Victory for female council workers

By Louise Nousratpour
Wednesday April 28, 2010
The Morning Star

Thousands of women council workers are celebrating after they won an equal pay case which could lead to payouts worth millions of pounds.

An employment tribunal in Birmingham found in favour of more than 4,000 low-paid female workers employed by the Tory-controlled authority, including cleaners and care assistants.

The women, mainly represented by the Unison and GMB unions, successfully appealed against the council's decision to exclude them from bonuses paid to men worth up to 160 per cent of their basic pay.

During the course of the seven-week-long tribunal, the council had defended the bonuses as a genuine reward for productivity.

But on Tuesday, the tribunal judge comprehensively rejected the justifications as "a fig leaf" to conceal a desire to pay male workers "significantly more" than their female counterpart.

In a 160-page judgement, he concluded that Birmingham council "acted unreasonably" in resisting the claims.

The tribunal will now go on to assess the level of compensation to the women, which union lawyers estimated to be worth around £30 million.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis called on the council to pay up.

He said: "This has cost council taxpayers huge amounts of money in legal fees.

"This money would have been better spent on providing vital local services, many of which are facing damaging cuts."

GMB national officer Brian Strutton said the council had "known for years that it owes equal pay to their low-paid women workers but instead of paying up it's tried every trick in the lawyers' book to try to delay.

"But we've persevered and we've won."

Tuesday's major test case against Birmingham City Council is just the tip of the iceberg as 80,000 more equal pay claims are still outstanding.

Union officials said that 80 per cent of councils across Britain had already paid up, with 20 per cent still dragging their feet.

Mr Strutton said that Tory-controlled councils were the worst offenders as they "employ very expensive legal firms to delay their day of reckoning in the hope that the women workers give up or unions run out of money."

A Unison spokeswoman stressed that Birmingham council's behaviour was a "real case in point." She said: "Some women have died waiting for their claims to go through.

"Equal pay is not an option. It's a legal requirement and the sooner employers realise this the better."

Mr Strutton condemned some councils for using loopholes in the Equal Pay Act to slash men's pay to comply with the law rather than improve women's lot.

"GMB has fought massive battles over this, with the most high-profile one being the 13 week-long strike by Leeds City Council refuse collectors."

He identified "two fundamental weaknesses" in the law which he said must be addressed.

"Firstly, it says 'equal' when it should be saying 'equal up' to stop employers dumbing down pay. Secondly, the law is incredibly complicated and must be clarified and simplified," he argued.

Scandal of 'racist' health services

By Louise Nousratpour in Liverpool
Sunday April 25, 2010
The Morning Star

TUC black workers conference: Delegates to the TUC black workers conference branded Britain's mental health services "profoundly racist" on Saturday and demanded action to address this injustice.

Racism not only contributes to mental ill health among black and ethnic minorities (BME) but also heavily influences decisions about treatment and diagnosis, conference heard.

Opening the debate on mental health, Usdaw delegate Maureen Williams said: "Racial stereotyping still holds sway.

"Black people with mental health problems are far more likely than white people to be misdiagnosed, restrained, sectioned and given drugs rather than counselling."

She warned conference that the overrepresentation of black people on locked wards, often in overcrowded and squalid conditions, had led to a crisis that must be addressed.

BME people are 18 times more likely to end up in a mental institution than the national average. African Caribbeans are 44 per cent more likely to be sectioned and 29 per cent more likely to be forcibly restrained than white patients.

Unison delegate Sam Singh said: "The service is profoundly racist and research shows that employers are doing little to accommodate workers with mental health problems."

Speaking on behalf of the TUC race relations committee, Elena Smith warned that the recession had led to a sharp increase in mental health illnesses among workers, particularly those of BME background.

She argued for a more "holistic" approach to the illness, noting that too many BME people ended up on drugs treatment than effective alternatives such as psychotherapy.

Campaigners have criticised the government's New Horizon strategy for mental health as "out of touch" because it fails to recognise institutional racism or address lack of resources and workplace support.

Ms Williams, who also sits on the TUC race relations committee, stressed that unions had a "key role" to play in supporting and representing black workers with mental health issues.

"Union reps need to be equipped to deal with this and to understand the effects racism has on access to treatment," she added.

During a panel debate, Afiya Trust charity chief executive Patrick Vernon slammed the wholesale closure of community-based mental health services across the country.

Addressing delegates, he said: "You must encourage community workers to join trade unions so they can fight for their rights and protect the service against cuts."

