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| Exploitation and lies in the new world of work Exploitation and lies in the new world of work | |
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| Felicity Lawrence’s piece (Trump is right: Nafta is a disaster. But US workers aren’t the big losers, 18 November) chimes with my experiences from the mid-1980s. My company, IBM, produced PCs in state-of-the-art plants in Greenock and Havant, for which it won export awards and its chair got a knighthood. Then, on a globalisation tide, both UK plants were shut, well-paid workers lost their jobs and manufacturing was moved, for cheaper labour, to Mexico – where, typically, plants were not owned by IBM but by sub-contractors which managed employees. These enforced 28-day contracts, regular physical tests, such as strip-searches, and medical tests (including pregnancy tests for women). Tattooed and long-haired applicants for jobs were rejected. Because holidays were conditional on one year’s service, nobody got any: one man was fired for asking for just one day off. Initially, pay was £70 a week, enough to live on, but it fell to half that. | Felicity Lawrence’s piece (Trump is right: Nafta is a disaster. But US workers aren’t the big losers, 18 November) chimes with my experiences from the mid-1980s. My company, IBM, produced PCs in state-of-the-art plants in Greenock and Havant, for which it won export awards and its chair got a knighthood. Then, on a globalisation tide, both UK plants were shut, well-paid workers lost their jobs and manufacturing was moved, for cheaper labour, to Mexico – where, typically, plants were not owned by IBM but by sub-contractors which managed employees. These enforced 28-day contracts, regular physical tests, such as strip-searches, and medical tests (including pregnancy tests for women). Tattooed and long-haired applicants for jobs were rejected. Because holidays were conditional on one year’s service, nobody got any: one man was fired for asking for just one day off. Initially, pay was £70 a week, enough to live on, but it fell to half that. |
| After leaving IBM I worked on a successful campaign to get IBM, Dell and HP to accept proper conditions for their sub-contracted workers. But then manufacture moved to China, where wages were even lower. As Lawrence says, Nafta, Ceta and TTIP all give more power and money to big business. They should be scrapped.David MurrayWallington, Surrey | After leaving IBM I worked on a successful campaign to get IBM, Dell and HP to accept proper conditions for their sub-contracted workers. But then manufacture moved to China, where wages were even lower. As Lawrence says, Nafta, Ceta and TTIP all give more power and money to big business. They should be scrapped.David MurrayWallington, Surrey |
| • Both the government and society are responsible for our move to the “new world of work” (Special report series since 16 November). Ask any delivery driver who comes to your door from Hermes or similar, and you will be told of the appalling conditions of their work. This need not have happened. These companies are in competition with Royal Mail/Parcel Force, and protection against unfair practices should have been given when the market was deregulated. But if every reader of the Guardian complains to their supplier when a product is delivered by one of these organisations, we might just start to change attitudes.David BecketNewcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire | • Both the government and society are responsible for our move to the “new world of work” (Special report series since 16 November). Ask any delivery driver who comes to your door from Hermes or similar, and you will be told of the appalling conditions of their work. This need not have happened. These companies are in competition with Royal Mail/Parcel Force, and protection against unfair practices should have been given when the market was deregulated. But if every reader of the Guardian complains to their supplier when a product is delivered by one of these organisations, we might just start to change attitudes.David BecketNewcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire |
| • Unemployment as officially measured may have dropped (Unemployment falls to 11-year low, 17 November) but let’s be clear: people count as employed if they do paid work just one hour a week or if they are self-employed. It would be interesting to know whether employment measured as total hours worked by the workforce has gone up – and then whether most of that is accounted for by the growth of the workforce. There are lies, damned lies and government statistics.Dr Brian CurwainChristchurch, Dorset | • Unemployment as officially measured may have dropped (Unemployment falls to 11-year low, 17 November) but let’s be clear: people count as employed if they do paid work just one hour a week or if they are self-employed. It would be interesting to know whether employment measured as total hours worked by the workforce has gone up – and then whether most of that is accounted for by the growth of the workforce. There are lies, damned lies and government statistics.Dr Brian CurwainChristchurch, Dorset |
| • I am self-employed: I set my own charge rates, I decide when, where and for whom I work, and I make my own arrangements with HMRC. I am perfectly content with my income. People working for Uber, Deliveroo et al are freelance workers, not self-employed. There is a significant difference. While I have no doubt that these employers are exploiting the vulnerability of their employees, I also suspect that they never expected anyone to rely on taxi or delivery work alone as a source of income, rather than as an intermittent arrangement as and when circumstances allowed.Michael HeatonWarminster, Wiltshire | • I am self-employed: I set my own charge rates, I decide when, where and for whom I work, and I make my own arrangements with HMRC. I am perfectly content with my income. People working for Uber, Deliveroo et al are freelance workers, not self-employed. There is a significant difference. While I have no doubt that these employers are exploiting the vulnerability of their employees, I also suspect that they never expected anyone to rely on taxi or delivery work alone as a source of income, rather than as an intermittent arrangement as and when circumstances allowed.Michael HeatonWarminster, Wiltshire |
| • Over the past 30 years or so there has been a concerted effort by the media, industry and government to change our vocabulary about industrial relations. When I was a shop steward in local government in the early 1990s, we lost personnel departments, to be replaced by human resources departments with their desensitising language. We no longer had redundancies or privatisation, but instead had downsizing and outsourcing. They mean exactly the same things, of course, but, accompanied by the Thatcher anti-trade union legislation, the change of language certainly did dampen people’s enthusiasm for any kind of industrial action. | • Over the past 30 years or so there has been a concerted effort by the media, industry and government to change our vocabulary about industrial relations. When I was a shop steward in local government in the early 1990s, we lost personnel departments, to be replaced by human resources departments with their desensitising language. We no longer had redundancies or privatisation, but instead had downsizing and outsourcing. They mean exactly the same things, of course, but, accompanied by the Thatcher anti-trade union legislation, the change of language certainly did dampen people’s enthusiasm for any kind of industrial action. |
| Fast forward to the present day, and we now have the “gig economy”, all part of the economic miracle of the Conservative government. The word gig suggests something vibrant or youthful, with its links to live music and computers. The reality is totally different. The gig economy stands for zero hours contracts, no holiday pay, no pension rights, no sick pay. Yet all media outlets use the term freely. Can we make a start at claiming back our language please – starting with the Guardian not using the term gig economy any more but instead choosing something like “sweat-shop economy”? Anyone in such a jobs can relate to that, as can the wider public?John HolroydThornhill, Dumfries | Fast forward to the present day, and we now have the “gig economy”, all part of the economic miracle of the Conservative government. The word gig suggests something vibrant or youthful, with its links to live music and computers. The reality is totally different. The gig economy stands for zero hours contracts, no holiday pay, no pension rights, no sick pay. Yet all media outlets use the term freely. Can we make a start at claiming back our language please – starting with the Guardian not using the term gig economy any more but instead choosing something like “sweat-shop economy”? Anyone in such a jobs can relate to that, as can the wider public?John HolroydThornhill, Dumfries |
| • Given the changes in the economy, shouldn’t the statistics showing the welcome fall in the number of the unemployed also reveal the number of the under-employed?Jeremy BeechamLabour, House of Lords | • Given the changes in the economy, shouldn’t the statistics showing the welcome fall in the number of the unemployed also reveal the number of the under-employed?Jeremy BeechamLabour, House of Lords |
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