Insight by Future Plus

The magazine for GMB members

Insight www.gmb.org.uk

IairNof W ap Gltiacksetts o

Spring 2013

Cheque t! ou it GMB members raise ÂŁ1,000!

See page 23

time to choose

GMB hosts forums on Scottish independence! Does your boss keep you hanging on the line? See p14

Subject to rule

In this issue...

Harry Donaldson ary et GMB Scotland secr

Meet GMB’s newest workplace organisers Page 30

GMB wins a living wage for Barking and Dagenham members Page 16

Regional

National

4 Left in the dark

9 Make a difference

5 Party politics

11 Paul Kenny speaks

6 Cuts in care

12 Blacklisting

7 Tom Greatrex

14 Zero hours contracts

8 Independent thinking

16 A living wage

The truth about blacklisting

Behind the scenes at the Labour gala dinner

Glasgow care workers facing redundancy

The Shadow Energy Minister writes

Should Scotland say yes to independence?

25 Poor health

The threat of health and safety reforms

26 Injured at work?

Taking the pain out of making a claim

29 Richard Leonard

Your GMB Scotland political officer writes

30 New faces

GMB Scotlands new workplace organisers

31 Contact GMB

Names and numbers you can call on

GMB regional editor Brian Johnstone: 0141 332 8641 Editorial director Stephen Pierce Editor Matt Robinson Art editor Johnny Goddard Contributors Emma Johnston, Jayne Nelson Advertising manager Steve Hulbert Account managers David Parker, Lisa Dunham Production and procurement manager Matt Eglinton Production co-ordinator Katty Skardon Creative director Matthew Williams Art director Stuart Hobbs Director, Future Plus UK Jayne Caple Printed at St Ives Direct

Help the Labour Party win the next election

A word from your general secretary

How GMB is beating the illegal blacklist

Paul Routledge on the pitfalls of ZHCs

GMB is winning fair pay for members in councils across the UK

18 GMB@WORK

How to pay your GMB subs by Direct Debit

20 British Gas offer

Recommend a friend for free insulation and get a £50 voucher with this exclusive offer

23 Win Glasto tickets

Your chance to win tickets to Glastonbury

24 Save a life today

Produced by Future Plus, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW

We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from well managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. Future Publishing and its paper suppliers have been independently certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).

Would you like to advertise in GMB Insight magazine? Please contact Steve Hulbert on 01225 442 244 (ex 5205) Accepting of advertising and inserts and does not imply GMB endorsement of the product or services. Remember that GMB recommends all services and offers should always be used to test the cost against other commercial companies. Members are advised to secure at least two quotes on all commercial transactions.

GMB is campaigning for social justice GMB is at the forefront of campaigning for social justice on behalf of our members and you will read in this edition of Insight of GMB’s national campaign to expose the UK Construction Companies accused of “Blacklisting”. Effectively, this is a system that denies employment to active workplace organisers or health & safety reps. Worst of all the victims had no knowledge of this practice or its impact on their working lives. GMB has made sure that its campaign to secure justice and compensation for those affected by this abhorrent practice is now centre-stage at industrial and political level. GMB has welcomed the motion passed by Renfrewshire Council as the first local authority in Scotland to publicly support the GMB Campaign against Blacklisting. I am calling on all of Scotland’s 32 Local Authorities to come out in support of this campaign. The last two years have been difficult for you all and for your families. 49,000 public sector jobs have been lost with more to follow this year. These cuts will be felt across the Scottish economy. 2013 will be a year of challenges, but we are prepared for it. GMB workplace organisers and health & safety reps, supported by GMB officers, will be more vital than ever in defending our members. While there is no doubt about the challenge ahead my enthusiasm to meet the challenge has been encouraged by those members prepared to take on the role of workplace organisers and health & safety reps. In 2012 over 150 new reps undertook GMB@WORK training and are now back in the workplace, enthusiastic and committed to facing up to the challenges. This year we are determined to grow our base of activists. Indications are that there is no shortage of members who want to make a difference in the workplace. I trust that this edition of Insight makes for an informative and interesting read as we balance Scottish issues with important national information.

www.gmb.org.uk 03

l a n o i g re

E DAT P U

BECOME A GMB WORKP LACE ORGANIS ER www.g mb.org gmbwo .uk/

G MB m o r f s w e n All the

De-Listed uncil backs Renfrewshire Co campaign. g tin GMB’s blacklis

e r o m o N g n i t s i l k c Bla g Blacklistin d n Backgrou ? ation In 2009 the Inform ce ffi O Commissioner’s the by seized a list used ry st du construction in across the UK. It mes contained 3,213 na ve ha of workers who isted kl ac been illegally bl ing be r fo and victimised . rs be em trade union m t lis is th t GMB will not le ! ed go unchalleng

4 www.gmb.org.uk 04

ort p p u s e m o lc e w ts e g B M G for its campaign

abour-run Renfrewshire Council has become the first local authority in Scotland to back GMB’s campaign on blacklisting. There are 16 local people are on the blacklist in the area. A motion passed at the council’s December meeting condemned the practice – exposed by GMB – of covertly gathering information on construction industry trade union members. Those workers placed on a blacklist found themselves unable to find work in the industry for years. Richard Leonard, GMB Scotland political officer, said: “Many of the construction firms involved in the blacklisting

exposed by GMB are heavily reliant on public sector contracts. We therefore call on the Scottish government and its agencies and local government not to offer any new contracts to the offending companies until compensation is paid out and transparency and openness in recruitment is proven.” Council leader Mark McMillan said: “I want to congratulate GMB for its tireless campaign to expose the outrageous practices of many large companies in the UK. This is a despicable practice, and companies which are found to use it should be run out of town.” For more on blacklisting, see page 12.

regional

Highland C

ouncil

2,900

jobs axed

1,500ed

Follow the leader Ed Miliband meets GMB members at the Labour dinner.

ed’s up!

GMB members meet Ed Miliband at the Scottish Labour Party Gala Dinner There was a strong presence from GMB Scotland members at the Scottish Labour Party Annual Gala Dinner held at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow on 22 November. The audience heard party leader, Ed Miliband, offer thanks to the trade union movement and praise for the important role of unions such as GMB in modern society. After his rousing

speech, Mr Miliband took time to meet his Scottish supporters and spent time chatting to GMB Scotland members. Among those who met Mr Miliband were GMB organiser Barry Fletcher, GMB NHS branch president Jackie Faulds, GMB organiser Stephen Baillie and GMB senior organiser Mick Conroy, all pictured above.

Football

fundraising Buy this book to help fight prostate cancer! Paul Goodwin lost his colleague Dave Rae to prostate cancer four years ago. To honour him, Paul wanted to help raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK, so he wrote a book, Saving Scottish Football, with all proceeds going to the charity. The book was written with the help of Managers and Coaches president Alex Smith and many members from the football industry in Scotland. The publisher is also donating his proceeds, and the book is heading towards a second print. If you want to help fight prostate cancer – which affects one in nine men in this country – and you also fancy a good read, you can buy it at www.scottishfans.org

hire Aberdeens il Counc jobs ax Dundee Cit

y Council

900 d

jobs axe ity Glasgow C il c n Cou

2,800

jobs axed

Fife Counc

2,800

jobs axed South Lanarkshire Council

700

jobs axed

49,000 Jobs axed

Scottish public service jobs have disappeared since the 2010 general election GMB analysis reveals that Since the general election in 2010, 49,000 jobs have been cut across the Scottish public sector and 26,000 have been axed in Scottish local authorities. In stark contrast to the economic recovery inherited by the government, the economy faces a triple dip recession. GMB has analysed the figures released by the Scottish government, and discovered the toll the coalition’s reckless policies are taking on jobs and public services in Scotland. The number of employees across all the public sector in Scotland has fallen from

630,000 at the beginning of 2010 to 581,000 by the end of 2012. This is a dip of 7.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of employees in local authorities in Scotland fell from 304,300 to 278,700 – a drop of 8.4 per cent since the general election. The fall in the number of employees in Highland Council is the highest for any local authority in Scotland. It lost 2,900 employees. Other significantly affected councils included Glasgow and Fife, both of whom lost 2,800 employees. Most of these falls in the number of jobs arise from freezing vacancies, redundancies and wastage as a result of budget cuts.