Delegates demand support for Operation Black Vote

By Louise Nousratpour in Liverpool
Sunday April 25, 2010
The Morning Star

TUC black workers conference: The TUC black workers conference in Liverpool has called for action to mobilise the black and ethnic minority vote as a vital tool in defeating the fascist BNP at the ballot box.

Delegates said they were appalled by the BNP's electoral advances - both in Britain and the European Parliament - last year and attacked the BBC for allowing prime-time coverage of the party at taxpayers' expense.

The BBC sparked outrage last October after it invited BNP leader Nick Griffin, who is contesting a parliamentary seat in east London, to join its prestige Question Time panel.

Last Friday, the public broadcaster aired the BNP manifesto launch in Stoke-on-Trent, at which Mr Griffin claimed that "Britain is full - it's time to shut the doors" and remove all "bogus asylum-seekers and foreign criminals."

And the BNP election broadcast will go out all over England, Scotland and Wales on Monday.

Delegates stressed the importance of voting in the general election, reminding conference that the BNP electoral advance in the 2005 election was the result of voter apathy.

They called on trade unions to support Operation Black Vote's (OBV) campaign to mobilise the black vote against the fascists.

OBV has organised what is set to be the biggest political rally of this election, with more than 2,500 black and ethnic minority people are expected to attend Wednesday's event in London.

A recent OBV survey of the black electorate showed that, in the closely fought political race, the ethnic minority vote will hold the key to who wins the election.

Napo delegate Pauline Anderson said: "We no longer have the option of not voting because every vote lost is a vote for the BNP."

GMB speaker Warrinder Juss, while acknowledging people's frustration with politicians, stressed: "We must go out there and not only vote but vote Labour to keep both the Tories and the BNP out."

In an address to conference on Saturday, Runnymede Trust director Robert Berkeley argued that the most important tool to defeat racism and fascism was building "solidarity with our white working class."

Don't give BNP a platform, urges activist

By Louise Nousratpour in Liverpool
Sunday April 25, 2010
The Morning Star

TUC black workers conference: Black student activist Bellavia Ribeiro delivered a withering blow to arguments by some on the left that giving the fascist BNP a platform helps expose its poisonous ideology.

"We cannot debate away fascism," Ms Ribeiro told TUC black workers conference on Saturday, urging delegates to reaffirm their support for a "no platform" policy.

She demolished liberal arguments, supported by some unions, that the BNP should be given a platform under the principle of the freedom of speech.

"Our no-platform policy is not about stifling fascists' freedom of speech but to protect our freedom to exist," said Ms Ribeiro, who is the National Union of Students black students officer and anti-fascist campaign convener.

She warned that the BNP was "very active" in the student movement and reported an increase in racial tension and abuse on campuses in Stoke.

In her closing remarks, Ms Ribeiro urged delegates to take the anti-fascist message back to wider communities to ensure that "people realise that, if we don't vote in this election, the fascists will win."

Black workers conference opens with calls to fight fascism

By Louise Nousratpour in Liverpool
Saturday April 24, 2010
The Morning Star

THE TUC black workers conference kicked off in Liverpool on Friday with debates ranging from the disproportionate impact of the recession on black and ethnic minorities to institutional racism and the rise of fascism.

In her opening remarks, conference chairwoman Collette Cork-Hurst urged delegates to encourage more black and ethnic minority workers to join unions and become "active participants" in the struggle against fascism and for equality.

She accused mainstream politicians of treating black and ethnic minority communities like "the enemy within," blaming them for everything from housing shortages and unemployment to crime and terrorism.

"The backdrop of this conference is the general election and once again black people are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons," she said, referring to the main parties' crude focus on immigration.

TUC deputy leader Francis O'Grady said that rather than pandering to the far right, politicians should address issues of unemployment and housing used by the BNP to gain support among impoverished white communities.

In her conference address, Ms O'Grady expressed fears that planned cuts to public spending would further increase racial tensions and have an undue effect on jobs and specialist services for black and ethnic minority people.

She condemned all main parties for seeking to make workers pay for the crisis "caused by the greed of white, male City bankers.

"The TUC has made a clear case for the Robin Hood tax - a 0.05 per cent average tax on banks - which could raise billions every year to build new homes, schools and hospitals."

During a debate on public spending cuts, delegates warned that black and ethnic minority workers were bearing the brunt of the recession.

A staggering 48 per cent of black people and 31 per cent of Asians aged 16 to 24 are currently unemployed, compared to 20 per cent of white youth.

PCS delegate Zita Holborne said: "If the main parties are serious about tackling inequality and protecting services, they should address the £200 billion tax avoidance, the £70 billion tax evaded by the wealthy, and close the pay gap between white and black workers.

"They should also take a hard-line approach to employers who breach race laws."

