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UCATT at the TUC congress LolHunt. WilfFlynn. TomLannon. Thekeydecisions …takenbydelegatesattheTUC’s annualcongressinLiverpoolfrom 14-17September Photos:AndrewWiard PostedWorkers’Directive Delegates urged the Government to exclude contractors from engineering construction who discriminate against workers expecting to be paid in accordance with the national agreement and who class workers as self-employed in order to avoid paying National Insurance contributions, pensions and other benefits. Congress also called on the TUC to seek amendments to the European Union’s Posted Workers’ Directive and to UK employment law so that the movement of labour within the EU does not undermine national and sector pay agreements. Asbestos Delegates voted in favour of a comprehensive audit of the extent, type and condition of asbestos in all schools and colleges and called for all asbestos to be removed in a phased programme to be completed by 2015, with asbestos in the most dangerous condition to be removed first. Pleuralplaques UCATT’s demand for justice for victims of pleural plaques – scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos – was given full backing by the TUC congress. Delegates called on the TUC leadership to campaign: ● to persuade the Government fully to overturn the Law Lords’ decision on pleural plaques, thereby allowing victims to seek compensation and identify the companies and insurers liable for their injuries; ● to undertake work with supportive backbench MPs to find a parliamentary solution to the pleural plaques issue, if the Government declines to overturn the Law Lords’ ruling; ● for further research to be undertaken to better understand the physical and mental damage caused by pleural plaques. Housing TUC delegates backed UCATT’s call for action to tackle the shortage of high quality social housing. While welcoming recent Government announcements that councils will be given the go-ahead to build their own housing, the congress registered concern that the proposals remained limited in scope. Delegates unanimously agreed that the TUC will campaign on the following issues: 14●UCATTBuildingWorker●Autumn2009 ● to ensure local authorities are the primary deliverers of social housing, with housing associations and ALMOs; ● for further investment in local authority housing; ● for a significant increase in the number of council houses for rent being built; ● for a sustained new-build social housing project to be used to increase dramatically the number of craftbased construction apprenticeships, in order to address the industry’s severe skills deficits. Bogusself-employment There was unanimous support for a UCATT motion calling on the TUC to campaign: ● to have construction’s CIS tax scheme scrapped and to oppose all forms of tax status that create bogus selfemployment; ● for a large-scale Government crackdown on employers who don’t provide basic employment rights such as holiday pay, sick pay and redundancy pay for their workforce; ● to name and shame companies who cut costs by casualising employment, thereby cutting workers’ pay and conditions; ● to end the confusion that exists surrounding employment status so there are only two types of workers in the UK: employees and the genuinely selfemployed. Blacklistingandworkplacerights Delegates welcomed the Government’s commitment to introduce regulations outlawing blacklisting. However, they called on ministers to ensure that the regulations cover issues wider than blacklisting due solely to activities associated with trade unions. The same unanimously carried motion deplored the culture of law-breaking by some employers on the statutory rights of workers and their ability to flout the law with impunity. Concern was voiced that statutory enforcement agencies are woefully under-resourced and lack the capacity to tackle unacceptable employer practices. Israel/Palestine The TUC stiffened its support for the creation of a Palestinian state and for peace in the Middle East by voting in favour of a boycott of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights. Delegates condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza which ended in January this year with 1,450 Palestinian deaths and 5,000 injured. They called on the Government to end arms sales to Israel, which reached a value of £18.8m in 2008, up from £7.7m in 2007. At the same time, delegates condemned both the rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli citizens and the Israeli trade union federation, Histadrut, for supporting the Gaza offensive. TheUCATTdelegationinLiverpool. What they said Notimetoimpose Conservativecuts “If we were to take the advice of our Conservative opponents we would withdraw the support now available to homeowners, and do nothing to prevent repossessions rising to the rates of the 1990s. But I say to you to tell a new generation of homeowners who have saved up to buy their first home, and now face difficulties because of unemployment: ‘We’re going to do nothing for you now times are the toughest,’ is unfair and irresponsible: the wrong choice for homeowners, the wrong choice for Britain. And I say to tell the business owner: ‘We’ll wait and see if the strongest will survive but there’s nothing Government can do to help,’ is the wrong choice for business and the wrong choice for Britain. This is not the moment to cut apprenticeships; this is the time for Government to support them. So I can tell you that we will provide 21,000 additional apprenticeships in the public sector this year. And this is not the moment to withdraw public support for housebuilding but to step it up and I can tell you that we have set aside £1.5bn to build 20,000 additional affordable homes over the next two years, including for the first time in many years – new modern council homes.” – Prime Minister Gordon Brown Pleuralplaquesandthe maninthestreet “Pleural plaques is a condition dominant in shipbuilding
