Louise Nousratpour
Tuesday March 15 March 2011
The Morning Star
Government ministers came under fire today after they admitted that three in 10 families from ethnic minority backgrounds will be hit by the coalition's benefit cap.
The coalition plans to limit the amount of available household benefits to about £26,000 a year, with a single universal credit replacing the various benefits that families can claim.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said that 30 per cent of households affected by the cap will have at least one family member from an ethnic minority, which make up 20 per cent of the country's population as a whole.
The figures were obtained following an equality impact assessment (EIA), which also accepted that the changes would lead to some families facing homelessness.
Equality Minister Chris Grayling attempted to excuse the greater impact of the benefit cap on ethnic minority families by claiming that it was "because they tended to have more children."
He was answering a written parliamentary question from Labour's Kate Green who accused coalition ministers of presiding over "punitive" policies.
The Stretford and Urmston MP, who had asked the question back in January, said: "The EIA result is not very encouraging. It clearly shows that the Welfare Reform Bill has a disproportionate impact on large families - 80 per cent of those hit will be families with three or more children.
"They will be losing £93 a week, which is a huge amount for people who rely on benefits. Ethnic minority families will be hit at a greater extent than their composition of the population."
Ms Green, who is backing several amendments to mitigate the worst impacts of the Bill as it goes through Parliament, said: "The government must rethink its punitive policy."
Zacchaeus 2000 Trust chairman Paul Nicolson said that everyone who was poor would be hit hard by the welfare changes.
"The caps on benefits will be a big squeeze on big families, disabled people and the unemployed, whose numbers are on the rise.
"Their income support is already on a downward trend because of rise in food and fuel costs as well as plans to switch the uprating of benefits from retail price index to the lower consumer price index."
Mr Nicolson also questioned government claims that working families will be better off because of the changes.
'Shameful' BA back in the spotlight
Louise Nousratpour
Tuesday March 15, 2011
The Morning Star
The Unite union is seeking legal advice on whether British Airways is breaching sex discrimination laws after the airline forced a pregnant cabin crew to take unpaid leave.
The union revealed on Monday that BA bosses had put one of its members on unpaid leave because she lived too far to travel to London's Heathrow or Gatwick airports to perform ground duties.
It claimed that management had scrapped a long-standing agreement which offered some protection to pregnant women employees who had to be grounded from flying duties to reduce the risk of miscarriage and complications.
Cabin crew members are banned from flying as soon as they fall pregnant. Those living within 50 miles of Heathrow or Gatwick are expected to work at check-in desks or as admin staff.
Unite national officer Brendan Gold explained that over the years BA had recruited staff from all parts of Britain and Europe while closing its regional bases, forcing workers to travel hundreds of miles to their place of work.
"Yet it now intends to stop payment to pregnant crew staff members who are unable to commute to BA's last two hubs, Heathrow and Gatwick," he said.
"This is a shameful attack on pregnant women and a further example of a macho-management culture which is out of date and now seriously out of line."
The majority of BA cabin crew are women and will receive around £25,000 per year.
The loss of pay throughout a pregnancy will make having a child at BA prohibitively expensive for many women.
"Unite is taking legal advice on whether BA is breaking sex discrimination laws," Mr Gold added.
A BA spokesman insisted: "The company's policy for pregnant cabin crew fully complies with UK law."
London marks women's day
Louise Nousratpour
Sunday March 13, 2011
The Morning Star
Leading communist women gathered in London this weekend to celebrate International Women's Day as an important day for the working class to assess the achievements of the past year and prepare for challenges ahead.
An international panel of women representing several countries' Communist Parties brought greetings to a packed meeting at Marx Memorial Library on Saturday.
Their tales of struggle against gender-specific discrimination and violence were remarkably similar and their enemies the same - imperialism and neoliberal policies.
But a positive tone was struck by new Cuban ambassador Esther Armenteros, who told the audience that she was proof that gender and race equality could be achieved in a socialist system.
"I was born into a very poor black family living in a society where discrimination was rife and opportunities scarce," she explained.
"I was 12 when the revolution swept Cuba and it changed everything. Suddenly all possibilities were open to people like me. Today, there is equal pay and equal rights in our country. In some areas we have excelled compared to men to a point that the government has had to put quotas in in favour of men."
Ms Armenteros condemned the decades-long US economic blockade on Cuba, adding: "Can you imagine how much better women's situations could have been?"
Chairing the event Communist Party of Britain women's organiser Liz Payne highlighted the significant achievements women have made in capitalist countries.
But she dismissed claims by sections of the bourgeoisie that women should now hang up their marching boots.
"Recent reports from the UN and Unicef show that women's lives everywhere are still alarmingly bleak - they suffer violence and face economic and social discrimination," Ms Payne said.
Representatives from Sudan, Iraq and Iran all condemned their country's Islamic laws restricting women's rights.
Azar Sepehr of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women said: "Discrimination against women is enshrined in law in Iran."
Iraqi Women's League speaker Nora Mohammed Ali warned that the puppet regime in her country had pushed women's rights back decades by introducing regressive marriage and other anti-women laws.
"Girls as young as seven are forced to wear the hijab, though the government denies this is happening," Ms Mohammed Ali said.
Amal Gabrala of Communist Party of Sudan called for the women's struggle to be linked to the wider working class struggle: "Let us remember Rosa Luxemburg and the likes of her, whose memory and work continue to inspire us."
Representatives from the Bangladeshi and Indian communist parties also took part.
Sunday March 13, 2011
The Morning Star
Leading communist women gathered in London this weekend to celebrate International Women's Day as an important day for the working class to assess the achievements of the past year and prepare for challenges ahead.
An international panel of women representing several countries' Communist Parties brought greetings to a packed meeting at Marx Memorial Library on Saturday.
Their tales of struggle against gender-specific discrimination and violence were remarkably similar and their enemies the same - imperialism and neoliberal policies.
But a positive tone was struck by new Cuban ambassador Esther Armenteros, who told the audience that she was proof that gender and race equality could be achieved in a socialist system.
"I was born into a very poor black family living in a society where discrimination was rife and opportunities scarce," she explained.
"I was 12 when the revolution swept Cuba and it changed everything. Suddenly all possibilities were open to people like me. Today, there is equal pay and equal rights in our country. In some areas we have excelled compared to men to a point that the government has had to put quotas in in favour of men."
Ms Armenteros condemned the decades-long US economic blockade on Cuba, adding: "Can you imagine how much better women's situations could have been?"
Chairing the event Communist Party of Britain women's organiser Liz Payne highlighted the significant achievements women have made in capitalist countries.
But she dismissed claims by sections of the bourgeoisie that women should now hang up their marching boots.
"Recent reports from the UN and Unicef show that women's lives everywhere are still alarmingly bleak - they suffer violence and face economic and social discrimination," Ms Payne said.
Representatives from Sudan, Iraq and Iran all condemned their country's Islamic laws restricting women's rights.
Azar Sepehr of the Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women said: "Discrimination against women is enshrined in law in Iran."
Iraqi Women's League speaker Nora Mohammed Ali warned that the puppet regime in her country had pushed women's rights back decades by introducing regressive marriage and other anti-women laws.
"Girls as young as seven are forced to wear the hijab, though the government denies this is happening," Ms Mohammed Ali said.
Amal Gabrala of Communist Party of Sudan called for the women's struggle to be linked to the wider working class struggle: "Let us remember Rosa Luxemburg and the likes of her, whose memory and work continue to inspire us."
Representatives from the Bangladeshi and Indian communist parties also took part.
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