Agenda item

Prior to the consideration of Notice of Motion 150, the Monitoring Officer clarified the position with regard to amendments to motions. A recent change to the Council’s Constitution had specified that two days’ notice must be given of any amendment to a motion. This was an error; the wording should have stated that two days’ notice should be given of any amendment to a motion. On that basis, the Monitoring Officer advised that any member would be permitted to put forward an amendment to a motion, at the meeting.

 

Consideration was given to Motion No. 150, moved by Councillor M Storey and seconded by Councillor Branson of which notice had been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rules No. 53-60 as follows:

 

Middlesbrough Council notes:

·        1 in 10 workers have experienced ‘fire and rehire’ – told to reapply for their jobs on worse pay, terms and conditions or face the sack, with BME workers facing this at twice the rate of white workers, since March 2020(TUC research, January 2021). A quarter of all workers have experienced a worsening of their terms and conditions – including a cut to their pay – since the pandemic began.

·        That while the prime minister has called the practice unacceptable he has continually refused to take action to outlaw the practice, raising concerns that he will not intervene in this race to the bottom as an escalating number of employers across all sectors using our weak employment protections to force their staff to accept worse terms and conditions, leaving many having to work longer hours and for lower pay, with what can be devastating consequences for workers and their families.

·        Even before the pandemic, 1 in 9 workers – 3.8 million people – were already ‘insecure’ meaning they did not have access to basic rights at work and could be dismissed at will, including those on zero hour contracts and agency workers.

 

Middlesbrough Council therefore resolves to:

·        Ensure local residents are protected against such unscrupulous employers and will write to the Prime Minister demanding he outlaw fire and rehire and act now to keep his promise to local residents to protect their employment terms and conditions.

·        Promote the increasing number of progressive local employers prioritising their employees’ standard of living and their wellbeing, work with our anchor institutions and key partners to bring forward plans to ensure all have best practice employment and to work with recognised trade unions on this.

·        Write to the TUC to indicate support for the campaign for a ‘New Deal for Working People’.

 

Councillor Branson seconded the motion and spoke in support of it.

 

Councillor Branson stated that the purpose of Fire and Rehire was nearly always to worsen working conditions. This could include increasing working hours or reducing holiday entitlement or break times. This practice meant that the working conditions for the people in this country were considerably worse than the rest of Europe. This had resulted in a negative impact on health and safety. The European Treaty had a clear commitment to improving working conditions. However since the country left the European Union, this no longer had an effect. The EU working directive had been scrapped which meant that people were working longer hours, sometimes up to 70 hours a week, which was not safe and resulted in putting the health and safety of people at risk and worsening working conditions.

 

Councillor Rathmell queried with regard to what protections the councillors were seeking from the authority in terms of protecting local residents employment terms and conditions and would there be a financial burden associated with it. He acknowledged that the motion requested that a letter be sent to the Prime Minister.

 

Councillor M Storey advised that through the motion, they were hoping to ensure that people would have legislative protection from employers who carried out the practices referred to in the motion. The motion was aimed at tackling unscrupulous employers. Any lobbying on behalf of ending Fire and Rehire would tackle this practice and unscrupulous employers.

 

Councillor Rathmell queried whether it would be better to include something in the motion that would prevent the Council from working with such employers or whether including such a condition but be too much of a legal constraint on the Council.

 

Councillor Storey said the second point of the motion mentioned promoting the increasing number of progressive local employers prioritising their employees’ standard of living and their wellbeing, and one of the purposes of the motion was for the Council to encourage good employers.

 

Councillor Bell stated that although he agreed with all the sentiments expressed within in the motion, he wanted to propose an amendment to the motion. He requested that the last bullet point which stated ‘Write to the TUC to indicate support for the campaign for a ‘New Deal for Working People’, be removed, as he did not know any detail with regard to the New Deal for Working People. Councillor Saunders seconded the amendment to the motion.

 

Councillor M Storey advised that the papers had been circulated prior to the meeting which provided members with the opportunity to research what the New Deal for Communities was concerned with. There was also information available on the internet which explained what the New Deal for Working People was about and it contained lots of information on the protection of workers. Councillor Storey stated that if the last line was removed he would still support the motion, although he was disappointed if it was removed.

 

Councillor Bell advised that he had researched the New Deal for Working People, however, it was only available by post.

 

The amended motion was as follows:

 

Middlesbrough Council notes:

·        1 in 10 workers have experienced ‘fire and rehire’ – told to reapply for their jobs on worse pay, terms and conditions or face the sack, with BME workers facing this at twice the rate of white workers, since March 2020(TUC research, January 2021). A quarter of all workers have experienced a worsening of their terms and conditions – including a cut to their pay – since the pandemic began.

·        That while the prime minister has called the practice unacceptable he has continually refused to take action to outlaw the practice, raising concerns that he will not intervene in this race to the bottom as an escalating number of employers across all sectors using our weak employment protections to force their staff to accept worse terms and conditions, leaving many having to work longer hours and for lower pay, with what can be devastating consequences for workers and their families.

·        Even before the pandemic, 1 in 9 workers – 3.8 million people – were already ‘insecure’ meaning they did not have access to basic rights at work and could be dismissed at will, including those on zero hour contracts and agency workers.

 

Middlesbrough Council therefore resolves to:

·        Ensure local residents are protected against such unscrupulous employers and will write to the Prime Minister demanding he outlaw fire and rehire and act now to keep his promise to local residents to protect their employment terms and conditions.

·        Promote the increasing number of progressive local employers prioritising their employees’ standard of living and their wellbeing, work with our anchor institutions and key partners to bring forward plans to ensure all have best practice employment and to work with recognised trade unions on this.

 

The amendment to the motion was put to the vote.

 

On a vote being taken the amendment was declared CARRIED

 

The amendment became the substantive motion.

 

The Chair invited Councillor Storey to respond. Councillor M Storey advised that the speech by Councillor Branson was excellent and had included everything that he would have wished to say.

 

The substantive motion was then put.

 

On a vote being taken the substantive motion was declared unanimously CARRIED.