ChrisMurphy. JohnThompson. areas, in construction, and now in schools. Recently a Government official told us that this was not an issue that the man in the street was concerned about. Well, he needs to walk the same streets as my members! It may not be an issue on Hampstead High Street. But in Barrow, South Shields, Plymouth, and in other asbestos-blighted towns it is a crucial test of the morality of this Government In towns like South Shields – David Miliband’s constituency – pleural plaques are a plague. Everyone knows someone who’s got it or someone who’s had it – and someone who’s gone on to develop mesothelioma and sadly died.” – John Thompson, UCATT President ThreeUCATTdemands onasbestos “There needs to be training for all building and maintenance workers who could come across asbestos at work. Studies have found that the level of ignorance among building workers about asbestos is shockingly high. Many workers do not know what asbestos is or where it is likely to be found. Secondly, not only should all asbestos be proactively removed from schools, It should be securely removed from all public buildings. Thirdly, we want asbestos legislation to be amended, so that the duty to manage is extended to the internal part of domestic buildings.” – Lol Hunt, UCATT delegate (North West Region) Blacklistbanmust protectsafetyreps “Blacklisting should have been outlawed at the end of the last century. When the Government passed the Fairness at Work Act it was meant to outlaw blacklisting. But the necessary regulations were never introduced because the Government wrongly believed that blacklisting no longer took place. The Government recognises the error of its ways and is consulting on new regulations. But UCATT is concerned that the current draft is too narrow. The regulations will outlaw blacklisting for activities associated with trade unions. Yet many of those on the Consulting Association’s blacklist were on it because of their safety activities – blacklisted for being safety reps or campaigning against dangerous sites. It was sickening that in public the major construction companies were claiming that they could not do enough to make their sites safer, while in private they were blacklisting the very workers dedicated to improving safety.” – Chris Murphy, UCATT Executive Council member Outlawthisdisgusting practice “Let’s make sure the disgusting anti-democratic practice of blacklisting is outlawed once and for all, and today let us offer our solidarity to all those c o n s t r u c t i o n workers who have suffered because of the shameful activities of Ian Kerr [of the Consulting Association] and all those companies who disgracefully used his services.” – TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber HowBritain’shousing bubbleburst “Our motion strikes at the heart of the current crisis in Britain today: 1.77 million households on council waiting lists and almost 70,000 homeless families registered in Britain. Don’t expect the private sector to care. These are people that the private housebuilders do not bother to build homes for. So we need to create a new model of housing that is fair and delivers for everyone. In 1997 the average price of a house in the UK was around £50,000. By 2007 it was over £170,000 – a jump of nearly 200 per cent. Wages of course did not match this spectacular rise. People borrowed more than they could afford. Banks were encouraged to lend at unsustainable rates. The private builders sat back and milked the profits, while consumer risk grew and grew till finally the market failed. Was this private boom matched by investment in council housebuilding to create a proper mixed economy of housing? Not at all, despite repeated calls from the trade union movement for investment in council housing, the number of new council homes built each year could virtually be counted on one hand.” – Wilf Flynn, UCATT Executive Council member Falseself-employment isbadfortheworkers “The reality for the bogus self-employed is that shortterm financial gains are far outweighed by long-term disadvantages. They are deprived of key employment rights, have no sick pay, no redundancy pay and get no state benefits. Bogus self-employed workers have no pension provisions, and many of them spend their old age reliant on means-tested benefits. Also the industry as a whole suffers, because companies who don’t employ their workforce don’t train their workers. The consequence has been a de-skilling of the workforce. There is a massive shortage of apprenticeship places. Sites using bogus self-employed workers are less productive. Also, and this must never be forgotten, health and safety provision is weakened, contributing to the industry’s appalling injury and fatality levels. And the public purse is deprived of billions of pounds in tax and National Insurance payments, with the money pocketed by the bosses. Bogus self-employment needs to be eradicated, so that workers get the rights they are entitled to.” – Tom Lannon, UCATT Executive Council member WhyHondurascoup shouldnotbeignored “In the coup that took place in Honduras against the democratically elected President Zelaya on 28 June, military officers toppled the government, arresting and deporting the president at gunpoint. Since this violent coup took place, Honduras has seen the removal of its democratic government, violent crackdowns on demonstrations, repression of opposition groups and the complete subversion of the institutions of the Honduran state. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has produced a report documenting serious violations since the coup, including excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, attacks on the media, as well as several confirmed deaths and possible “disappearances”. This is no minor thing to be ignored. This is real repression taking place now… This is about protecting democracy and progressive politics against the scourge of military coups and dictatorships.” – Chris Murphy, UCATT Executive Council member UCATTBuildingWorker●Autumn2009●15
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Areyou oneof the3,200 onthe blacklist? - BWI

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