviously established a minimum wage but this may be considered as an admission that companies where exploiting the work force with little or no rebuttal.
The rise of temp companies
One of the ways in which companies stop workers forming unions is by the use of temp companies and their rise to power has been staggering. 98 “staffing” companies in the US are making $100,000,000 a year or more, on a global scale thats $120 billion annually (Staffing Industry Analysts, Inc, 2003) This is all money that these companies one way or another are taking out of the pocket of the worker.
What do companies gain from using temp staff? If I sign a contract with a company to work for them I am given certain rights that make it difficult for them to quickly fire me however if I am given a position from a temp company all they have to do is ring the temp company and ask them not to send me back. Very simply if I start making noise about bad rates of pay or difficult working environments then getting rid of me is amazingly simple. Temp companies are a very smart way of eliminating workers rights and keeping your work force subdued.
Temp contracts
Not all unskilled – semi skilled workers in the U.K are employed by temp companies after a certain period of time with the temp company (When they have decided you’re not a trouble starter/ rights activist etc) the company may decide to take you on themselves and you breathe a sigh of relief, no working from day to day wondering if they are planning to get rid of you. You are inevitably presented with a contract that under closer inspection will usually be a 3 month contract (I have seen shorter).
Once again you need the job so you sign your 12 week contract and are reliably informed by your immediate superior that another contract will be provided at the end if this period. This short period contract is another way of keeping the workforce subdued as people who cause any sort of trouble will simply not be offered another contract at the end of this period. This is another trick by the company who if it came to court for un-fair dismissal etc never actually fired you they just didn’t offer you another contract which is perfectly reasonable in law.
If asked, companies will mention things like this the dynamic nature of today’s workforce, the need to be flexible and respond to market pressures. All of these things are just good ways of saying they don’t like to get tied down to giving workers a good deal and want to be able to fire anyone at a moment’s notice.
3rd party representation
Some of the places I have worked in have something called 3rd party representation. This is a union that might be a national union for retail assistants for example however these bodies never do anything and don’t even know your name, they are a sham and should be ashamed to call themselves a union, the words “direct action” are not in their vocabulary and are simply a good way to make it appear as if workers are getting representation.
The main thing that keeps companies in the U.K in check is the Labour government that despite appearances to the contrary are actually progressively looking after temp workers rights. Examples of what Labour has done are minimum wage and the accumulation of holiday pay for temps. Despite some of Labours big brother policies (which I am very much against) the Tories would inevitably abolish minimum wage and give far more power to companies, so don’t vote for them!
My main issue and the reason I wrote this is because I have never seen another piece lamenting the fall of the unions and also to question why nobody else thinks this is even an issue for discussion! Surely the people are once again letting themselves become downtrodden without once raising their heads to question how things got so bad.
Long ago we stated the reason for labour organizations. We said that union was essential to give labourers opportunity to deal on an equality with their employers.
Came across a video i watched a few months ago and thought was really funny, make sure you watch it all because it gets really good a minute or two from the end!
RECENT POSTS
Blog Directories
