10 Informed


News Update


Give freelances the bucket and spade


System’s racist DNA


Radical black politics needs to find its own voice, Professor Kehinde Andrews told his audience at the annual Claudia Jones lecture. He reminded an intent crowd at London’s Hallam Centre of Jones’ words: “people without a voice are like lambs to the slaughter”. “Radical and liberal politics diverge in their analysis of issues like Grenfell”, said Andrews. “Liberals see solvable problems, radicals the product of a system that has racism in its DNA.” He recalled Jones’ focus on the


exploitation of black women. “She was ahead of her time identifying intersectionality. “Fiſty years ago we were on the


Tousands of media freelances are legally entitled to holiday pay they are not claiming. A new NUJ campaign aims to encourage more to exercise their rights. Te initiative was inspired by Scotsman casual David Walsh’s case. A tribunal awarded him £8,360 based on his right to holiday pay. He had asked for holiday pay on several occasions, but was refused on the grounds that he was self-employed. Te company relied on its standard freelance contract, which states that a freelance worker is self-employed and an independent contractor. Tis did not accurately reflect the nature of the working relationship, ruled the tribunal. National Freelance organiser Pamela


Morton said: “Te proportion of freelances in our industry is greater than at any time, and many are denied holiday pay to which they are legally entitled. In court, the NUJ has secured holiday pay for numerous casuals and other regular freelances. We will continue to pursue such cases when they arise. More than


80 years aſter workers won the right to holiday pay, how much beter it would be if media companies accepted their responsibilities and gave those who diligently apply their talents the paid rest they deserve.”


Almost nine in 10 of the NUJ’s


freelance members are not given holiday pay, a union survey has revealed. However, many freelances and casuals are entitled to paid leave in law. In the UK, workers are entitled to paid holiday of 5.6 weeks a year, equivalent to 28 days for someone on a five-day week. Many media workers are oſten labelled as “casual” or “self-employed”, but work in ways that gives them “worker” status. Tis can apply if: most of your work is for one organisation (but you could still be eligible if you work for multiple organisations); you work under contract – whether its writen or not; you do workplace shiſts, or someone else controls when and how you work. Te latest NUJ members’ survey shows that 88 per cent of freelance union members did not receive holiday pay.


precipice of a revolution. [Since then] we have all been deluded into thinking there is no alternative while some have been incorporated in to the system,” said the professor. Te coming election did not leave the Birmingham City University academic feeling optimistic. “Racial inequality is embedded in Britain,” he said. “Tis election is about how you share the spoils of empire. We are going to see [in this election] from Labour, a really quite racist, anti-immigration stance. Labour has always had a racist, anti- immigration stance.”


He also criticised British socialist shibboleths. “Te NHS is a properly colonial institution. It was born out of colonialism and it is deeply racist in how it functions.” And while promoting a global


view, Andrews saw litle hope in the Caribbean. “Jamaica is a failed project sustained by diaspora remitances.” Keep alive the memory of Jones’ actions as a radical activist, he urged. Watch a video of the lecture here: htps://tinyurl.com/tpqn98u


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