TUC: Delivering workplace justice - BECTU comments

25 February 2008

  1. BECTU's response to Delivering Workplace Justice does not attempt to address all of the issues raised in the paper, of which we are generally supportive. Our comments focus only on those issues of particular significance to our own members. These are set out below.

    2. Enforcement

  2. BECTU is generally supportive of the paper's arguments for strengthening the enforcement system. We have particular concerns in respect of the apparent current lack of resources (and therefore activity) of the HMRC National Minimum Wage Compliance Unit (in respect of unlawful 'deferred pay' arrangements for our freelance members in the independent film and television production sector) and of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (in respect of our members - especially film/TV extras - working through agents in the entertainment sector).
  3. However, like the TUC, we would only support the proposal for a single enforcement agency if the conditions outlined in paragraphs 3.16 of the paper were guaranteed.

    4. Licensing

  4. We support, in principle, the proposal for licensing to be extended to cover the whole of the agency sector (as set out in paragraph 3.59). We would particularly want this coverage to include the entertainment sector as a priority sector alongside construction and hospitality. There are significant numbers of vulnerable workers seeking work through agencies in this sector. Among our own membership, this especially applies to film/TV extras and young workers/new entrants. (See BECTU submission to DTI on Vulnerable Workers and to Commission on Vulnerable Employment).

    5. Safety representation

  5. We specifically support the arguments for roving safety reps (paragraph 4.19) and for the extension of safety reps' rights to the self-employed (paragraph 4.20).
  6. In relation to both these issues, we have an additional proposal to include a reference to BECTU in Regulation 8 of the SSRC Regulations (which currently refer to Equity and MU). This would rectify an anomaly in the current system. The argument is outlined in our submission to a HSC consultation on Improving Worker Involvement.

    7. Employment status

  7. We have set out our own views on employment status on a number of occasions - see submission to DTI Consultation on Employment Status (especially paragraph 25) and response to EC Green Paper on Labour Law (especially paragraphs 15-21).
  8. We are wary of the use of the term 'genuine self-employment' (paragraph 5.9) - since this has been in the past used as a category to incorporate (and thereby exclude from access to employment rights) those self-employed freelances who we believe qualify as economically-dependent workers.
  9. We would prefer an emphasis on developing a new and inclusive definition of 'worker' encompassing all economically dependent individuals; together with a statutory presumption of 'worker' status, with the burden of proof on the employer to demonstrate that this is not the case.
  10. We appreciate the emphasis (in the key recommendations) on statutory holiday entitlements. However, in a long hours sector such as ours, we believe the emphasis should be broadened to incorporate working time rights as a whole (thereby also including issues concerning daily and weekly hours).
Last updated 3 March 2008