Here’s Labour’s 2019 Manifesto … Download … …
Health and Safety
I have just done the Health & Safety at Work course. …
I’ll take the high road …
On a high note, I am glad this week’s election campaigning has ended with some serious policy announcements by Labour, on free internet involving the renationalisation of parts of BT, by John McDonnell and also by Jeremy and earlier in the week, free life long access to higher education led by Angela Rayner. The Manifesto will be agreed tomorrow so let’s hope we can keep this on a high note. It’s quite hard because so many people want to see the election in the gutter.
I have a problem because it’s so easy and not always unamusing. Oh OK! I have to go there! … …
You gotta laugh (or not!)
I had reason to look at a YouTube compilation of what passed for comedy when I was growing up, in the Seventies. I was shocked at how poor it was; I actually saw very little of it. One reason for this was that we had only one TV in the house and my parents controlled the channel selector switch, there was no catch-up technology. Some of what we watched, and more importantly didn’t watch may have been based on their cultural aspirations; certainly we never had “The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club” on in our house, or in any house in the street; I grew up in, in Ruislip, not a hot house of working class or socialist culture. …
Help Labour win!
We have a General Election coming, here’s what you need or can do to get involved. Help Labour return Vicky Foxcroft as a Labour MP in Lewisham Deptford. The timetable of events is here, on Lewisham Council’s Web site.
- If not on the electoral roll, register to vote before the 27th November i.e , here…, I didn’t know you could vote if homeless, but it seems you can, If you can’t provide an address, you are advised to contact your local Electoral Registration Office i.e. Lewisham Council for advice before the 27th Nov.
- Register for a postal vote here …, before 17:00 pm the 26th Nov; you’ll need a printer
- You may apply for a proxy vote until 4th Dec.
- Join us, in Lewisham Deptford on the doorstep, find out where & when here …,, we also run phone banks for those who can’t or don’t want to knock on doors, contact us via this web form.
- Put a poster, or posters up in your window, or garden, tell us here …, you’ll need to say that you want a poster and tell us where to deliver it.
- Donate to Labour’s campaign in Deptford here …
- Join the Party here …
- Donate to the national party here…
LP Conference and CLP delegate power
I wrote an analysis of CLP voting power at Conference and published it on my wiki; small Parties are disproportionately powerful given their membership, but a CLP frequency distribution would help to truly understand what might happen. …
So this is Christmas
So it’s a winter election! Will it work for Labour?
The polls are both volatile and have statistically biased methodologies. Some are suggesting a close election with Labour as the single largest party, others have the Tories with a large majority and Labour losing many seats. The good news is that John Curtice is in the former group.
I now await the manifesto. …
Labour supports the result of the referendum?
We hear some Lexiter’s bleating that Labour’s 2017 Manifesto stated that Labour agreed to support the result of the referendum; here’s Andrew Fisher, the manifesto author, on the qualifications that were made with that statement. They are massive. … …
Workers rights for Maternity and the EU
This article is a quote from the TUC’s “UK employment rights and the EU“, it relates to maternity rights and the EU acquis.
The EU Pregnant Workers Directive 1992 led to substantial improvements in the health and safety protections for expectant and new mothers in the workplace. It gave women paid time off for ante-natal appointments and placed duties on employers to assess risks and to adjust working conditions, transfer a pregnant or breastfeeding worker to alternative work or suspend them on paid leave where harm is identified.
While the maternity leave entitlement in the UK already exceeded the EU minimum of 14 weeks when the Directive was implemented, case law from the ECJ has had a positive impact in tackling the disadvantage and discrimination that many women face in the workplace when they become mothers. For example, it made clear that treating a women unfavourably because of pregnancy or maternity leave was direct sex discrimination and that it was not necessary to identify a non-pregnant comparator in similar circumstances to prove discrimination. This ended years of women potentially being defeated in discrimination claims because the employer argued that they would have treated a man who had to take a substantial period out of the workplace in a similar way.
Sex discrimination law in the UK was amended to create a separate category of pregnancy discrimination, which is now defined as unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy or maternity leave in the Equality Act 2010 with no need for any comparison with a non-pregnant employee. This change in UK law was achieved following a case taken against the UK government by the old Equal Opportunities Commission relying on EU law.
ECJ case law has also extended protection from dismissal on grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave to fixed-term workers. And, since 2008, women on additional maternity leave have had access to the same contractual rights as women on ordinary maternity leave as a result of ECJ case law. This means, for example, that employers are obliged to make contributions into occupational pension schemes for longer than the first 26 weeks of leave.
ooOOOoo …
Brexit and workers rights
Are EU employment protection laws better than the UK’s? This article contains quotes from the TUC, and the Institute of Employment rights detailing the importance of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights to employment rights in the UK and the way in which EU law underpins those UK worker's rights, despite recent adverse rulings . Read More ...