Government withdraws protection for low paid workers
UNISON, the UK’s largest public service union, today reacted angrily to news
that the government is to abolish the two tier fair employment code, saying it
heralded a “race to the bottom”. The code is designed to ensure that
companies who take over public sector contracts, provide pay and conditions
for new staff broadly comparable to that of the former public sector staff,
they work alongside.
Dave Prentis General Secretary of UNISON, said:
“This is another attack on mainly low paid women workers. The two tier code
is essential to stop companies that are in the process of bidding for public
sector contracts, competing on how low they can pay their staff. Even many
companies that bid for these contracts are privately worried that this will
result in a “race to the bottom” in pay and conditions. The new Principles of
Good Employment Practice are purely voluntary. With no enforcement
mechanism these will have no bite and are merely wishful thinking on the part
of the government.
“This move will hit many low paid women workers hard, particularly catering
and cleaning staff, and UNISON is calling on the government to carry out an
equality impact assessment as a matter of urgency.
“We do not want to see a return to the bad old days of Compulsory
Competitive Tendering (CCT), introduced by the last Tory government, which
resulted in big cuts in pay and conditions, a huge turnover in staff and
ultimately worse standards in public services.”