United Kingdom - House of Commons reflects on workers’ status - November 30, 2017

The Work and Pensions Committee and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee of the House of Commons published a report that deals with the workers’ status and the wage development. The report reflects on court cases that have exposed a pattern of companies using ‘gig workers’ with a bogus self-employed status as a route to cheap labour. Achieving ‘worker’ status, however, is not enough to alleviate insecurity at work. The volatile availability of paid work is a pressing concern for many workers. The employer has no obligation to provide work and the risk of low demand is borne by the worker. The report suggests that a wage premium above the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage on non-guaranteed hours could potentially help rebalance the benefits, and might prompt employers to consider offering more stable work: for example, by providing shift details and staff rotas in advance. The report proposes to pilot such an approach to tackle the abuses perpetrated by some companies.

Read on: in English … The report, in English (2) …

For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers or Nuria Ramos Martin, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Willy De Backer wdebacker@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. Since June 2013 readers can consult our archive and search through all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.euYou may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.

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