BOGUS SELF-EMPLOYMENT/LEGAL WIN ‘Game changer’ result
Unite has won a ground breaking legal victory over “umbrella employment” firms that exploit thousands of workers through bogus self-employment.
A tribunal ruled in an appeal case in February that Unite member Russ Blakely, a pipe fitter at Broadmoor Hospital, was a staff member rather than a self-employed contractor.
With Unite’s support, Blakely took the case before a tribunal after his employer, a payroll company acting as a middleman for an NHS contractor and a recruitment agency, denied him holiday pay and
NHS
unlawfully took employers’ national insurance contributions from his wages.
Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett hailed the ruling saying, “The fact the Employment Agency Tribunal held that a worker could be jointly employed by two organisations is a game changer in the campaign against bogus self- employment.
“Unite will be ensuring that its findings are fully utilised to ensure that other workers are not denied their basic employment rights.”
Find out more HERE
‘Umbrellas’
defeat win – Unite’s Russ Blakely
Find out more HERE Unite celebrates birthday NHS
The NHS, a model for health justice across the globe, will this year celebrate its 70th birthday and Unite has a host of events planned.
Each month this year, Unite will pay
tribute to the many NHS professional groups within the union.
In April, for example, those who work in support services will be celebrated. In May, Unite will put the spotlight on the
contributions of pharmacists, while in June, ambulance workers will be recognised for the work they’ve done over the decades, among other groups in other months.
Watch out too for national and local events on the NHS’ birthday on July 7. “For seven decades, the health service has seen a number of ups and downs and reforms, but its founding principle – free access at the point of use – has remained, thanks to the hard work of staff, unions, politicians and activists who’ve stood up to defend it,” said Unite head of health Sarah Carpenter.
“As the NHS faces the worst winter crisis it has ever seen under extreme government underfunding, as staff pay has plummeted each year in real terms over the last decade; and as creeping privatisation has fragmented services beyond recognition, there is a sense that this founding principle may now be under threat – that the NHS’ challenges today are greater than they’ve ever been.
Celebrate – see
unitetheunion.org later this year for more
“That’s why defending – and celebrating – the NHS this year has never been so important.”
See page 34 9 uniteWORKS Spring 2018
Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas
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