Ms O'Grady called on delegates to use their vote "wisely" in what she said was "perhaps the most important election in a generation."

Victory for female council workers

By Louise Nousratpour
Wednesday April 28, 2010
The Morning Star

Thousands of women council workers are celebrating after they won an equal pay case which could lead to payouts worth millions of pounds.

An employment tribunal in Birmingham found in favour of more than 4,000 low-paid female workers employed by the Tory-controlled authority, including cleaners and care assistants.

The women, mainly represented by the Unison and GMB unions, successfully appealed against the council's decision to exclude them from bonuses paid to men worth up to 160 per cent of their basic pay.

During the course of the seven-week-long tribunal, the council had defended the bonuses as a genuine reward for productivity.

But on Tuesday, the tribunal judge comprehensively rejected the justifications as "a fig leaf" to conceal a desire to pay male workers "significantly more" than their female counterpart.

In a 160-page judgement, he concluded that Birmingham council "acted unreasonably" in resisting the claims.

The tribunal will now go on to assess the level of compensation to the women, which union lawyers estimated to be worth around £30 million.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis called on the council to pay up.

He said: "This has cost council taxpayers huge amounts of money in legal fees.

"This money would have been better spent on providing vital local services, many of which are facing damaging cuts."

GMB national officer Brian Strutton said the council had "known for years that it owes equal pay to their low-paid women workers but instead of paying up it's tried every trick in the lawyers' book to try to delay.

"But we've persevered and we've won."

Tuesday's major test case against Birmingham City Council is just the tip of the iceberg as 80,000 more equal pay claims are still outstanding.

Union officials said that 80 per cent of councils across Britain had already paid up, with 20 per cent still dragging their feet.

Mr Strutton said that Tory-controlled councils were the worst offenders as they "employ very expensive legal firms to delay their day of reckoning in the hope that the women workers give up or unions run out of money."

A Unison spokeswoman stressed that Birmingham council's behaviour was a "real case in point." She said: "Some women have died waiting for their claims to go through.

"Equal pay is not an option. It's a legal requirement and the sooner employers realise this the better."

Mr Strutton condemned some councils for using loopholes in the Equal Pay Act to slash men's pay to comply with the law rather than improve women's lot.

"GMB has fought massive battles over this, with the most high-profile one being the 13 week-long strike by Leeds City Council refuse collectors."

He identified "two fundamental weaknesses" in the law which he said must be addressed.

"Firstly, it says 'equal' when it should be saying 'equal up' to stop employers dumbing down pay. Secondly, the law is incredibly complicated and must be clarified and simplified," he argued.

Volcanic ash halts Iranian woman's deportation


By Louise Nousratpour
Tuesday April 20, 2010
The Morning Star

The volcanic ash blowing from Iceland may have temporarily saved Iranian woman refugee Bita Ghaedi from being deported back to her country where she risks imprisonment and even death.

Ms Ghaedi, who is currently being held at the notorious Yarl's Wood detention centre in west London, was due to be deported to Tehran on a BMI airline flight from Heathrow Terminal 3 on Tuesday night.

But a BMI spokesman has confirmed that all the airline's flights from Heathrow are still grounded as the volcano ash continues to cloud Britain's skies.

"This news gives us hope that we may now have more time to save Bita," said Diana Nami of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation which has been leading the campaign against her deportation.

"The Home Office is responsible for Bita's life as she could face death by stoning if she is deported."

Ms Ghaedi arrived in England in 2007 to escape domestic violence and threats of "honour" killing from her family.

She was taken to Yarl's Wood last Friday following a traumatising early morning raid by immigration police officers.

East London health workers raise cash for Haiti


By Louise Nousratpour
Wednesday April 14, 2010
The Morning Star

East London health workers sang gospel songs, recited poetry and displayed their Brazilian martial arts skills on Tuesday night to raise money for disaster-stricken Haitians and to let them know that they have not been forgotten.

The talent show, organised by the East London NHS Trust workers, took place exactly three months after the devastating earthquake which killed more than 200,000 Haitians and left one million homeless.

The Community Choir, made up of former and current mental health service users, won hearty applause from the 200-strong audience at Funky Mojoe bar in South Woodford.

But the Abada Capoeira UK group stole the show with their arresting martial arts performance.

Event organiser Sandra Griffiths, who founded the trust's pioneering Mellow campaign to improve the experience of African and Caribbean people with mental health problems, said she was "bowled over" by the array of support and talent.

"We wanted to do our bit to help Haitians rebuild their country," Ms Griffiths explained, adding that the £700 raised would go to the British Red Cross Society's fund for Haiti's victims.