Crozier to leave Royal Mail

ITV have appointed Adam Crozier as their new Chief Executive. Crozier will take up the post later on this year. No doubt he will take with him the generous severance and pensions package which is denied to my members in Royal Mail.

Unfair treatment of Royal Mail employees debated in parliament

In a parliamentary debate yesterday Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh, raised the issue of 46 postmen that have been suspended, dismissed or have gone off work with stress from Royal Mail in his Southport constituency over the past three years. Their experiences are sadly familiar to me having dealt with many similar cases. I condemn those Royal Mail managers responsible. Thanks to all the MP's who raised my members concerns in the debate and also CWU sponsored MP Geraldine Smith who asked the Government to make good Royal Mail's pensions deficit at Prime Minsters Question Time. Full story here.

Gap between rich and poor widens

As forecast the National Equality Panel report has been published. It paints a disturbing picture of a society where social mobility has all but ceased and the gap between the haves and have nots has increased. The report can be downloaded from the Government Equalities Department website by clicking here.

Poll closes soon

There are only 2 days left to take part in my latest poll. Please participate as your views are important.

BBC research into Lesbian and Gay coverage

The BBC is currently conducting an investigation into how lesbian, gay and bisexual people are portrayed on TV, radio and on the internet. For further information click here.

Black Workers Conference 2010

The CWU Black Workers Conference takes place on Saturday February 6th in the Apex Hotel Dundee. The Lord Provost of Dundee will host s reception for delegates on Friday evening the 5th of february after which the Race Advisory Committee have organised a quiz. The RAC have also organised a social gathering the evening of conference in a hostelry in near by Tayport. I thank the Lord Provost of Dundee for his hospitality and all the CWU branches who have generously  provided sponsorship to the RAC for the social events. Please come along to what is always a stimulating and rewarding conference.

We are still an unequal society

If anyone doubts the need for a strong trade union movement committed to fairness and social justice they should read today's report by the National Equality Panel. This finds that despite the many measures adopted by a Labour government to alleviate poverty and inequality the gap between the haves and have nots has increased and social mobility has ground to a halt. Full story here.
  The report is published shortly after Goldman Sachs announced a 57% increase in the bonuses it paid to staff in 2009 - that's an average of £300000 each..
  Both these developments can only strengthen our resolve to deliver our equality objectives.

High flying doctor wins race discrimination case

North Cumbria Acute Hospital NHS  Trust is to pay out £333,000 including over £200k legal costs by an Employment Tribunal for race discrimination and unfair dismissal. During the hearing the Tribunal heard that the applicant Dr Sarina Saiger was told that she was 'the wrong colour and culture for Cumbria'.Full story here.

Come to the CWU Youth conference

The annual Youth Advisory Committee conference takes place in Birmingham on Saturday January 30th. I'll be there as will many of our under 30's members and activists from branches throughout the UK. A social evening has been arranged at the Velvet Bar which is on Broad Street on Friday the 29th. For further information click here.

Job Vancancy At Maternity Action - Campaigns Office-Pregnancy discrimination at work

I thought  this job vacancy may be of interest.

Campaigns Officer - Pregnancy at work
As campaigns Officer, you will be working to end pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.  Over half or all pregnant women at work experience pregnancy discrimination and over 30,000 women each year lose their job because of it.

Your responsibilities wil be:  Prepare campaign mateials in conjunction with the Director; Liaise with campaign partners and the public; Prepare distribution plan for campaign materials in conjunction with the Director; Distribute campaign materials using mailouts, emails and other strategies; Organise seminars and training events; Organise meeting of the project reference group; Undertake any other duties as may be required.

Person specification
You must have at least one year's experince in campaigning, workplace organising policy development or community development role.  You will need a good understanding of the framework of employment relations in the UK,  and some knowledge about discrimination in the workplace and maternity and paternity rights at work.

Good written and spoken communication are essential.  You will need the ability to develop communication materials for different audiences, including employees, employers, community organisations and health workers.