5 www.gmb.org.uk 05

regional

Upda your GtMe ProfileB www.gmb

UPDATE

from GMB All the news

Cutting the

.org update .uk/

GMB vows to fight cuts at Glasgow City Home Care infirm. We see that changes through personalisation of services and re-ablement are

“The very last people who should face service cuts are the elderly and infirm” radically reshaping the way homecare is delivered in Glasgow. But these changes should be seized to raise standards, not lower them. We need to see a stop to the outsourcing of care services. These are public services that should be

Council pay GMB celebrates winning a Living Wage for council workers

06 www.gmb.org.uk

CRUELLEST CUTS Cordia workers could face redundancy. provided by properly trained and rewarded public service workers paying the rate for the job, not low paid, bargain basement alternatives. That’s why we are campaigning against these cuts.”

success

GMB has been successfully working to negotiate Living Wage pay settlements across Scotland. Local government workers received an offer from the employers organisation COSLA to increase their pay by one per cent from 1 April, with a proposal to introduce the Living Wage of £7.50 per hour to 17,000 workers across Scotland. “GMB is delighted to see a Living Wage coming in across all councils, as this has been a long-held goal for us,” said senior organiser Alex McLuckie. “However, after three years of wage restraint, GMB does not believe the increase of one per cent is enough to address the drop in living standards our members have seen. GMB will be seeking more negotiations to try and improve on this, but it is an encouraging start.” Meanwhile, proposed changes to terms and conditions at Aberdeenshire Council have prompted a second ballot. Janet Adams, GMB organiser, said:

“Although Aberdeenshire Council has made further improvements to their proposed package of cuts, let us remember they are nevertheless proposing to cut people's terms and conditions. Members have already suffered a wage freeze for the last two years while everything else went up in price, and are extremely concerned as to how they will financially manage.” Another GMB success: Inverclyde Council is looking to make a saving of £4.74m in the next three years and GMB has consulted with management over the last few months to discuss the saving options. The original proposals have been significantly modified and are not as severe as when first presented. Finally, GMB’s campaign for the introduction of a Living Wage at East Ayrshire Council has been successful. Thank you all for supporting these campaigns and helping to secure the Living Wage, which will help hundreds of low-paid workers.

Rex Features

Cuts in Cordia’s budget of £5m over the next two years could result in more than 300 Glasgow city home carers facing redundancy, with others left defending attacks on their terms and conditions of employment. Cordia was set up as an “arms length” company, separate to – but providing services for – Glasgow City Council. This includes a huge army of home-carers and school cleaning, catering and janitorial staff. GMB Cordia home care organiser, Richard Leonard said: “Glasgow City Council is taking tough decisions, but we elect politicians to look after the most vulnerable in society and to do the right thing when it comes to those hardworking carers who deliver these services 365 days a year. The very last people who should face service cuts are the elderly and

TOM GREATRE X

speaks

inister M y g r e n E w o The Shad or work f t n e m s s on asse

The economic benefits of a job are obvious, but the social and health benefits of being in work are also important

any GMB members will be aware of former colleagues who are no longer able to work. For some it’s because they have an illness that makes it impossible for them to go back to work. For others, it is because of an injury or accident suffered at work. Even with progress made on health and safety at work as a result of the campaigning and persistence of GMB reps, there are still those who sustain an injury that stops them working. There are also too many people who have been unemployed for a long period, and who struggled to find work even before the recession – now a double-dip Osborne recession – took hold. Those who have been unemployed will tell you how demoralising an experience it is – and those

who have been able to find work again later will tell you how much better they feel. The economic benefits of a job are obvious, but the social and health benefits of being in work are also important. For those reasons, it is important that the government does everything it can to help find people jobs, and to particularly help those who have not been in work for a long period. It is also important that those who are not able to work at all because of illness or disability are given support to live their lives and cope with their condition. That is why I don’t have a problem with the principle of people being assessed to see if they are able to work. But that principle to help has, in practice, seen many sick and disabled people left feeling hounded as a result of the infamous Atos-run Work Capability Assessment.

For close to two years I have been alarmed at the failures of the process that is supposed to be a support to the long term unemployed. When a constituent with Parkinson’s disease came to tell me he had been assessed as fit for work, even though he struggled to get in to my surgery, I was concerned. When he came back to say he won his appeal, but had been called for another assessment straight away, I was angry. When he told me he had again been assessed as fit for work, I was incredulous. He won his second appeal, and got called for another assessment again.

WORKERS HOUNDED As well as the worry it causes individuals, this cycle of assessment and appeal costs taxpayers huge amounts of money – more than £110m to run the contract, £60m to correct mistakes through the tribunal service, with 40 per cent of appeals being won. Hundreds of Parliamentary Questions later, and with the support of the investigative reporting of the Daily Record, it is apparent that the system is broken. Labour, who while in government signed the original contract with Atos Healthcare which the Tories extended in 2010, have signalled a review of the assessment. The Tories simply don’t care. Chris Grayling, the minister responsible for rolling out the transfer of people from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance, and causing backlogs and massive bills in the tribunal service, got promoted to the Cabinet. And his then department awarded Atos Healthcare the contract to run the assessment for the replacement for disability living allowance in Scotland, despite their appalling record with the Work Capability Assessment. It is time the government got a grip of this mess – too many people are suffering the injustice of a process that is simply not working. Instead of helping, it is hounding. www.gmb.org.uk 7

regional

UPDATE

from GMB All the news

Independence

in or out?

GMB Scotland Political Forums give members a say on Scottish Independence

FLAG IT UP Independence would affect every Scottish politcal issue.

BECOME A GM HealthB safety & rep w ww.gmb .o gmbhsr rg.uk/ ep

questions and concerns of s a democratic union, GMB k our members. When we thin you t wants to know wha make a decision, general And es. issu ical about key polit secretary Paul Kenny has for Scotland, independence made it clear that the on tops the agenda. The referendum decision will have been year next independence is scheduled for made in Scotland.” and omic econ and will affect all political, GMB Scotland Political social aspects of life in Scotland. ms give us as union this t Foru To find out what members feel abou bers the chance to ing mem tour been issue, GMB’s leading lights have key political uss disc bers mem tish Scot the country to speak to issues and influence YOUR VIEWS MATTER about their views. y future policy. Members Harr y etar secr onal regi land Political Forums held across Scot GMB the had sub have ical polit Scotland will get your voice heard. Donaldson, chairperson of the to nity ortu opp ical polit GMB and group John McKenzie participate in this debate and an officer Richard Leonard undertook GMB Scotland policy formulation GMB autumn/winter tour, speaking with meetings across the country. members in political forums. aldson GMB regional secretary Harry Don n. unio e trad tic ocra dem said: “GMB is a the d to ning liste been have we why That's ltations will be organise A further round of consu wil be advertised through ese views of GMB activists at venues in k before the summer. Th arnock, www.gmbscotland.org.u Inverness, Aberdeen, Falkirk, Kilm your GMB branch and at ntact Richard Leonard on tion posi a take will We . gow co Dundee and Glas k For more information but for rd.leonard@gmb.org.u on the Referendum in due course 41 332 8641 or at richa 01 ns, ratio now we are looking to the aspi

have your say!

08 www.gmb.org.uk

l na O I T NA

E T A D P U

om GMB r f s w e n e h t l Al

e c n a h c r You to shape

e p o r u e

MEMBER

Stand up for working families in the UK

e all now realise the damage this Con-Dem government is inflicting on our public services and on GMB members and their families. The Lib Dems are complicit in the havoc being wreaked on our communities; we should never forget that. The GMB Central Executive Council (CEC) policy is to make the Labour Party electable in time for the next general election. GMB is now staffed with a political department and each GMB region has a regional political officer (RPO). These officers’ jobs are to organise politically and they are there to help, so get in touch – see the panel on the next page for details of your regional RPO. GMB is encouraging members to join the Labour Party, become active in their communities and local Labour Parties, and help the party become electable. If our members are involved they can encourage the party to adopt policies which will help people provide for their families. Only by being politically active can GMB members influence Labour Party policy and make sure it stands for the things we believe in: a stop to the privatisation of public services, a Living Wage for all working people and investment in our schools and hospitals. As a GMB member you can be part of the Labour Party for just £1.80 a month – that’s only £21.50 a year. Download a form from www.labour.org.uk/trade-union-join and start making a difference!

