Casuals and scabbing

ajohnstone · Post by **ajohnstone** » 17 Jul 2007, 03:38

Discussion arose with colleagues about the possible use of agency casuals as strike breakers during the present postal dispute . So what does the law say about the matter .

The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003 and,in particular, Regulation 7. They are enacted under the Employment Agencies Act 1973.

Regulation 7 prohibits an employment business from introducing or supplying a work seeker to the hirer to perform the duties normally performed by employees of the hirer who are taking part in industrial action (or to perform the duties of other employees who may be moved by the employer to cover the work of those taking part in industrial action). There are circumstances when the regulations do not applyand that is when the individual employee of the hirer is taking part in a strike or other industrial action which is considered unofficial.

It is illegal for an agency to supply workers to scab during an official strike , but it is not illegal for the company while its workers are on official strike to hire and use them as strike breakers .

There does not seem to be any effective enforcement mechanism within the regulations. Agencies are policed through section 9 of the Employment Agencies Act allows the Employment Agency Standards Inspector (part of the DTI) to carry out investigations following a complaint, or to undertake inspections of and/or visits to any employment business. The enforcement of the legislation would appear to be on an application by the secretary of state either for criminal proceeding or a prohibition notice to a tribunal. The DTI can initiate criminal prosecution against the employment business. The maximum penalty is a fine of up to Â£5,000 per offence and a 10-year ban in carrying out an employment business. In addition, a tribunal, on an application by the secretary of state, may make an order prohibiting a person (including a company) from carrying on or being connected with the carrying on of an employment agency or employment business for up to 10 years on the grounds that the person concerned is unsuitable because of misconduct or any other sufficient reason.

Information gathered from http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/ ... rikes.html.
Actual legislation found http://www.dti.gov.uk/files/file24248.pdf[/url]

catch · Post by **catch** » 17 Jul 2007, 08:01

ajohnstone wrote:Discussion arose with colleagues about the possible use of agency casuals as strike breakers during the present postal dispute . So what does the law say about the matter .

[...]

It is illegal for an agency to supply workers to scab during an official strike , but it is not illegal for the company while its workers are on official strike to hire and use them as strike breakers .

There does not seem to be any effective enforcement mechanism within the regulations.

Best thing is to find out which agencies they're likely to hire from in advance. Any ideas?

Post by **disheartened** » 17 Jul 2007, 14:54

It looks like our office is getting ready to flood the place with casuals during the next strike,loads in yesterday about 30 on each shift,not so many on the nights last night but about 20 on earlies all coached in from manpower services.So my guess is RM are getting them used to the sorting,how much must these casuals be costing per hour,i reckon the casual themselves are on Â£8,the agency is proberly charging double that.

Steve

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 17 Jul 2007, 15:12

I did a bit of casual work through Manpower 5 years ago and they paid Â£5.25 per hour so I'd be surprised it its even close to Â£6.00

ROCKY · Post by **ROCKY** » 17 Jul 2007, 15:58

thats what the worker gets the overall charge will be 3 times that

Steven · Post by **Steven** » 17 Jul 2007, 18:32

yeah the agency will take loads off the top. If someone can find out what agency it is, the agency itself can be targetted with picketing/leafletting etc. This has happened in previous strikes, like this strike of Brighton bin workers:

The first was to go with some workers at the other depot from which the strike breakers were leaving and to stop their trucks from coming out. This was hugely successful: one of us locked himself underneath the first scab truck at the entrance of the depot, effectively stopping any other truck from leaving, while the workers who were there persuaded the majority of the temps not to scab by either explaining to them the situation, or by threatening them that their union would make sure that they would not be able to find another job in Brighton. When the fire brigade was called in to de-lock our comrade, the shop steward from the depot explained the situation and in an inspiring act of solidarity the firemen refused to participate, leaving as quickly as they had come. Most temps who had turned up refused to work after realising that they would be strike breakers (the job was not advertised in exactly those terms), while SITA and agency managers who had also turned up to supervise the situation were seriously f****d off with the development. Only a truck that arrived later could be used, with a crew of three people, to do a job which usually required more than 30 trucks, each with five people as crew.

The second action that we took concerned the agencies that were employing strike breakers in Brighton. In collaboration with the union and after their request, we wrote a leaflet warning workers that taking up the job made them strike breakers, and handed them outside the agencies. The management of the agencies freaked out and tried to stop us by calling in the police. The fact was however that there was nothing that the police could do apart from giving us abstract threats. After the agency management realised there was nothing they could do, the promised that they would not recruit any more strike breakers. The same thing happened at another agency that SITA employed which was outside Brighton, in the neighbouring town of Worthing. After we leafleted the workers there, the agency also promised to stop employing strike breakers.

http://libcom.org/history/2001-brighton ... occupation

Stormproof · Post by **Stormproof** » 17 Jul 2007, 18:38

one of us locked himself underneath the first scab truck at the entrance of the depot

Who's 1st?, not me

Steven · Post by **Steven** » 17 Jul 2007, 18:43

k66yla wrote:
one of us locked himself underneath the first scab truck at the entrance of the depot
Who's 1st?, not me

ha ha that's pretty barmy but leafletting the agencies is doable. A lot of young people sadly don't really understand unions, solidarity and why scabbing's bad.

johno47 · Post by **johno47** » 17 Jul 2007, 18:55

TBT your right its about Â£6 an hour but the agency itself gets Â£12 an hour, RM will pay that but wont give us f**k all...
UNITY IS STRENGTH.

ROYALMAILCHAT

Casuals and scabbing

Casuals and scabbing

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