To apply, please download an information pack from website at ww.maternity.org.uk/recruitment.html  please post your application to the Finsbury Office address or email to recruitment@maternityaction.org.uk

Closing date 3rd February 2010.

Rosilind Bragg
Director Maternity Action
Unit F5 89-93 Fonthill Road
London N4 3JH

Ethnic minorities no longer automatically disadvantaged?

The Guardian reports today that in launching a review of government policy on race John Denham the communities secretary will say that
"Sustained action over the last 10 years has promoted racial equality and better race relations, dismantled unfair barriers faced by many and helped to nurture a society more comfortable with diversity than ever before." Do you agree? Let me know what you think by casting a vote in my poll.
  Read full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/14/john-denham-racism-ethnic-minorities 

Employment Law Updates

The following legal developments come from Russell, Jones & Walker solictors' Union Law Express Issue 1.

Loss of Earnings due to Stigma
Chagger v Abbey National Court of Appeal 13 November 2009
This is a significant case on loss of earnings compensation in discrimination and dismissal cases. The Court recognised that the stigma resulting from having been dismissed and bringing proceedings might affect the view taken by a tribunal of the loss of earnings award. This could result in an award for a longer period or even a modest lump sum if the Claimant was about to be dismissed lawfully in any event so had no actual financial losses.
Further, the fact that an extremely high figure was being awarded (over £2.5 million) was capable of being an exceptional circumstance entitling an employment tribunal to reduce the uplift for failure to follow statutory procedures below what would otherwise be the minimum of 10%.
COMMENT: a welcome decision which should assist in negotiating settlements but in practice may be rarely applied since exceptionally here the Claimant had evidence of attempted mitigation described by the ET as “the most thorough, extensive and well-documented any member of the tribunal could recall ever having seen.”
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/1202.html

Reasonable Adjustments
Secretary of State v Alam EAT 9 November 2009
Section 4A(3) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 sets out when the duty to make reasonable adjustments will not apply and this decision confirms that there are two questions to be answered:

1. Did the employer know both that the employee was disabled and that his disability was liable to affect him in the manner set out in section 4A(1)? If the answer to that question is: "no" then there is a second question, namely,
2. Ought the employer to have known both that the employee was disabled and that his disability was liable to affect him in the manner set out in section 4A(1)?

If the answer to that second question is: "no", then the section does not impose any duty to make reasonable adjustments. The employer will be exempt from any duty to make reasonable adjustments if both those questions are answered in the negative.
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2009/0242_09_0911.html

Climate Change and Philosophical Beliefs
Grainger PLC v Nicholson EAT 3 November 2009
A belief in man-made climate change, and the alleged resulting moral imperatives, is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations. The belief must be of a similar cogency or status to a religious belief.

The EAT offered guidelines on what will amount to a philosophical belief.
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2009/0219_09_0311.html

Religious Belief Discrimination
Ladele v London Borough of Islington Court of Appeal 15 December 2009
The Court of Appeal agreed with the EAT that the Claimant was not subjected to unlawful discrimination, nor harassed contrary to the 2003 Regulations, when required to register civil partnerships even though she objected to officiating at such registrations on the grounds of her religious beliefs. Her conduct in refusing to officiate was the issue, not her beliefs.
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/1357.html

Harassment Act Claims at Work
Veakins v Keir Islington Ltd Court of Appeal 2 December 2009
The application of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 to workplace conduct remains problematic. This is a rare case of a claim succeeding. The primary focus is on whether the conduct is oppressive and unacceptable, albeit the court must keep in mind that it must be of an order which would sustain criminal liability. Here there was no dispute as to how the Claimant had been treated or that it had caused a depressive illness.