Bring YOUR mag to life! Discover a world of extras when you point your smartphone at the pages of this GMB magazine. To get started, download the Layar app from get.layar.com

1 Download the Layar app for iPhone and Android devices.

2 Point your smartphone at a WHOLE page of the mag where you see this logo.

3 Watch as it comes to life on your screen.

www.gmb.org.uk 09

national

UPDATE

from GMB All the news

Shaping a Europe that works for you In the November edition of this magazine we appealed to members to put themselves forward to stand as Labour candidates for the 2014 European elections. This was a huge success and many GMB members will be on the list of candidates to be voted on by Labour Party members in July. The result of the ballot and final regional lists of candidates will be announced at the Labour Party Annual Conference in September. Some of us see the EU as distant or gobbledygook that we don’t understand and just over 30 per cent of us voted in the last European elections. Yet GMB members benefit from the rights that belonging to the EU brings

us, and we must to fight to ensure these are protected and improved, not taken away. We have the power of our vote to start shaping a Europe that works for us – and if we want positive change we must vote for it at the next European election. We must vote for the GMB members and other trade unionists who have stood up for us and know that the EU needs change, but not at the expense of our hard-won rights. The rights from Europe came to us when we had majorities of Labour and Socialist MEPs, commissioners and governments at European level. It is no surprise that since we lost the majority across the EU, these rights fell under attack.

What does Europe mean to you? For GMB, Europe means a basketful of employment and social rights that we might otherwise never have had. Health and safety protection, paid holidays from work, limits on working hours, protection when faced with collective redundancies and rights when the company we work for is sold. The transfers of undertakings (TUPE) regulations give GMB the right to make sure we keep our hard-won pay and conditions. Part-time workers are guarded; fixed term and temporary agency workers’ rights have been improved; we have improved maternity/pregnant workers’ rights and extensive equal treatment and equality rights. When workers come to the UK to work they have to be paid the negotiated rate of pay and cannot be exploited. And these are just some of the rights we enjoy from Europe. Yet increasingly, when we hear and read about Europe, it is about why Britain should leave it. It's not about whether it's good for us as working families and everyday people to be in or out; the debate is being dominated by politicians. So if we are going to have a debate about Europe, we want it to be about shaping a Europe that works for us.

Watch GMB TV Want to know more about getting involved? Get it from the horse’s mouth! Watch interviews with Labour MPs and GMB organisers at www.gmb.public-i.tv

10 www.gmb.org.uk

We want honest answers about what will happen to our jobs if we leave the EU. Around 50 per cent of everything we produce is bought by Europe. The USA has already said that for them the UK is a route to the EU – and if we’re not in they will find another route. All this will have big implications for us as working families, our jobs and our economy. David Cameron says he wants to renegotiate the terms of our involvement with Europe rather than withdraw altogether. One of the top priorities for him and the coalition is to remove workers’ rights. So any renegotiation under a Con-Dem government is bad news for GMB members. The UK Independence Party (UKIP) would also remove our rights. They are not any friend of GMB members. So get involved and help us shape a Europe that works for us – because its future is in our hands.

GMB

cts political conta

Get in touch with your regional political officer GMB Birmingham & West Midlands Region Stephanie Peacock 0121 550 4888 stephanie.peacock@gmb.org.uk

GMB London Region Gary Doolan 020 7391 6748 gary.doolan@gmb.org.uk

GMB Midland & East Coast Region

Richard Oliver 0115 960 7171 richard.oliver@gmb.org.uk

GMB Northern Region Chris Jukes 0191 233 3930 chris.Jukes@gmb.org.uk

GMB North West and Irish Region Neil Smith 0151 727 0077 neil.smith@gmb.org.uk

GMB Scotland

Richard Leonard 0141 332 8641 richard.leonard@gmb.org.uk

GMB Southern Region Michelle Gordon 020 8397 8881 michelle.gordon@gmb.org.uk

GMB Wales & South West Region Mike Payne 029 2049 1260 mike.payne@gmb.org.uk

GMB Yorkshire & North Derbyshire Region Steve Jennings 0845 337 7777 steve.jennings@gmb.org.uk

GMB Euston Political Team Cath Speight, national political officer 020 7391 6746 Heidi Benzing 020 7391 6749 Gary Doolan 020 7391 6748 Lisa Johnson 020 7391 6764 Steve Kemp 020 7391 6700 Hilary Perrin 020 7391 6753

! get onrtyline u yo what

Tell the Labour Pa esto 2014 want in the Labour Manif k g.u .or ain rit rb ou at www.y ney Find out who’s giving mo at s rie To to the searchthemoney.com

Paul kenny

says

cretary e s l a r e n e g your GMB m o r f d r o w A

It is a scandal that people are victimised for asking questions

here is a line in a Joni Mitchell song which goes “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”. How true those words ring when the people you love are no longer around, and I guess that is what the song was written to convey. However, such sentiments also apply to the standards of equality, justice and services which are lost, diluted or just plundered by politicians and the vested interests of markets and millionaires. We now live in a country where our natural resources are all owned by private companies, who make vast profits selling us back natural resources, like water, which falls from the sky for free!!

SELLING IT OFF Our energy, railways and public services are all seen as primary wealth producers for corporations’ shareholders or entrepreneurs rather than being instruments for a richer economy for all, a planned future for the benefit of the many. I look in disbelief as this generation of snake oil salesmen that masquerade as our government, package up our health service for privatisation. How they tell us that somehow giving hundreds of millions, currently spent on patient care, to the back pockets of privateers, is the health service we need or indeed want!

RISKY BUSINESS The power of the business lobby is stronger now than at any time in modern government and where better to see that power than to look at the “special advisors” from business, which now adorn every government department. The lobby group who don’t ever have to book an appointment to see the minister. They just waltz right in from the office next door! These “business” interests, demanding cuts in regulations on everything from health and safety to employment rights and equality laws. These are the same guardians of our interests who welcomed cuts in public services whilst applauding cash hand outs to millionaires. The same crew who demanded and got cuts in corporation tax alongside cuts in benefits. The vested interests of multi nationals who earn billions from our country yet pay nothing or virtually nothing back in taxes on their vast profits. The vested interests of the companies who were allowed to get away with compiling blacklists designed to discriminate against ordinary men and women whose only crime might have been to attend a meeting about working conditions or airport expansions or similar environmental concerns.

It is a scandal that people who live in a country that politicians like to tell us is a free democratic society are victimised for asking questions or having the desire to just listen to a debate.

DEMAND ACTION GMB has led the way in both exposing and demanding action on these matters, from tax avoidance by the Starbucks and Amazons of this world to the companies like Carillion and McAlpine whose involvement in blacklisting is now out in the open. If anyone thinks GMB will tire of pursuing these companies, then they better think again. The first political party which has the courage to break the strangle hold of the self-interest buccaneers will be embraced by millions of British people who have become victims of the snout in the trough arrangement, the “we can do whatever we want” culture, of so many companies and individuals whose only interests are their own. I hope that party is Labour. I hope Ed Miliband has the strength to follow his own natural instinct on justice and equality. And a vision which enhances the lives of British people, not on servicing the vested interests of an unelected rich elite. After all when it comes to political support, as the song goes, “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”. www.gmb.org.uk 11

national

UPDATE

3 1 2 , 3 from GMB All the news

d e t s i l k c a l b

e of the on , ow kn u yo ne eo m so is or u, yo Are 3,213 names on the construction industry blacklist?

ore than 3,000 names appear on an illegal blacklist used by companies in the construction industry. The map, right, was made by GMB to show how many people in each area of the UK were on the blacklist of 3,213* workers. The blacklist first came to light in 2009. The Information Commissionerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office (ICO) seized a Consulting Association database of 3,213 construction workers used by 44 companies to vet new recruits and keep out trade union and health and safety activists. By autumn 2012, only 194 of the 3,213 blacklisted workers knew they were on it. After GMB pressed for disclosure, the ICO agreed to supply names, dates of birth, trades and towns of residence on a restricted basis to enable GMB to check our own membership records to find members who are on the blacklist. We found 200 exact matches and are in contact with these members to get their files from ICO. GMB appointed lawyers Leigh Day are preparing litigation to get compensation for them. There were a further 300 names on the list, who may be GMB members, but we need more information to assess if they are. We publish the map, based on locations supplied by ICO for all 3,213, to prompt responses from members to help us in this. If you were a construction worker from one of these areas and as a trade union or health 12 www.gmb.org.uk

STAND UP FOR JUSTICE Blacklisting makes innocent members into outlaws.

