UNISON National Labour Link 23: Motion 12. Stop Bogus self-employment companies exploiting workers

My speech to Forum. "Chair, Forum, John Gray from Greater London Region, moving our regional motion on stopping bogus self-employment companies exploiting workers

 
Forum, the recent BBC TV documentaries referenced in the motion have exposed the scandal of many thousands of worker being exploited by unscrupulous organisations and employers.

 
People respond to direct sales adverts apparently promising good pay and even salaries but it turns out that these are in reality, commission only jobs, often with a culture of bullying and pressured working, forcing staff to work 60/70 hours plus per week. Long hours and commission only means many are cheated from even receiving the national minimum wage, as well as associated benefits and pension contributions. Of course with such bogus employment, the government is also cheated of much needed tax and national insurance contributions.

 
I will admit, many moons ago I tried out, like no doubt others here today, direct sales jobs, it was even then a pretty miserable existence and I soon began to look for other work. 

However, somewhat naively, I had thought that with the advent of the national minimum wage and recent trade union victories in employment courts on uber etc bogus self-employment, that such exploitation had been largely done away with. However, those BBC programmes show that such practices are alive and kicking.

 
What was particularly shocking to me as a community service group NEC member and housing worker, that so called respectable registered charities have outsourced their sales and fund raising services to such bogus employment companies, so are making money out of exploitation.

 
By coincidence, 2 weeks ago I was working from home in East London when the doorbell rang and I went down to the door and to my surprise, there was a young man outside our door holding a large tray of household cleaning products. He politely showed me an identification card and explained he and his girlfriend were living in a homeless hostel run by a well-known homeless charity and he said that he needed to sell a number of products to meet a target in order for them to stay in the hostel for another week. If they did not meet this target they would have to leave. I brought a brush which we did not need from him for tenner.

 
Forum, I am trying to find out more about this call but if this is true that a charity is effectively forcing a young homeless couple to go door to door selling cheap household goods to keep a roof over head or be thrown out – this is not just exploitation, it is modern day slavery and that charity should be investigated by the Charities commission and if proven, it and any others that carry out such practices should be closed down.

 
Forum, this motion calls on our national labour link committee to campaign to change employment law to ban “commission only” employment and for every worker to receive a living wage. Also an investigation into such practices but also Forum, also most importantly, penalise such organisations and companies that make money from such exploitation.

 
Forum please support this motion. I move".

"Newham Hero Honoured by the Queen on World Homeless Day"

Ajitha Sajeev awarded British Empire Medal in Queen’s birthday honours for services to Rough Sleepers.

Newham Council is delighted to announce that 30-year Council veteran Ajitha Sajeev has been honoured by the Queen for services to the homeless.Ajitha Sajeev, 52, who is the Newham’s Street Population Manager, has received the British Empire Medal for her work supporting rough sleepers away from the streets, and onto a path to permanent housing.

Ajitha, who is a very proud mother of two, was born in Singapore then moved from India aged seven with her family to set up home in East Ham. She began working with the Council at the suggestion of her mother, aged 22 and has stayed ever since, working in translation services, housing and finally the street homeless team.

She said of the award; “I am so proud and deeply humbled by this honour, but this work is all about the team and treating people with the dignity, respect, care and compassion they deserve when they are at their most vulnerable. This has never been truer than now with the extra health risks, and anxieties and fear that Covid-19 has brought.

“During the pandemic I have been proud to co-ordinate an amazing effort across various Council services and the faith, charity and voluntary sectors, to reach, and support hundreds of people into safer accommodation’.

“Before the Pandemic hit we had already done a great deal of work through the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Task Force, to get people off the streets and out of tents. When Covid-19 came the problems became more acute with the closure of Stratford Mall for public health reasons, with many rough sleepers displaced. Today I am proud to say we have no more tents, and no-one beds down in the Mall.

“It makes me very proud, and quite emotional when I see some of the people we have helped, some of whom have been sleeping rough for years resisting efforts to get them off the streets. We’ve genuinely seen lives turned around.”

Newham Chief Executive Althea Loderick said: “We are very proud of Ajitha, and delighted that her fantastic work has been recognised and rewarded. After 30-years at Newham Council she truly deserves this honour.”

"I am so pleased to hear about this honour being awarded to Ajitha"

This is brilliant news. Ajitha is a caring and competent officer who has done so much to help the most vulnerable in Newham.

Check out picture of Ajitha at the last rough sleeper street count briefing https://www.johnslabourblog.org/2020/09/newham-bi-monthly-street-count.html

Malvern Hills New Year Walks 2019. Joy & Sadness

Mostly off message but Gill and spent new year in Great Malvern, Worcestershire. We had never been here before but I had seen the historical railway poster (see bottom right) and thought it might be a good place to go walking.

It turned out to be a fabulous place to visit and go walking. We stayed in a lovely rented cottage in Great Malvern (much better value than anything on Airbnb).

