UN chief says attacks on UNIFIL ‘may constitute a war crime’

By AFP
October 13, 2024

The United Nations peacekeeping mission UNIFIL says it has come under repeated fire in the Israel-Hezbollah war - Copyright AFP/File -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday denounced attacks that have injured several peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, his spokesman said, as Israeli forces move against Hezbollah militants.

“UNIFIL personnel and its premises must never be targeted,” Stephane Dujarric said, referring to the blue-helmeted international force. “Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law…(and) may constitute a war crime.”

“In a deeply worrying incident that occurred today, the entrance door of a UN position was deliberately breached by IDF armored vehicles,” he added in a statement.

At least five peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days as Israel targets Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL, a mission of about 9,500 troops of various nationalities created following Israel’s 1978 invasion of Lebanon, has accused the Israeli military of “deliberately” firing on its positions.

Dujarric urged “all parties, including the IDF, to refrain from any and all actions that put our peacekeepers at risk,” referring to Israel’s army.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Guterres on Sunday to move peacekeepers deployed in south Lebanon out of “harm’s way”, saying Hezbollah was using them as “human shields”.

UNIFIL has refused to leave its positions.

U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon warn Israel about breaching their position

Oct. 13, 2024 

UPI

The base of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon in Ebel El Saqi Marjeyoun District, southern Lebanon, is pictured on Thursday. Two peacekeepers were wounded after an Israeli tank fired toward an observation tower at UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall, Photo by EPA-EFE


Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The United Nations' peacekeeping force in Lebanon has warned Israel for the fourth time in as many days against "further flagrant violation of international law."

The warning Sunday came after peacekeepers in Lebanon were forced to undergo treatment after they were injured by smoke that entered its camp near Ramyah in the early morning hours.

The peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, said three platoons of Israeli fighters breached the main gate of its camp with tanks and forcibly entered to demand that the peacekeepers leave to aid Israel in its assault on Lebanon.

The Israeli fighters crossed the so-called Blue Line, a demarcation line drawn by the United Nations in 2000 to confirm Israel's withdrawal of troops from southern Lebanon after years of occupation.

"For the fourth time in as many days, we remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of U.N. personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of U.N. premises at all times," UNIFIL said in a statement on Telegram.

"Breaching and entering a U.N. position is a further flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701 (2006). Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701."

'The UN said that Israeli tanks destroyed the gates of the base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon'

Issued on: 14/10/2024 - 07:16

01:37 Video by:Jessica LE MASURIERFollow

2024-10-14 07:08 'The UN said that Israeli tanks destroyed the gates of the base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon'

UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon in the crosshairs of Israel’s war on Hezbollah


Issued on: 14/10/2024 -

01:50

The UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said Israeli tanks “forcibly entered” one of its positions on Sunday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded it leave the area. International criticism is growing after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on UN peacekeepers since the start of its ground operation in Lebanon. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions in recent days, most of them blamed on Israeli forces.

Amazon wants to be everything to everyone

By AFP
October 13, 2024

Amazon says logistics center automation, such as robots that safely maneuver loaded carts to waiting trucks, can free human workers for more interesting tasks

 - Copyright AFP SETH HERALD

Julie JAMMOT

Amazon is bolstering its e-commerce empire while continuing a march deeper into people’s lives, from robots to healthcare and entertainment.

Innovations unveiled in recent days by the Seattle-based tech titan included a delivery van computer system to shave time off deliveries by its speed-obsessed logistics network.

Amazon Stores boss Doug Herrington said that the technology enables vans to recognize stops and signal which packages to drop off.

“When we speed up deliveries, customers shop more,” Herrington said.

“For 2024, we’re going to have the fastest Prime delivery speeds around the world,” he added, referring to Amazon’s subscription service.

On top of that, according to Herrington, Amazon last year managed to cut 45 cents off the cost per unit shipped, a huge savings when considering the massive volume of sales.

– Prime is the ‘glue’ –

Amazon last year recorded profit of more than $30 billion on revenue of $575 billion, powered by its online retail operation and its AWS cloud computing division.

“They have this whole flywheel model with Amazon Prime membership in the middle,” said eMarketer analyst Suzy Davidkhanian.

“That’s the glue that keeps everything together.”

Businesses include retail, advertising, cloud computing and streamed movies and music.

But that very model has the 30-year-old company facing a US government lawsuit, accused of expanding an illegal monopoly and otherwise harming competition.