The Court made it clear that they did not expect that many workplace cases will give rise to liability under the Harassment Act. The Employment Tribunal will more fittingly provide the remedy for the great majority of cases of high-handed and discriminatory conduct.
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2009/1288.html

Sex Discrimination – IVF Treatment
Sahota v Home Office EAT 15 December 2009
This case raised the issue of whether IVF treatment should be treated as equivalent to pregnancy for the purposes of the Sex Discrimination Act such that a comparator need not be identified.
The view of the EAT was that there was protection only for the limited period between the follicular puncture (when the ova are retrieved from the ovary for fertilisation in vitro), and the subsequent transfer of the in vitro fertilised ova into the uterus. After that point, of course, the woman is pregnant. The EAT did not accept that there should be a period of protection covering any treatment leading up to the follicular puncture.
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2009/0342_09_1512.html

Pregnancy Risk Assessments
O’Neill v Buckinghamshire County Council EAT 5 January 2010
Pregnant workers are not automatically entitled to a work assessment under Regulation 16 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in the absence of evidence that the work involved a risk as to health and safety to the expectant mother.
However, an employer must provide the worker with comprehensive and relevant information on the identified risks to her health and safety.

It remains arguable that where such evidence exists, failure to carry out a risk assessment is unlawful sex discrimination.
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2010/0020_09_0501.html

Annual Compensation Limits
These are altered with effect from 1st February 2010. Because the RPI has fallen, the maximum compensatory award drops from £66,200 to £65,300.
However, the uplifting of the limit on a week’s pay in October 2009 to £380 was ring fenced from any RPI reduction on this occasion so that figure remains the same.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20093274_en_1

Orange to shut Bristol call centre

Orange to shut Bristol call centre and axe 300 jobs
Mobile phone company Orange has told staff that it is closing a call centre in Bristol with the loss of 300 jobs.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said some workers broke down in tears when they were told.

The CWU spokesman said: "People have struggled into work through appalling weather only to be told they are losing their jobs."

Orange said redundancy packages and support in finding alternative work would be available for those affected.

'Most efficient'

A spokesman for the company said: "As part of our strategy to improve, grow and evolve the company, we are continually looking at ways to ensure we are operating in the most efficient way.

"As such, we have been reviewing our building strategy and are proposing not to renew the lease for Keypoint, one building on our office campus in Bristol.

"The affected staff will be relocated to other Orange buildings in Bristol, relevant to the division of the business they work for.

"However, with no other 'service operation' in Bristol, staff from that division will be offered an opportunity to apply for work and a relocation package in our other service centres across the UK.

"For those service employees who do not wish to seek roles elsewhere in the business, redundancy packages will be available and employees will receive full support in finding alternative work."

Orange closed the centre for the day as staff were so upset.

The nearest Orange call centre to Bristol is in Plymouth.

Latest from Pink News supplied by Gary W

Religious civil partnerships amendment tabled in Lords

An amendment to the Equality Bill which would allow civil partnerships to be held in church was tabled in the House of Lords today.

It was tabled by Labour peer Lord Waheed Alli, who is gay, and would remove the prohibition which prevents them being held in religious buildings.

PinkNews.co.uk exclusively revealed the plans in November.

The Equality Bill reaches its House of Lords committee stage today and the amendment would give ministers of religion the option of presiding over the ceremonies, although it would not be compulsory.

When civil partnerships legislation was passed in 2005, a prohibition was placed on them being held in religious buildings. They must instead be carried out in other buildings licenced to host them.

Gay equality charity Stonewall worked with the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and the Metropolitan Community Church to get the amendment tabled.

Other faiths such as the Quakers have also expressed their support for recognising gay couples in the past. This year, the Quakers voted to hold gay marriages, rather than civil partnerships.

Pope calls gay marriage an 'attack on creation'

Pope Benedict XVI has called gay marriage laws an "attack" on the natural differences between men and women.

Speaking just after Portugal's parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage, the pontiff addressed the comments to the Vatican diplomatic corps in a message which focused on environmental issues.

This is not the first time he has used environmental messages to preach about the sins of gay people.

In an end-of year address in 2008, he said that the existence of gay people threatens humanity as much as the destruction of the rainforests does and that "blurring" genders through acceptance of transgender people would kill off the human race.

According to AFP, he spoke about protecting or endangering creatures including humans in today's address and said: "One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes."

