Hidden workers: money=time=freedom

This was published in The Prisma Multicultural Newspaper in January 2012 and can be read in full with photos here: https://theprisma.co.uk/2012/01/02/the-hidden-workers-money-time-freedom/

The trade union Unison has been running a program,jointly funded by the government's Business Innovation and Skills Department, as a 2-year pilot since January 2010.

It is aimed especially at helping people doing public sector work that has been outsourced to private companies, to improve their pay and to know their rights at work. In time for "World day for decent work" on October 7th, we talk to Unison to find out what is being achieved.

The project is called the Hidden Workers Program and talking to its organisers, Diana Veitch and Susan Cueva and to some of the cleaners working at two London universities, it is clear that raising their pay from the current minimum wage of £5.93 to the London living wage of £8.30 an hour is more than just an improvement in spending power. It makes a crucial difference that allows them to cross a margin from survival to having some choice of how to use their time, and to think about their long-term prospects.

Not just wages

Unison considers this pilot scheme to be important because of the accelerating privatization of low-paid work in the public sector into the hands of private contractors. Over 25% of workers in the public sector are now outsourced to work for privatized companies, with less protection of their wages and conditions. Overall only 10% of them are members of a trade union, less among migrant workers. Add to this that many low-paid workers in cleaning, catering, security, maintenance and care work are immigrants from outside Europe or from recent members of the European Union (the A8 countries) who have difficulties with English and do not know anything about their rights , and the opportunities for exploitation are clear.