Amazon makes money from data gathered about consumers, either by targeting ads or through insights into what products they might like, Davidkhanian said.

That was why Amazon paid for expensive rights to stream NFL American football games on Prime Video in a move that promises to help it pinpoint fans of the sport.

Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa can order items on command and has been even built into appliances such as washing machines to let them automatically buy supplies like laundry soap as needed.

– A ‘pocket pharmacy’ –

Amazon showed off enhancements to its virtual health care service called One Medical.

For $9 a month Prime members are promised anytime access to video consultations with health care professionals, along with record keeping and drug prescriptions.

An Amazon Pharmacy takes advantage of the company’s delivery network to get prescriptions to patients quickly, striving for speeds of less than 24 hours for 45 percent of customers by the end of next year.

“We’re building a pharmacy in your pocket that offers rapid delivery right to your door,” Amazon Pharmacy chief Hannah McClellan said, referring to the option of using a smartphone app.

The healthcare market promises to be lucrative for Amazon, which is “trying to be the platform that has everything for everyone,” said analyst Davidkhanian.

– Real world wrinkles –

Amazon has suffered setbacks when it comes to brick-and-mortar stores but it continues to strive for a winning strategy.

The company next year will open its first “automated micro warehouse” in Pennsylvania, next to a Whole Foods Market organic grocery shop, the chain it bought in 2017.

People will be able to pick up certain items selected online, with orders filled by robots, after shopping next door for fresh produce and groceries.

Meanwhile, Amazon is ramping up use of artificial intelligence at its online store with tools helping sellers describe and illustrate products.

Product labels will change according to the user, displaying terms likely to catch their attention such as “strawberry flavor” for some and “gluten-free” for others.

“The things that Amazon is doing with AI are to make sure that you go from researching something to making the purchase as quickly as possible,” Davidkhanian said.

At the logistics center near Nashville, robotic arms deftly placed packages in carts that autonomously made their way to trucks.

Logistics center automation improves safety and frees up workers for more interesting tasks, according to Amazon robotics manager Julie Mitchell.

However, critics cite delivery speed pressure and other factors as making Amazon warehouses more dangerous than the industry average.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/business/amazon-wants-to-be-everything-to-everyone/article#ixzz8odJh2OtF

Society: Why we tip and would eliminating tip taxes make any difference?

By Dr. Tim Sandle
October 13, 2024
DIGITAL JOURNAL

Working and dining in a restaurant - different roles. — Image by © Tim Sandle.

Eliminating taxes on tips — an idea supported by both major party 2024 presidential candidates — could benefit some service workers but the overall impact may not be that dramatic, according to Virginia Tech research.

In the U.S., there are around 4 million workers for whom tips make up a significant portion of their income. Such is the extent of low pay in the service sector that more than one third of those workers do not earn enough to end up owing federal taxes.

Yet is the removal of taxation on tips likely to address poverty? “While the idea of tax-free tips sounds appealing, the actual economic benefit for many might be less significant than supporters suggest,” says Virginia Tech economist Jadrian Wooten.

Wooten observes that eliminating taxes on tips would benefit some service workers; however, the impact would be fairly concentrated, impacting certain states more than others.

The practice of tipping originated in the UK, but it has become an intrinsic aspect of US consumer culture. While some service jobs have been connected to tipping for generations, our cultural expectations around who we tip and how much has changed dramatically in recent years, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Would a no-tax-on-tips policy incentivise workers to push harder for more tips? Or would employers simply seek to to shift the burden of wages onto customers?

A second researcher, Sheryl Ball, who studies behavioural economics in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, has explained how the psychology behind tipping is complicated.

There are complex situational, individual, occupational and national determinants of tipping behaviour.

“In behavioural economics, we like to think of this as reciprocity. Someone does a good job of taking care of you when you go to a restaurant or ride in a taxicab, so you want to reward them for their good work.”

Ball explained that we may also tip well in the hopes of better future service — both for ourselves, as well as the broader community, effectively training people to continue to deliver good service.

“People also tip because it makes them feel good,” said Ball. Historically, she says, tipping came from the upper classes. That allowed them to feel good about their actions but also served as a statement of social status.

There is also a new motivation for tipping that has come about in the past few years, driven by technology. Many establishments are now using iPads with suggested tip amounts, which are called nudges. They may be encouraging more tipping behaviour and tips at a higher level.”