1 northern ireland

1 eire

and safety activist were denied work for reasons you could not explain, get in touch so we can crosscheck the records. GMBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priority is to step up the campaign to get every blacklisted GMB member compensation. GMB is calling on councils not to award work to the companies that operated the blacklist until they compensate those they damaged. GMB is also pushing ICO for a proactive action to inform all builders affected that they are on the blacklist. A GMB report on blacklisting showed that it was not something isolated or rare. The

report estimated that in one quarter, Carillion, for example, checked 2,776 names with the Consulting Association, and in the period from October 1999 to April 2004 it estimates that Carillion checked at least 14,724 names.

NATional

Orkney islands

highland

aberdeenshire

Aberdeen city

14 stirling city of glasgow

falkirk

argyle & bute

3 35

8 140 26

clackm

renf

w dunb.

inverc

Angus

perth and kinross

east lothian

n lanark k s lanar

18 E ayr

West yorks

60 greater manchester

173

gwynedd

cheshire

birmingham met area

glamorgan swansea

5 10

monmouthshire

19 3

cornwall

devon

oxon

bristol

bath

8 dorset

leics

berks

5 wilts

beds

essex

454

isle of wight

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Blacklisting is not something isolated or rare.â&#x20AC;?

london

hants

12 herts

surrey

suffolk

cambs

bucks

somerset

glos

cardiff

norfolk

northants

warks

heref & worcs

powys

lincs

notts

derbys

staffs

shropshire

kingston upon hull

east riding of yorks

south yorks

ceredigion

183

merseyside

denbighshire

north yorks

lancashire

fy mo If you can help us identi the on d me of the people na rst, hu ite Wh il Ph l tel blacklist, on r ice off GMB construction il. ph or 0 81 8 07968 33 k whitehurst@gmb.org.u son en ph Ste or GMB, 22 Way, London NW1 2HD.

cleveland

tyne & wear

cumbria

Beat g blacklistin re

northumberland

durham

D&G

anglesey

GRIM PRACTICE GMB members demonstrate at . a Carillion court hearing in Swansea

mid lothian w loth

n ayr

fife city of edinburgh

52 12

dundee city

95 8

kent

east sussex

west sussex

* When alias names and duplicates are excluded there are 3,213 individuals on the blacklist. The map shows where 2,554 lived or worked. There are an additional 12 unmapped in Wales and 8 unmapped in Scotland. For 639, or 20%, no proper addresses are given. The ICO using NI details could, with help of DWP, find current addresses for most of 3,213 but they have not done so.

www.gmb.org.uk 13

national

BECOME A GMB WORKP ORGANILACE SER

UPDATE

from GMB All the news

www.gmb .org gmbwo .uk/

hangin’ on the

telephone Daily Mirror columnist Paul Routledge on how zero hours contracts are keeping UK workers waiting by the phone

ON’T call us – we’ll call you!” That’s the old showbiz gag. Promoters who exploit struggling artistes tell them to stay by the phone on the off chance of something coming up. But it’s no joke in modern-day Britain, where employers impose “zero hours contracts” (ZHC) contracts on people desperate for work. These breadwinners spend hours listening for the boss to call them in for a few hours’ paid work. Sometimes the phone rings, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not a job. It’s not even a genuine contract – it’s a con-trick. But nowadays it’s year zero every year in UK plc, as employers rush to turn their workforce into casual labourers. Once upon a time, it was the dockers, gathered at the dock gates waiting for the foreman to shout 14 www.gmb.org.uk

“You, you and you! The rest go home.” Today, this system goes right across the board from fast-food outlets to the NHS. Exactly what are we talking about here? Under a zero hours contract, employees are obliged to make themselves available for work – but the employer is under no obligation to provide work. There are no specified hours, and work can vary from week to week. Workers are paid only for the time they work, so the waiting time they spend by the phone is unpaid. And some employers don’t even pay for waiting time spent on work premises, though legally workers are entitled to payment. ACAS, the employment relations service, says, “National Minimum Wage (NMW) regulations state that workers on ‘stand-by time’, ‘on-call time’ and ‘downtime’ must

still be paid the NMW if they are at their place of work and are required to be there. “Similarly, such time is likely to count as ‘working time’ under the Working Time Regulations if the worker is required to be on call at the place of work. This means that it’s against the law to ask employees to ‘clock’ during quiet periods but still remain on the premises.” Workers should be aware of these provisions. It’s obvious why the employers like this evil system. As GMB puts it: “This isn’t a proper job at all, but being on a bank of agency workers, with no rights, no guarantees and unable to plan their lives.” Security work has been particularly hard hit by the zero hours revolution. And as the union for security workers, GMB members and GMB workplace

SIGN up for the GMB eNEWSletter AT www.gmb.org.uk Bring these pages to life! organisers have spotlighted the excesses and are driving action by the union in the workplace and in a wider public debate. GMB has successfully challenged ZHCs in a number of companies, where the employer has agreed minimum hours so workers have a “default position” knowing just how much they will get.

tough fight But it’s a tough fight we have on our hands. The industry is highly fragmented, with many people working alone and on night shifts. Where workers are isolated, and communication is poor, it’s easy for them to be abused by management. Security is probably the worst in terms of exploitation, but ZHCs are also found in local government, schools, food processing, telecommunications, agriculture and some parts of manufacturing. And in the NHS, one Trust in south-west England has more than 1,000 people on ZHCs at all levels of the organisation: healthcare assistant, midwife, doctor, surgeon and admin worker. None have security of income. Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, has called on the coalition government to halt the spread of ZHCs in the NHS pending an urgent review into the potential risks to continuity of care and patient safety. “What we’re seeing is the casualisation of our health service, turning parts of the NHS into a temping workforce,” he warned. Reliable figures across the nation are hard to come by, but the official government Labour Force Survey calculates that in pre-recession Britain of 2005, there were

JOB INSECURITY Factory workers suffer from unfair contracts.

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75,000 employees on zero hours contracts, 32,000 of them women. In 2011 this had increased to 146,000, with 85,000 women.

tip of the iceberg These figures show a doubling of ZHCs since the bankers’ recession hit the economy, with women now more likely to be exploited by employers. And the official numbers are just the tip of an iceberg. They exclude hundreds of thousands of agency workers – who are not technically employees. The clear and present danger of exploitation from zero hour contracts has prompted GMB to back a call for a National Minimum Hours strategy to complement the National Minimum Wage, with GMB giving evidence to the Low Pay Commission. GMB executive policy officer Ida Clemo says: “Employers regard these workers as ‘flexible’, but it is GMB policy that if workers

“Where workers are isolated and communication is poor, it’s easy for them to be abused by management.” have a regular pattern of work over a fixed period then they must be offered employment on a permanent contract, not a casual one.” The security industry is traditionally a low-wage economy with long hours. In addition to this many sites are not GMB-organised sites, and there is a high potential for guards to be exposed to violence. As such security guards are SIA-licensed and vetted to high standards. The big players, with whom GMB has recognition agreements, fund the license with the cost repaid if guards leave before the end of the three-year license period. However, most guards who aren’t GMB members are on ZHCs and have to pay for their own license and training with no guarantee of work. The logical outcome of this cut-throat business practice was perfectly demonstrated during the Olympic Games, when security firm G4S – many of whose security officers were on ZHCs – failed dismally to produce the tens of thousands of guards required to keep the sites safe.