He cited "certain countries in Europe or North and South America", which is assumed to mean Portugal and Mexico City, which legalised gay marriage last month.

The Pope is due to visit the Catholic country of Portugal in April, a month after a law allowing gay marriage is expected to come into force.

He is also expected to visit the UK this year, and humanist groups have already announced their plans to protest.

Similar demonstrations were held when Pope John Paul II visited Britain in 1982.

In March, the Pope provoked anger when he spoke out about his view on HIV.

While on a flight to Africa in March, he told journalists that condoms "aggravate" the problem of HIV. He was roundly condemned for the statement, while respected medical journal The Lancet demanded that he retract the comments.

The Pope has previously counselled that abstinence is the only way to counter the spread of the disease.

Homeless charity warns of increase in gay Muslims fleeing family violence

The Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity which helps homeless LGBT young people, has said it is seeing an increase in the numbers of gay Muslims fleeing from forced marriages and family violence.

The charity told the BBC it had seen an increase in the numbers of gay Muslims contacting it for help in the last six months.

Trust worker Annie Southerst said: "They face threats of physical violence, actual violence and restriction of liberties.

"We've had people chased out of the house with knives and we have had issues around young people who had exorcisms planned to get rid of the gay demons, I suppose.

"They come to us because they're homeless, or in danger of being homeless imminently. We sort out emergency accommodation for them."

One visitor to the charity's weekly drop-in session in London, 20-year-old student Suni, told the BBC he had been imprisoned in Pakistan for three months after his parents suspected he was gay.

Suni said he had been beaten by his family, who thought making him marry a woman would cure him of homosexuality.

Fazal Mahmood, who runs a support group for South Asian and Middle Eastern gay men called Himat, said that after young men and women in Muslim families reveal their sexual orientation, they are often asked to leave.

He said: "I'm proud to be a Muslim, I'm proud to be South Asian, Pakistani and I'm proud to be gay as well.

"Unfortunately a lot of parents don't see that. All they see is 'what is my community going to feel like when they find out my son or daughter is gay?'."

The government dropped plans to make forcing someone into a marriage a crime, instead introducing Forced Marriage Protection orders in November 2008.

The Albert Kennedy Trust has used four in the last few months. They are court orders which, if breached, can result in a two-year prison sentence.

The head of the government department which deals with forced marriages said that gay and lesbian young people were particularly vulnerable to forced marriages.

Olaf Henricson-Bell said: "Forced marriage by its nature is an underground practice and the cases often go unreported.

"The individuals involved may be reluctant to mention sexuality when they ring us or when they bring their case to the attention of the authorities."

The Forced Marriage Unit is to work with the Albert Kennedy Trust to produce guidance for gay charities when dealing with young people at risk of being forced into marriages.

New Equality E-Bulletin

The new edition of my departments Equality E-Bulletin is now available. To subscribe send an email to myself at lroy@cwu.org. Members can also request a hard copy.

Well done Mike Findley

Congratulations to Mike Findley for being awarded the MBE in this years Honours list. Mike was a divisional rep in the north east when I was a unit rep and branch official in the Central Yorkshire branch. He was always available when I needed help and advice and he always encouraged me to get involved in the affairs of the CWU locally and nationally. The honour is well deserved.

Multi Faith Calendar for 2010

Following requests from branches I've just despatched details of the main multi faith religious festivals for 2010. A comprehensive list can be found by clicking here 

Review of retirement age

Labour's deputy leader and equality minister Harriet Harman has announced an urgent review of the compulsory retirement age.A number of options are being considered which could give people the legal right to work for as long as they feel able to. Full story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242169/Carry-working-Employees-job-70s-80s-Harriet-Harmans-plan-scrap-forced-retirement.html#ixzz0cK2r4zNe

Happy New Year

This is my first post of 2010 so I start by wishing all CWU members a happy and prosperous new year. As I write the UK has almost ground to a halt due to blizzard conditions. That is apart from my local postman who despite the Arctic conditions is wearing standard issue unifrom shorts. They certainly make them tough up north.