Walk across the road and you start climbing up the hills which are "an area of outstanding natural beauty".  Our best walk was from Great Malvern along the ridge to the ancient celtic fort now called the "British camp". Then walk down across countryside to Colwall railway station and take train back home. About 8 miles walking and under 5 hours. Stunning views from beginning to end.

There are a number of good restaurants, cafes and pubs as well as an impressive church with beautiful medieval stained glass windows (and outside were Annie, the 10 year old daughter of Charles Darwin is buried. We actually stayed near where she actually died. I remember the moving film about her death and the impact on her father and science "Creation").

Another nearby sad sight but one bang up to date, was the flowers and messages in the Great Malvern department store doorway, (see top left) where in this prosperous, very middle England town, a young homeless man was found dead on Christmas day. 

Cathy come home: 50th anniversity tonight on BBC4

"In 1966 the powerful Cathy Come Home shone a light on the desperate housing problems gripping Britain at the time. When the programme first aired, the extent of the crisis shocked the nation – 3 million people were living in slums or stuck in a brutal private renting market. It was a far cry from the popular notion of the swinging 60s.

The film generated massive public support for Shelter, which was established only a few weeks later. We’ve been working tirelessly to make life better for those struggling with bad housing and homelessness ever since.

But while, thankfully, the slums have faded into memory, the sad truth is that this country is once again at the mercy of a housing crisis – and a new generation of Cathys have nowhere to call home.

Private rental sector is the 'new home of poverty' in the UK

Brian Robson

Urgent action is needed to empower local authorities to drive up the standards of privately owned homes

Read more

On this, the film’s 50th anniversary, homelessness is on the rise again. Every day at Shelter our advisers support families across the country who have lost the battle to stay in their homes. We see the heartbreaking toll that bad housing takes on people’s health and wellbeing, and the way it breaks up families and communities.

This is the tragic result of decades of failure by successive governments to tackle the root causes of this crisis and build the genuinely affordable homes we so desperately need. From people forced to live in unstable, unsuitable and often unsafe private rented homes, to the thousands of families stuck in temporary accommodation, right though to a generation of young people who have lost hope of ever getting on to the property ladder.

Everyone deserves the chance to have a stable home where they can put down roots and build a life for themselves, but today’s sky-high housing costs mean this is nothing more than a distant dream for many. And with millions living on a financial knife-edge, it doesn’t take much, such as an illness or a reduction in working hours, to tip a family into the downward spiral towards homelessness.

W​e need nothing short of a wholesale review of housing policy​ after Brexit

Bob Kerslake

The report by the House of Lords economic affairs committee should be required reading for the incoming housing minister, Gavin Barwell

Read more

But if our history tells us anything, it’s that together we can make a difference. The new government has a chance to turn things around, by committing to building homes that people on ordinary incomes can afford to rent or buy, and strengthening the welfare safety net that is there to catch those who fall on hard times.

Shelter will continue to fight for everyone to have a safe, secure and affordable place to call home and will be there to support those who have lost the battle to keep a roof over their heads, for as long as we are needed. But ultimately, I hope we won’t still be here in another 50 years.

For the sake of future generations we cannot make this someone else’s problem. Together, we all face the consequences when thousands of families and children grow up in homes that are simply not good enough. And together, we can fix it.

• Cathy Come Home will be screened tonight at 10pm on BBC4

Why is Housing the dog that never has its political day?

It was pretty depressing to read "Inside Housing" last week and see that housing is not in the voters top 10 priorities for the general election.

For someone who works in social housing and whose case work as a Councillor is mainly about overcrowding or homelessness, it seems very strange that "housing" is not a top election issue.

This is not just a "London thing". I'm now back from seasonable breaks in North Wales and Lincolnshire where both my sisters have a mid 20's adult "child" living with them because it is too expensive to rent or buy. Another nephew in Ipswich is also still at home saving up to buy aged 30.

So why is there this apparent lack of political interest?

There is an argument that if you are adequately housed then its "I'm all right Jack" and you are simply not that interested in homelessness or poor quality housing.

I'm sure that this is true for some but I think that the deeper real problem is that people no longer believe it is the role of the state to ensure that its people are adequately housed in secure, decent and affordable homes.  Instead housing is treated differently than say the NHS and seen by many as the responsibility of individuals and families.

This is a political problem but a problem that will be eventually fixed. See the chart above (double click to bring up details) which I think illustrates the scale of the housing crisis and how we are in a bubble that will eventually burst.

Since 1969 the supply of housing has crashed. In particular the supply of council housing. Neither private builders nor Housing Associations have taken up the slack. At the same time the price of housing has gone up and up. This cannot continue and something has got to give. Once this bubble has burst housing will become a political priority again. The role of councils is tackling this crisis will be critical.

We have to increase the supply of housing that people can afford and we have to control rents. To increase the supply of truly affordable housing somebody will have to subsidise it. Cross subsidy, freeing public and private land banks and allowing greater freedom to borrow is all well and good. We should not fool anyone that the scale of the crisis is such that it will need money. That money will have to come from the state as it takes up its traditional role again to make sure its people are decently housed. 