ON CALL Andy Burnham, Shadow Health Secretary, objects to ZHCs. That’s because ZHCs cut both ways. How can an employee treated badly in this way feel any loyalty to a company that treats him or her like an industrial serf? These work deals first reappeared in the recession of the ’90s. They didn’t guarantee any hours or pay. But they were a contract with that employer, so the employee could not work anywhere else, nor could they sign on for benefits. Where did they go afterwards? As soon as the labour market eases and better forms of employment become available, people stop accepting them and they become rare. But there are few signs that the labour market is picking up. Quite the opposite. And with the UK economy bumping along the bottom, most new employment is low-paid, part-time work. Hundreds of thousands of worthwhile jobs in the public services have been sacrificed in the name of austerity but the private sector only wants “flexible” staff who can be called out when they’re needed. This is a recipe for disaster, because dissatisfied workers are reluctant workers. Whatever the nature of the work, you need people who are committed to doing a good job. “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work” is an old maxim, but one that reflects the British way of life. A way of living now under siege from the zero hours mobsters.

get help from gmb ered a zero Have you been off ch hours contract? Get in tou ice off al with your region or find out more online at www.gmb.org.uk

www.gmb.org.uk 15

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from GMB All the news

GMB calls on UK councils to pay

IT’S A LIVING THING GMB secures a living wage at Barking & Dagenham council.

a living wage

The campaign steps up as some councils make the first step to get on board

pay freezes have meant that this progress has t’s nonsensical that council been halted and dragged back, leaving some workers’ pay has to be topped up by GMB members at the lower end of the pay state benefits. More councils are scale on £6.30 per hour. GMB is determined signing up to the GMB living wage that members on these lower pay rates, who campaign all the time, so check out the are forced to claim tax credits, free school latest list of the councils that haven’t at: meals, housing benefit and council tax benefit www.gmb.org.uk/livingwage to make ends meet will be paid a living wage. GMB is calling on all UK councils to pay a Around 280,000 – 16 per cent of living wage. In England and Wales local authority staff – would GMB wants councils to pay £7.45 benefit from a living wage. Jobs per hour. With a much higher currently paid £6.30–£6.38 cost of living in the capital, per hour include home help, GMB is seeking an hourly teaching assistants, rate of £8.55 from the 33 rts pe ex at The hourly rate th cleaners, grave diggers, London boroughs. The ed ne le op pe y sa an admin assistants, sure-start, campaign is being backed to be paid to have d ar nd sta caretakers, care workers and by Labour Party. A le ab pt acce school crossing patrols. sokesperson said, “Labour of living (£8.55 in London). You will find GMB living wage councils are leading the way in material at www.gmb.org.uk/ committing to pay a living wage livingwage GMB has petitions to their staff and subcontracted among council workers and is meeting with workers. As part of Labour’s policy review we the chief executives of councils and calling on are now looking at ideas for extending it elected councillors to vote for a living wage. further into the private sector.” At the time of writing, 35 councils in Council rates of pay have been pushed up England, including 10 London boroughs by GMB negotiators over time, but years of

£7.45

which will pay the higher hourly rate, have committed to pay a living wage. They are Ashfield, Blackpool, Birmingham, Brent, Brighton & Hove, Calderdale, Camden, Carlisle, Chorley, Croydon, Dartford, Deal, Derby City, Ealing, Enfield, Gloucester City, Hackney, Harrow, Hounslow, Hyndburn, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newark & Sherwood, Newcastle, Norwich, Oxford City, Preston, Sheffield, Southwark, Wirral, Wolverhampton, Barking & Dagenham, Greenwich and York. Scotland is leading the way by paying £7.20 from 1 April this year in all 26 Scottish councils. GMB Scotland intends to move on to the private sector contractors delivering catering and cleaning services to councils by extending the campaign to cover them too. None of the 26 Northern Ireland councils have signed up to the GMB living wage aims Only two of Wales’s 22 councils, Cardiff and Swansea, have signed up to pay a living wage of £7.45. GMB wants a living wage for members in the private sector too, not just in councils.

GMB wins a living wage of £9ph for members at Barking & Dagenham council in London. 16 www.gmb.org.uk

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from GMB All the news

How GMB makes life easier for you GMB workplace organisers are there to offer support and advice, so whether you are having a problem that you need help with, or if you just want to know what your rights are, call them! Don’t worry, Clive. Just fill in a direct debit form and I will send it off to GMB. it’s that simple.

One afternoon…

Jen, I Start a new job next week and my new boss won’t deduct My GMB contributions from my wages.

you have a legal right to be a GMB member wherever you work, Whether your Boss recognises GMB or not.

I Still want to be a GMB member. What can I do?

Yes, I saw your names on the list of staff who are leaving. I’ll be meeting with you both later in the week.

Thanks, Jen. If you give me the Direct debit form I’ll fill it out now. By the way, Helen is moving to the new depot.

The End

18 www.gmb.org.uk

Gavin Roberts

Great! I’ll Ask Helen to fill in a Membership Transfer Note. Then payroll can keep her GMB deductions going.

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

from GMB All the news

50 could be yours! VOUCHER

EXCLUSIVE TO GMB MEMBERS!

Refer a friend to British Gas for free insulation and earn yourself a £50 voucher!

ritish Gas is offering a FREE £50 voucher to anyone who refers a friend on qualifying benefits to receive free insulation worth up to £1,000. If you have a friend on any of the benefits listed in the table to the right, you could get them FREE insulation and a £50 voucher for yourself! The voucher will be sent to you once the installation has been completed. What’s more there is no limit on the number of people you can refer. As well as getting FREE insulation, the customer you refer will be paid £50 too and they don’t even need to be a British Gas customer to be eligible. The offer is part of a government initiative to help Britain’s homes become more energy efficient – and it is FREE to anyone who qualifies. The whole process is hassle free and is usually complete in less than a day. What’s more insulation can save your friend money on their bills. Loft insulation alone could save as much as £175 a year!

ND REFER A r,FtelRl anIE eligible To earn a £50 vouche British Gas on: friend or relative to call

0800 107 1683 ’ with your name, quoting ‘GMBMAG number. address and telephone

Who qualifies?

Visit www.britishgas.co.uk/smallprint or see the table below:

If you receive one of the following benefits: 1. State Pension Credit or 2. Child Tax Credit with an income below £15,860 or 3. A combination of the following: Income-related employment and support allowance, which must include a work-related activity or support component

Income-based job seekers allowance

A child tax credit which includes a disability or severe disability element

AND

A disabled child premium Income support

A disability premium, enhanced disability premium or severe disability premium A pensioner premium, higher pensioner premium or enhanced pensioner premium OR

Working tax credit and has a relevant income of £15,860 or less

AND

Has parental responsibility for a child who ordinariliy resides with that person where the child is: (i) under the age of 16; or (ii) 16 or over but under the age of 20 and in full-time education (other than higher education) Is in receipt of a disabled worker element or severe disability element Is aged 60 years or over

TERMS AND CONDITIONS To be eligible, a member of the household must be on eligible benefits call 0800 107 1683 or see britishgas.co.uk/smallprint for details. British Gas installs in mainland Great Britain only. Not all homes are suitable for insulation. Offer only applies to loft and cavity wall measures recommended by an appointed surveyor. Offer includes up to £1,000 of specialist equipment at the discretion of the appointed surveyor. Tenants must seek landlord permission. Offer only applicable to residential properties and excludes all other properties including commercial or part commercial premises. The Offer is subject to availability and subject to change or withdrawal at any time. A £50 Love2shop voucher will be sent to the Applicant and the Referrer within 30 days of completion of insulation installation. Employees of British Gas, members of their immediate family and British Gas contractors are not eligible for the £50 reward. Referrers may refer more than one Applicant. Applicants must provide proof of their eligibility for the Offer, including proof of receipt of eligible benefits as set out above and/or proof of age and proof of their residential address. Free insulation is limited to one per Applicant. Phone lines are open 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, 8am-4pm on Saturday and 9am-4pm on Sunday. Closed on Bank Holidays. Calls are free from 20 however charges from mobile phonesand other networks may vary. Calls may be monitored and/or recorded for quality assurance and compliance purposes. a BT landline,www.gmb.org.uk

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y b ver o ed l w o b be l ’l u yo

congress 2013 plymouth, 2–6 june

Save the

TELEVISIO

Watch it liv Congress Te on V! Go to www.gmb .public-i.tv

’ s r ine m m a h Dur

Dave Hopper, general secretary, Durham Miners’ Association appeals to GMB members GMB Central Executive Council is backing the future of the Durham Miners’ Gala, which was first held 142 years ago and is the biggest celebration of trade union values in Britain today. However, the cost of the Gala is increasing year on year and we need your help to keep this institution running.

