Unite calls on Miliband to "right the wrong"
of the Miami Five and to stop pussyfooting around with the Agency
Workers directive
1 October 2009
Speaking on the plight of the families of the Miami 5 - and on the forthcoming Agency and
Temporary Workers legislation in the debate on the 'Britain in
the World' report at the Labour party
conference on October 1st, Unite assistant general secretary
Tony Burke said:
On the Miami Five: "I want to remind this
conference about the disgraceful attack on human rights that the
USA is continuing against Cuba through the economic blockade and
through the unjust imprisonment of the Miami 5.
"This wrong is compounded by the outrageous treatment that the
wives and children of these five Cubans have suffered through the
denial of basic human right to visit their husbands and
fathers.
Our Foreign Office ministers should make clear to Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama that the refusal of visitation rights for
the wives and children of the Miami 5 for the past 11 years is a
fundamental breach of human rights, contrary both to the standards
for the humane treatment of prisoners and to a state's obligation
to protect family life. David (Miliband - UK foreign
secretary) – help us to right this wrong!"
On Agency And Temporary Workers Legislation:
"The government’s commitment to implementation of this
long overdue directive is welcome but what we need to ensure is
that we legislate now.
"And let us be clear, the new regulations have to be
watertight.
"The published proposals highlight just how many potential
loopholes there are for agencies to use to get round the
legislation.
"There are proposed exemptions for different types of businesses
and different legal definitions.
"Unite knows that employers are already employing legal advisors
to try and undermine every clause of this directive. In a trade
magazine recently an employment lawyer was advising employers in
the hospitality industry how to avoid the directive. It said:
'as you approach the 12 week limit switch their job from
receptionist to bar' as just one example.
"Another idea is to describe agency workers as 'trainees' and
some companies are looking to get round the legislation by calling
agency workers as 'self employed'.
"And we have hundreds of companies exploiting agency workers –
using them as low paid, replacements for permanent well paid staff.
It is for this reason we need to make sure that the new law is
totally watertight!
"So yes we know that only a Labour government would have gone
down the route of implementing this directive.
"But instead of seeking exemptions the government must aim to
include all temporary and agency workers.
"There needs to be strong anti-avoidance measures that make it
illegal to use dismissal or any other action to avoid the effect of
the directive.
"And we must have severe penalties for those that do not comply.
Let us make sure that we apply these basic principles of Labour
values to those workers in the UK who are amongst the most
vulnerable:
- Lets ensure that agencies and their lawyers don’t get round the
legislation
- Lets get fairness for agency workers
- Lets stop pussy footing around and get the legislation in – and
get it in now!
Email to a friend
Want to share this story? These sites allow you to tag and share links across the internet enabling you to share these links with friends and people with similar interests. You can also access your links from any computer you happen to be using.