 Hat tip IPIN for chart.

Legal aid cuts - will you please help?

Great post by Ellie on Shelter Website about the slashing by this government of the legal aid budget.

"YouGov polling released today shows that over 50% of people feel that it should be possible to claim legal aid to pay for legal advice and representation if faced with eviction. At a time when so many people are struggling financially and are at risk of losing their home, Shelter is deeply concerned by the most recent legal aid consultation which will make this harder.

As described previously in this post, the government is proposing a worrying set of changes which will leave those facing immediate homelessness with limited access to support. Here is a typical scenario of someone who turns to Shelter for help:

• A family is faced with the horrifying prospect of homelessness. This can happen surprisingly quickly, as a small thing – like job loss – can rapidly create a spiral that leads to arrears and possession proceedings. They approach their local council to ask for help.
• Despite their legal obligation to find the family a place to stay, the local authority refuses. In desperate circumstances the family turns to Shelter for help, because they don’t know where they’ll be sleeping that night or the next.
• Shelter advisors ask council officers to reconsider but the local authority sticks to their guns, so Shelter issues a Judicial Review. At which point either the local authority concede and accommodate the family, or the Court issues an emergency injunction forcing them to do so. The family now have a roof over their heads and are safe for the night so the Judicial Review is withdrawn.

The government’s new proposals would remove the funding for a case like this; where permission to proceed with the Judicial Review (JR) is not granted by a judge. We describe the consequences of this in a letter to the Guardian. While it’s true that a significant number of JRs are either refused permission or withdrawn, this is because many cases, like the one outlined above, are settled in favour of the claimant before the case needs to go that far. The effect of these proposals is to remove funding from cases that are too strong, rather than too weak.

Under other aspects of the changes, many other people will not be eligible for legal aid at all, regardless of how desperate their situation. The proposals demand people prove they have lived in the UK for 12 months – even if they are British citizens, refugees, victims of trafficking or destitute children.

According to the Lord Chancellor, these reforms are driven by two key factors: reducing cost, and improving public confidence. In his Ministerial Foreword, the Lord Chancellor says expenditure on legal aid has “spiralled out of control”. In fact, expenditure has fallen by 25% since its historic peak a decade ago.

In addition, successive opinion polls, like the one today, have found widespread public support for legal aid.  Perhaps in recognition that it is a vital safety net, and that most of us are only a short step – loss of a job, a sudden serious illness, eviction from rented accommodation – from needing it ourselves. In May 2013, a Comres poll for the Bar Council found that 68% agreed that “at less than 0.5% of annual government spending, legal aid is a worthwhile investment in our basic freedoms” and only 11% disagreed.

Every night families across the UK turn to organisations for help, including around 15,000 who approach us a year under legal aid contracts. We are calling on the Minister to abandon these proposals so those families who find themselves homeless can find the defence they need to secure a safe place to stay that night.

The consultation closes today, see our consultation response for more info on the issue"

(sign the e-petition to Save UK Justice here)
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London Marathon 2012 WK 20: Running past Brighton Homeless

This post is a little late but the training run of Week 20 was along Brighton Sea front last Sunday morning before the UNISON Community conference.  It was only a 30 minute run towards Hove and back but you cannot beat running alongside the sea side when it is cold, damp and windy. Especially if you are trying to get rid of a sore head from the night before.

But what was not at all good was the number of homeless men I ran past sleeping rough in Promenade shelters and shop doorways. Some of them looked very, very young. I've slept outdoors in winter when I was younger but that was usually wearing waterproof clothing in proper tents with warm sleeping bags and gas cookers. The relatively large number (I think 5) of homeless men (didn't see any women) sleeping rough along the beach looked tired, cold, wet, dishevelled and frankly miserable.

I was conscious that I was at a housing related conference, staying in a nice hotel, looking foreword to a hot shower, clean clothes and cooked breakfast after my completely self indulgent run.

While I hope the political motion at the conference about greater income equality may do some good in the long term in the meanwhile I am glad that I will be running the London Marathon for a charity set up to prevent young people becoming homeless and helping them if they do. Check out "Alone in London". Click here to sponsor me on the Justgiving website.

The Death of Social Housing

It seems that not everyone is as dismayed as I am at today's announcement by Tory Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, that the statutory homeless and vulnerable will be forced into high cost, insecure, unregulated private rental accommodation.

Rachman may be dead but his spirit lives on amongst those minority of criminal landlords who just see the homeless as cash cows to be ruthlessly exploited.

Not only that but we now find that tenants may be evicted from their homes if their incomes rise during their new fixed term tenancies.

So - no more mixed communities then; just ghettos of the disabled, the unemployed and the  poverty stricken.

To complete the misery check out Hammersmith & Fulham Labour Group Leader, Stephen Cowan's report on the future "Housing Benefits Homeless Tsunami?" here

Last month I blogged about the End of Social Housing here following the decision to end capital grants for new build and instead depend on near market rents for funding.

Today though is definitely its death nail. We will have to campaign hard for its rebirth.