MINERS’ MARCH The Durham Miners’ Gala is 142 year-old tradition.

Since our coalfield was destroyed 20 years ago by a vengeful Tory government, we have had no regular subscription to our funds from working miners. Our financial problems have now been further compounded, as we have to pay more than £1.4m in legal fees. Anyone who donates £2 a month or a one-off payment of £24 a year will become a member of The Friends Of The Durham

Gala

Miners’ Gala Society, and each year will receive a glossy magazine with photographs of the Gala and a report of the speeches. Donations can of course be more than £2 per month if circumstances allow, and one-off payments are equally acceptable. To join or donate, please contact us through our website (details below). You may also wish to buy one or more of the items for sale from the site. This year’s Durham Miners’ Gala will be held on Saturday 13 July.

please donate

la The Durham Miners’ Ga lp! he ur yo s need org www.durhamminers.

www.gmb.org.uk 21

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from GMB All the news

mother

care

Going to be a mum? Don’t miss out on your maternity rights

MB has worked hard over the years for maternity rights and pay. Here are some basic facts for new mothers:

What maternity pay will I get? If you earn the lower earnings limit of £107 a week and you have worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks before the 15th week before your baby is due you will probably be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP).

though you are not entitled to SMP, this is Contractual or Occupational Maternity Pay. You should look at your employment contract or the maternity policy to see what it says about maternity pay. There may be a requirement for you to pay some money back if you don’t return to work for a certain length of time.

Remember... The situation with your employer may change, so always discuss your individual situation with your GMB workplace organiser. This is a brief guide to your legal minimum rights and is not a definitive guide to the law, which may change.

Is it true that all women get 52 weeks’ maternity leave no matter how long they have worked for their employer? Yes! The first 26 weeks of leave is known as Ordinary Maternity Leave and the second 26 weeks is Additional Maternity Leave. Employers will assume you're taking the full 52 weeks’ leave. If you want to go back to work before the 52 weeks, you must let your employer know the date you will return to work. What if I decide not to go back to work? You never have to pay back any SMP. If you are getting more than SMP, or if you're getting payments from your employer even

Fighting for cancer GMB and Macmillan help with cancer in the workplace

Four in 10 people in the UK will be affected by cancer at some stage of their life. Many cancer sufferers say that work is important to them, as a job can help restore normality, routine, stability, social contact and income. However, Macmillan Cancer Support has established two hard facts: 91 per cent of workers suffer a loss of income and/or increased costs as a result of cancer, and 48 per cent of cancer patients are not given any financial support information. Macmillan is keen to work with GMB in raising the profile on what can be done for 22 www.gmb.org.uk

sufferers

working people suffering the emotional and financial effects of cancer. GMB, which has long campaigned on the prevention of workplace

elptial Work getn h has an Essen

Macmilla le at at & Cancer Toolkit availab /work, .uk rg n.o illa cm ma w. ww for or call 0808 808 0000 a t jus or rt po sup , ers answ quick chat on the issues.

cancers, will be getting involved to roll out the issue on a regional basis with the help of workplace reps.

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Bring these pages to life!

WIN!

this could be you! Your chance to win a pair of tickets to Glastonbury.

A pair of tickets to Glastonbury Just register at www.gmb.org.uk and update your profile to enter!

ancy going to this year’s Glastonbury festival, taking place from 26–30 June? We’ve got a pair of tickets to give away in association with the Workers Beer Company. For your chance to win follow these steps to update your GMB profile on GMB’s new-look website.

Step 1

• Go to www.gmb.org.uk • Select ‘GMB members login’ • Enter your GMB membership number

and password or create a new password

Step 2

Last issue’s iPhone winner!

Select ‘update profile’ and enter your: Email address Mobile number Home address

Rex Features

• • •

TERMS & CONDITIONS The winning entry will be drawn at random from fully financial GMB members only who register for/login to www.gmb.org.uk members area and update their GMB membership record with additional data before close of business on Friday 3 May 2013 . The winner will be notified by GMB. Prize is subject to availability. No purchase necessary. Entries from employees of GMB or their families will not be accepted. The winner must be prepared to participate in publicity arising from the competition. Winners’ names and photos may be published in future issues.

GMB member Mercedes Fernandez Regalado-Tivy won a brand new iPhone when she entered the prize draw in the last issue of GMB magazine.

she’s a winner! Mercedes receives her new iPhone from her GMB branch secretary Vaugha n West.

www.gmb.org.uk 23

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Be a life-saver from GMB All the news

GMB backs charity ACLT’s call for blood donors

here’s nothing more tragic than a young life needlessly lost, as Beverley De-Gale and Orin Lewis told GMB’s equality conference. Their son, Daniel, had battled for years with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia; a bloodrelated cancer. He had overcome many of the hurdles that a cancer sufferer faces, however at the age of 21; he tragically passed away from an unrelated illness. Aged eight Daniel needed a life-saving bone marrow transplant if he was to win his [then] three-year battle against leukaemia. At this time in 1996, there were only 550 donors from black communities on the entire UK bone marrow register. Sadly, for the black, mixed race and ethnic communities this translated to a one in 250,000 chance of

HAPPY FAMILY Beverley De-Gale and Orin Lewis with their son Daniel.

finding a matching bone marrow donor; compare this to the one in five chance for a white member of the UK population. Such statistics were the reason for Beverley and Orin forming the ACLT. For the past 17 years the charity’s few but hard-working staff and volunteers have recruited thousands of blood donors. There are now 40,000 people of minority ethnic origin on the UK bone marrow registers. This has improved the odds, but only to one in 100,000. It is the racially specific characteristics of bone marrow that mean compatible donors for black and mixed race sufferers must come from the black or mixed race population. GMB urges members to sign up to become a blood or organ donor, irrespective of racial origin,

but particularly if you are from a black, minority ethnic or mixed race community. Sufferers from these backgrounds are three times more likely to need an organ transplant but only one per cent of people on the NHS organ donor register are from this community! The ACLT (African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust) was inspired by Daniel. After his successful bone marrow transplant, he enjoyed a precious 12 years with his friends and family. To give other sufferers a similar opportunity, the charity raises awareness throughout the UK, to enable potential donors to come forward and make them potential life-savers. To join the bone marrow, blood or organ donation registers, or to make a financial donation, call the ACLT on 020 8240 4480 or visit aclt.org

and change Have fun the world Verity Jones on why you should join Woodcraft Folk

SERIOUSLY FUN Woodcraft Folk members use fun to make a serious point.

24 www.gmb.org.uk

You might have seen Woodcraft Folk at the TUC march in London last October. There were parents, children and volunteers of all ages in our group – having fun, but taking action on a serious issue at the same time. Woodcraft Folk is a movement for children and young people, which aims to help young people value the planet. We believe no one is too young to learn about social change, and that no one is too old to play games and have fun. We put all this into practice in our local groups, where all ages work together to make the world a fairer place. If you’ve got children, or if you want to volunteer for a youth movement that cares passionately about society and the environment, go along to your local Woodcraft Folk group. Find your closest group at www.woodcraft.org.uk Alternatively VERITY JONES email info@woodcraft.org.uk or call Verity loves being part 020 7703 4173. of Woodcraft Folk.

