Since new Labour wiped out the British unions in droves, it is no wonder that the recent activities of unions in the recession have been met with some surprise, if not distaste.
In June, the Transport for London (TfL) tube lines shut due to industrial action by its workers, grinding the national’s capital to a halt. At Christmas threats of a strike at British Airlines sparked fury as Britons worried about making it home over the holidays – and now a further threat of industrial action looms. And who could forget the postal strikes at Royal Mail in October, which at the very least, delayed a freelance cheque coming to me for over a week. Or at least that’s the story I was given by my editor.
But whatever the working conditions on TFL, job cuts at Royal Mail or restructuring at BA – since the combined efforts of Thatcher and Blair – workers are expected to take it on the chin, get on with things, and get the job done.
The idea of an upstart union demanding better rights for its members at the expense of commuters and customers is simply not acceptable. And looking at the high salaries of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) leader Bob Crow and joint general secretary of Unite union Derek Simpson, the prospect of a longer commute to work on Monday due to rail strikes becomes even more infuriating.
Nowhere is this disruption of one’s daily routine considered more intolerable than in the UK’s capital, where even the suicide of a passenger on London’s tubes sparks an apology over the loud speaker for the delay to our journey, accompanied by derisive snorting and guffawing.
But despite these ghastly inconveniences, unions are necessary to the country’s labour force, and as a report on conditions in British factories has found, they are in serious need of strengthening.
According to an Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigation, thousands of UK factory workers that supply Britain’s largest supermarkets are subject to gross mistreatment, exploitation and physical and verbal abuse.
The report reveals accounts of pregnant women forced to stand for long periods and lift heavy objects under threat of losing their jobs; workers with bladder problems and women with heavy periods denied toilet breaks and made to urinate and bleed on themselves; and meat factory workers hit by line managers with frozen goods.
Out of 260 workers interviewed, a fifth reported having things thrown at them, being hit, kicked and pushed, and a third had suffered or witnessed verbal abuse.
EHRC director general Neil Kinghan told the Guardian yesterday, “We have heard stories of workers subjected to bullying, violence and being humiliated and degraded by being denied toilet breaks. Some workers feel they have little choice but to put up with these conditions out of economic necessity.”
Jack Dromey, the deputy general secretary of Unite added: “Supermarkets have driven down costs along their supply chain with tens of thousands of workers paying the price, suffering discrimination and unfair treatment.”
Unite has campaigned for better conditions for supermarket supply chain workers for four years, to little avail. Labour rights for British workers have reached a worrying low, and it is unlikely that this will improve as the nation copes with recession – under what is likely to be a Tory-led government following the general election in May. There is no doubt that the Bob Crow’s of Britain muster little public sympathy. But perhaps it’s time that Britons ask themselves why upholding the rights of the country’s conglomerates takes precedent over the people that keep them in business.
Posted March 14, 2010 at 6:24 am. Add a comment
Committing a crime is the easiest way to make headlines if you’re a teenage boy, as new research reveals that adolescent boys are most often portrayed in the press as thugs, yobs, and hoodies.
A report done by Echo Sonar on Tuesday shows that over 65 percent of UK national and regional newspaper coverage of teenage boys in the last year is crime or drug related, while less than seven percent focused on sport or education. Up to 85 percent of teen boys say they think the media portrays them in a bad light.
“You carry a knife because you are scared of other people, and you are scared of what the media are saying,” says Adam Bloomberg, 19, at a panel discussion about the report organized by the group Women in Journalism.
Bloomberg was expelled from school at age 14 and spent time on the streets during his youth.
“I don’t need to worry about the streets because I know the guys on them. But I’m f****** if I go outside my area,” he adds.
Up to 72 percent of boys surveyed say they have changed their behaviour because of wariness of other teens, and over half of them blame this on the media.
A student from the London Boxing Academy (LBA), a community project in North London for excluded teens, says he was angry at how he was depicted in an article published by the Guardian in June.
“It made me look like a bad guy” says Wilson, 16, who was described in the article as getting up from his chair and shouting at a teacher, “who do you think you’re speaking to? Its f****** over.” He was referred to by the journalist as “not an easy pupil”.
The article says the LBA students seem like “teenagers you would not want to meet on the streets after dark”.
The journalist that wrote the piece stood by her story, saying: “The report of the conversations with students at the Boxing academy and my description of the lessons were accurate. I have a detailed, contemporaneous note in my shorthand notebook and three witnesses, the teachers Tom Ogg and Carmel Cadden and a mentor who were all in the room at the time.”
The London Boxing Academy refused to comment on the Guardian article.
A literacy teacher at the academy, Rachel Dejong said, “All the students are great; they make everyday a new experience.”
The media portrayal of teenagers is “disgusting” adds Dejong. “The media are always so negative.”
MP David Lammy, Minister of State for Higher Education says what’s needed is more coverage of positive youth activities to balance out the reports on knife crime: “It’s not that journalists shouldn’t cover the fact that there are stabbings on the streets of London, it’s that they don’t dig far enough to find out the other things that are going on. So you get this relentless negativity.”
But former editor of the Daily Mirror and Daily Express Eve Pollard points out that newspapers publish negative stories about teens because they sell papers, and today’s youth are treated no differently than any other hot topic. “I think the press do skew the reporting of young boys, but I think the press skew everything. Newspapers are not a charity, they get bought in the millions because people want to read stories that shock, surprise and amaze them.”
Mail on Sunday columnist Suzanne Moore agrees. “It does sell newspapers to have a hoodie on the front,” she admits, adding, “I try to find positive spin, but the statistics on knife crime are real. We’re not making that up.”
It’s a problem to do with a lack of public space available for youths, says Pollard. “There’s nowhere for them to go, and if they hang around they look scary. Four hoodies standing around on the street look intimidating.”
Nearly 80 percent of the teenagers surveyed say they believe adults are more wary of teenage boys than they were a year ago. Youths were particularly unhappy with the way “hoodie” has become a symbol for teen aggression and violence.
“It’s just a fashion with the hoodies,” explains Bloomberg, who thinks most adults get the wrong impression.
Tom, 16, from the London-based Pavilion Study Centre referral unit for excluded youths wears a hoodie everyday because “it’s nice and warm”.
Tom believes that his hood is the reason he’s been thrown off buses when he’s had to search for his oyster card. “They wouldn’t do that to a man in a suit,” he says. “Not everyone wearing a hood is a hoodie.”
Samir, 17, from Bacon’s College in South London thinks the real problem is that the media is not representative of people from poorer backgrounds. “It’s not just the media. It’s society. The rich people don’t know what it’s like in the inner-city. They just don’t know.”
The names of under 18’s have been altered to protect their identities.
Posted March 14, 2009 at 6:39 am. 3 comments