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RETIRE FROM WORK NOT G www.gmb MB .o

UPDATE from GMB All the news

Health and Safety reforms threaten to put Scottish workplaces back by 100 years

Rex Features x 2

r gmbrm g.uk/ a

Danger

Coalition Government At Work

he UK government’s amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill could put workplace Health and Safety in Scotland back into the Victorian age, warns Fraser Simpson, head of union department at GMB legal experts Digby Brown LLP. The proposed amendment to section 47 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 will remove an employer’s civil liability following a breach of various work-related Health and Safety regulations. This will make it difficult for many seriously injured workers to get compensation. Since 1898, the law has been very clear. If a worker is injured and their employer has breached Health and Safety regulations, that worker has a right to claim compensation. If the amendment passes, relatively straightforward cases will result in complex arguments about the state of knowledge of an employer, their inspection systems and what was reasonable in the circumstances. If a worker can’t rely on Health and Safety regulations, getting compensation could become more difficult, slow and expensive. The new rule would mean injured workers having to prove their employers were negligent, rather than employers being asked to prove they complied with Health and Safety regulations.

More than 5,000 Scottish cases could be affected if the new clause becomes law. Without compensation for injuries at work the costs will more often fall on the worker. This means workers’ families and the state will bear the cost of injuries at work, for the wage loss and for disability, instead of the employer’s insurer.

threat to safety Workplace Health and Safety regulation is supposed to prevent injury to workers. If people are denied any right to compensation where regulations are breached, workplace safety will be threatened. It would send a clear signal to employers that Health and Safety is no longer a priority. Although an employer can still face a criminal prosecution for breaching regulations, that is unlikely to provide the incentive required to maintain workplace Health and Safety standards. Without the sanction of civil liability, the cashstrapped Health and Safety executive will struggle to ensure adequate compliance. This will grind away safety standards. A recent survey by the University of Stirling has revealed that the majority of workplace deaths now occur in employment sectors officially excused from unannounced inspections by the safety regulator. Fraser Simpson said, “It is my belief that this amendment, if allowed, will erode fundamental Health and Safety protections for all workers, wherever they work. It will add to, rather than reduce business red tape, and will set back the cause of workers’ Health and Safety by generations.” www.gmb.org.uk 25

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injured at work ? www.gmb .or

from GMB All the news

g.uk/ injured atwork

d e r u j In

? k r o At w

GMB’s legal service is here to give you the support you need – and making a claim couldn’t be easier Who do I contact if I have had an accident at work?

Call GMB Injury Line

03333 216 219

a claim form. This will be forwarded to Digby Brown. If you don’t know who your GMB workplace organiser is, please contact GMB Scotland. Details for the regional office are on page 31.

Can I claim online? Your claim form can be also be completed online and submitted directly to Digby Brown at the GMB Scotland website: www.gmbscotland.org.uk

Who else can I talk to?

Who are Digby Brown?

Alternatively, speak to a GMB workplace organiser, who will assist you in completing

Digby Brown are personal injury specialists with more than 107 years’ experience in

26 www.gmb.org.uk

JUST A CALL AWAY Digby Brown’s team are on hand to help.

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This is a new, dedicated line for all GMB Scotland members to report injuries sustained at work. Just call to speak directly to an experienced claims advisor from Digby Brown Solicitors LLP, GMB’s expert legal advisors.

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personal injury claims. They provide GMB Scotland members with expert legal advice for personal injury and employment claims. Digby Brown help more than 2,500 people every year. They were ranked Band One and Tier One in 2012 by the legal directories Chambers Guide To The UK Legal Profession and Legal 500 For Personal Injury.

What happens next? Once your claim has been validated by GMB Scotland’s regional office and your GMB Scotland membership status is confirmed, a personal injury specialist from Digby Brown will meet you to discuss your accident and explain the process of making a claim. Members get their own solicitor from Digby Brown’s dedicated trades union department to advise whether you are likely be successful in obtaining damages for your injuries. You also benefit from the expertise of Digby Brown’s entire trades union department, who will push for the best possible outcome for you.

FREE ADVICE Discovering what you may win costs nothing.

How much will it cost? There is no cost to GMB members other than a small administration charge – and you will only have to pay if your claim is successful. The maximum charge is £200.

medical opinion. GMB funding allows Digby Brown to instruct the best experts, putting you on a level playing field with employers.

Will I have to go to court?

What if I was not a GMB member at the time of my accident at work? If you are a current GMB Scotland member, and have been for at least six months, Digby Brown can take on your claim on a no win, no fee basis.

What if a member of my family has an accident? Your membership entitles members of your family to free legal advice from Digby Brown. They can take on the claim on a no win, no fee basis and your family member will enjoy more favourable terms of business than those of non-GMB Scotland members.

How long will it take? Every case is different so it is impossible to say. However, Digby Brown pride themselves on providing proactive management of cases by qualified legal practitioners with knowledge and experience of handling personal injury claims. They control the progress of a personal injury claim rather than being dictated to by employers and insurance companies, which allows them to maximise the recovery of damages for GMB members more quickly.

How much money will I receive? The purpose of a personal injury claim is to put you into the position you would have been in had your accident not occurred. This allows you to recover damages for pain and suffering,

WHAT YOU’RE OWED Trained solicitors take the pain out of compensation. past and future loss of earnings and assistance from family members and loved ones. No two injuries are the same, so it is difficult to say how much your claim is going to be worth at the outset. Digby Brown will ensure that you are examined by an experienced medical expert, who will prepare a report on the nature and extent of your injuries and the value of your claim will be based upon that

Around 98 per cent of all personal injury claims settle without the need for a hearing. Sometimes, however, it is worthwhile to take a case to court. On average, when Digby Brown take a personal injury claim through the court process, they win damages which are three times greater than the offers made by insurers prior to that case being taken to court.

Can my employers sack me or discipline me for raising a claim? No. That’s against the law. At the request of GMB Scotland’s regional legal office you, as a member, will have access to free advice and representation from Digby Brown’s dedicated employment team.

Making a personal injury claim is easy with GMB all GMB’s injury line on 1 C03333 216 219 Meet with your own specialist 2 solicitor from Digby Brown Relax while they take care 3 of your claim www.gmb.org.uk 27

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ANTI-SOCIAL NETWORKING Think before you go online – sound advice from Digby Brown’s Douglas Japp

he rise of social networking is great for keeping in touch, but what you write could come back to haunt you at work. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you need to know about your employer’s social networking policies. Twitter can be particularly dangerous for employees because you are committing to writing instant thoughts that might be used against you by colleagues or employers. There are plenty of examples of employees losing their jobs after effectively admitting gross misconduct in writing. It’s madness. Writing about your workplace or co-workers on Facebook or Twitter could be sackable offences too. Check out your employer’s social networking policy – more than likely it restricts your use of social media during work hours and forbids you from writing about the company.

Sickness shocker A common mistake is people phoning in sick then tweeting that they have just hit 28 www.gmb.org.uk

a great drive on the second hole or started their second pint in the Dreadnought. Although you might argue that what you were doing was recuperation, it is unlikely to meet with sympathy from your boss.

Text trouble The simple text message is another opportunity to get into trouble using your phone. It’s easy to be in breach of your company’s policy for a whole host of acts. One instance is sending pictures of the more intimate parts of your body (shockingly, this does happen, with severe consequences). Don’t slip up by sending what you think are humorous texts to someone who finds them intimidating and offensive. As harassment

is in the eyes of those on the receiving end, you will end up with a warning or worse.

Home video howlers

As most mobile phones now have a video facility, it is all too easy to lighten the daily workload by videoing colleagues and posting high jinks online. The most likely result of this is you having plenty of time to create YouTube videos after you are dismissed for gross misconduct. Think before you upload anything to the internet. Ask yourself, “How would I feel if my boss was showing this to me at a disciplinary hearing?” Whether it’s Facebook and Twitter posts or inappropriate texts, consider your behaviour before you act. Similarly, if you have recorded something on a work device, remember that if it is put in for repair it may well be ET TWE IS LIFE recovered by your IT department. Think before you Happy social networking! type your updates.

Ditto for Twitter

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richard leonar d

speaks

c vision ti ra c o m e d s r’ e ic ff o Your political

The change our members need demands that we organise politically

orking as an industrial organiser for this great union over the last 16 years has been a privilege. Representing working men and women at their place of work brings its own singular rewards, not least of these is the comradeship forged with GMB workplace organisers, who are GMB’s greatest asset. Inevitably there have been setbacks, and sometimes we are defending rather than advancing the cause of Labour. As Nye Bevan shrewdly observed: “Progress is not a spiral. It is rather a kind of zigzag movement.” But GMB stands up to be counted, whether it’s pursuing a Living Wage for all, equal pay for women or equal treatment for agency workers. We haven’t just talked about equality, we have delivered on it. We’ve struck new recognition agreements, won Employment Tribunal claims and health and safety improvements.

work done well Negotiating on a day-to-day basis with multinational corporations right across

central Scotland, from East Fife to South Ayrshire, has been tough. But we have retained jobs that otherwise would have been lost, and secured new investment into often fragile local economies. In changing times we have stood by important principles, too, such as the right to organise and negotiate collectively, and the right of working people to withdraw their labour. In my experience this last sanction is rarely used, and even then not to grab higher wages but to prevent an injustice or to fight for equality. It is exercised when what is at stake is not the price of labour but the dignity of labour.

political action Since its inception GMB has understood that industrial organising will get us so far, but profound change our members need demands that we organise politically too. This is why, in an important gear change at the 2012 GMB Congress, delegates voted to shift more resources into the union’s political work. As a result, from now on as GMB’s political officer in Scotland I will devote all my time and energy to

building up the union, organising the movement and engaging with members on political campaigns. That means placing more demands on elected representatives and campaigning harder for trade union and employment rights, investment – not cutbacks – in public services and affordable social housing, and realising the vision of an equal society and an economy run of the people, by the people, for the people. At its foundation is a commitment to not only step up our political organisation and agitation but our political education too so that a whole new generation can discover our political roots. There’s no point being organised if we’re not organised for a purpose.

referendum worries Politics in Scotland will be dominated for the next year and a half at least by the constitutional question: should Scotland stay in or pull out of the UK? We held a series of consultation meetings in the autumn across the country to garner GMB members’ views. Would a separate Scottish state BECOME move us closer to or A GMB further away from the WORKP kind of society we want ORGANILACE SER to live in? Would it make www.g mb.org gmbwo .uk/ our goals of advancing the social and economic welfare of our members easier or harder to acheive? In the months ahead we will return to these questions, so let us have your views, and if you want to get involved in delivering our new political strategy email me on richard.leonard@gmb.org.uk As a GMB member you are part of the most powerful movement for change. The cause of labour is still the hope of the world. www.gmb.org.uk 29

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UPDATE

s e i t i l a u q E from GMB All the news

roundup

GMB Scotland steps up for equality Regional Equalities Conference The third Regional Equalities Conference took place on 27 October at Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) in Glasgow. Seven motions were debated and all were passed, including PVG – A Cost To The Employee?, Disability Leave and Disability Discrimination. Womens Conference The STUC’s 2012 Women’s Conference, held in Perth in November, heard GMB president Mary Turner MBE and GMB’s European officer Kathleen Walker Shaw as speakers. Black Workers’ Conference The STUC's Black Workers' Conference took place in October. GMB’s delegation took part in debates and all motions were carried without any issues.

Disabled Conference GMB played a key role in STUC's Disabled Conference in October. Women’s Council Of The Isles Margaret Boyd, Anne Dean and Annette Drylie attended the 2012 Women’s Council Of The Isles meeting between the TUC’s entire women’s committees across the UK and Ireland. The conference took place over two half-days, and is taken round the Isles to a different venue each year. Get active If you would like to become a GMB branch equality representative and receive training for this role, please contact GMB regional equality organiser, Drew Duffy via email at drew.duffy@gmb.org.uk

don’t keep it to yourself Did you know that in Scotland, more than 600 people are desperately waiting for an organ that will give them a second chance at life? And simply by saying the seven words “I’d like to be an organ donor,” you could save up to seven lives. Forty per cent of Scots have joined the NHS Organ Donor Register, but this needs to increase. After all, three people in the UK die every day waiting for an organ transplant. It only takes a couple of minutes to have a chat with your loved ones, or to spread the word at a GMB meeting. To find out more and to join the NHS Organ Donor Register, simply visit www.organdonationscotland.org or text LIFE to 61611.

new faces

Meet GMB Scotland’s two newest workplace organisers GMB Scotland’s two newest workplace organisers have taken up posts at Caledonian Produce in Bo’ness. Claire Morrison and Leoni Sneddon are starting their GMB@ WORK training and have already begun recruiting and organising members at one of Scotland’s biggest factories. The manufacturing plant, which makes foods for Marks & Spencer, is owned by Icelandic venture capitalists Bakkavor. Speaking to Insight, Claire said, “I just want to help and advise the workers when they need it.” Leoni added,

“I put myself forward because I’d like to help to make a difference to our working environment.” GMB Scotland organiser Richard Leonard said, “Young people like Claire and Leoni stepping up to help build GMB and represent their fellow workers gives the union a real boost. They are our lifeblood and they are the future. Working people are strongest when they organise themselves, so it’s great to see another two new young workplace representatives joining thousands of others up and down the country.”

“I would like to help make a difference.”

30 www.gmb.org.uk

GMB@WORK Claire Morrison, Leoni Sneddon, with Richard Leonard.

Caring and sharing GMB members raise £1,000 for Scottish children Members of GMB Scotland private care branch have donated £1,000 to Yorkhill Children’s Foundation.

Lorraine Linnie, branch secretary, Liz Martin, branch president and Harry Donaldson, GMB Scotland regional secretary, visited Yorkhill Hospital to present the cheque to

Upda your GtMe ProfileB www.gmb

.org Abigail Stein from the update .uk/ Children’s Foundation. Harry said, “This is a fantastic gesture. GMB branches have a history of working with local good causes and Yorkhill Children’s Foundation is certainly one which GMB is happy to help.”

Talk to the team! Did you know that GMB Scotland has a dedicated recruitment team that regularly travels throughout the country to engage with groups of employees? They can come and visit you at your place of work if membership is already present and seeks a wider base, or if your workplace has people who are interested in establishing a GMB presence.

The recruitment team will be happy to explain the many benefits of GMB membership for a more positive working environment, and will also go through the membership procedure. If you would like a visit from the team so you can hear exactly what the union has to offer people in your workplace, please call 01324 637 246.

GMB Learning Fund Do you have a group of eight or more colleagues who would like to take part in a short course in the workplace but are struggling to get the funding? If you are located in Lowlands and Uplands Scotland, GMB Scotland might be able to help with support from the Scottish Union Learning Fund. Contact walter.macadam@gmb.org.uk for further details.

GMB SCOTLAND

Contact GMB

We have one regional and five area offices. This ensures that members have easy access to a local point of contact. Please contact us with any queries at:

GMB regional Office

Fountain House, 1-3 Woodside Crescent, Charing Cross, Glasgow G3 7UJ Tel: 0141 332 8641 Fax: 0141 332 4491 Email: scotland@gmb.org.uk

GMB aberdeen Office

59 Dee Street, Aberdeen AB11 2EE Tel: 01224 582 367 Fax: 01224 571 125

GMB dundee Office

Kimberly Buildings, 38 Whitehall Street, Dundee, Angus DD1 4AS Tel: 01382 225 491 Fax: 01382 203 479

GMB falkirk Office

2/4 Glebe Street, Falkirk FK1 1HU Tel: 01324 670 676 Fax: 01324 638 576

GMB inverness Office 10 View Place, Inverness IV2 4SA Tel: 01463 233 088 Fax: 01463 233 124

GMB kilmarnock Office Congress 2013 will be held in Plymouth in early June and we are planning on displaying GMB branch banners in the main hall. If you would like your branch

banner to be displayed there, please contact GMB Scotland Regional Office, on 0141 332 8641 and the team will make the arrangements for getting it there and back to you.

9 The Foregate, Kilmarnock KA1 1LU Tel: 01563 574 455 Fax: 01563 539 101 GMB website www.gmb.org.uk