Now that tipping is more widespread, that feel-good motivation comes down more to understanding that many workers need them to live, Ball explains, adding another dimension to the tipping process.

The power of finance and capital is maintained by sacrificing the lives of innocent people

Prem Sikka 

11 October, 2024 

Left Foot Forward


The high priests of neoliberalism do not want to shackle capital or curb profiteering.

In the age of enlightenment the grand narratives of social progress are routinely paraded. However, they are rarely questioned. How civilised are we? Do we still practice human sacrifices?

Some would be puzzled by such a question in the twenty-first century. After all, human sacrifices have long been abolished. In medieval societies they were not uncommon. Innocent men, women and children, mainly from poorer backgrounds, were arbitrarily tortured or killed by ruling elites to strengthen their hold on power. Their high priests chanted mumbo-jumbo and cast spells in obscure languages and promised that pain to the innocents would somehow bring economic growth, prosperity and happiness.

In the modern world, people are no longer sacrificed in town squares but the practice continues. The power of finance and capital is maintained by sacrificing the lives of innocent people. The new high priests chant the magical powers of defunct economic theories, fiscal rules, austerity, privatisations, balancing the budget, outsourcing, and free markets. They obfuscate power and inflict misery and premature death on millions of people, mostly the less well-off. But the new social gods still don’t deliver prosperity and happiness to all. The magical mantras have enabled elites to amass disproportionate amount of wealth and power. The dissenters are ostracised, silenced and exiled by main stream media and political parties. Ministers flanked by high priests insist that people must deepen their faith in social gods and make more sacrifices.

The National Health Service (NHS) was created in an era when governments believed that human misery could be reduced by collective welfare. On the back of that, life became less financialised and the UK became more prosperous. That didn’t go down well with those intoxicated with bigger profits. Every Conservative government since the Second-War increased the NHS waiting list, hoping that individuals will seek out private healthcare. Under the spell of neoliberalism, insufficient investment has been made in the NHS. Today, in England alone some 6.42m individuals are waiting for 7.64m hospital appointments. Around 300,000 people a year die prematurely as they await a hospital appointment. Due to lack of timely access to family doctors, dentists and hospitals, some 2.8m people are chronically ill and unable to work. More than 500,000 under-35s are out of work due to long-term illness. Ministers complain about labour shortages but none connects the dots.

The threat of premature death and disability had the desired impact. More are taking out private health insurance. In 2022, some 11.7m Britons, 22% of the population, had health insurance. This was an 83% increase from 2021. Millions can’t wait for the NHS and are privately paying for cataract surgery, knee and hip replacements to alleviate pain and misery. Insurers have hiked their prices by 25% in the past year.

The high priests of neoliberalism do not want to shackle capital or curb profiteering. Instead, normal people are forced to make sacrifices. 72 people died in the Grenfell fire tragedy because it was profitable for housebuilders to use combustible foam insulation. The Post Office prosecuted innocent postmasters because it was profitable to do so. Rivers, lakes and seas are flooded with raw sewage because it is more profitable for water companies to do so, especially as they don’t bear the cost of health hazards inflicted on people. Since the pandemic, the UK’s leading 17,000 companies have increased their profits margins by an average of 30% and many by much more. For example, electricity generation companies trebled their profit margins by nearly 198%; electricity and gas supply by 363%; health and social work by 118% and water and sewage companies by 44%.

Punishing the working class has been a favourite sport for wealthy elites. In 1976, worker’s share of gross domestic product (GDP), in the forms of wages and salaries was 65.1%. Under onslaught of anti-trade union laws this is now barely 50% of GDP. In August 2024, the pre-tax median wage for a full-time worker was £29,040, lower in real terms than in 2008. Work doesn’t pay enough and the wages of some 2.6m workers have to be topped-up through the welfare system. Some 12m people, including 4.3m children, live in poverty. 6m people live in fuel poverty. 2.3m households owe over £1,200 arrears for energy and energy debt is over £3bn. The UK accounts for 80% of homelessness across the OECD countries. Around 9.3m people, including 3m children (one in five) are facing hunger and hardship. Reliance upon charity has been normalised. In 2023/24 food bank charity The Trussell Trust delivered 3.1m emergency food parcels to people. Some 800,000 patients were admitted to hospital with malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies, which piles on the pressure on the NHS.

A research report estimated that between 2012 and 2019, government imposed austerity caused 335,000 excess deaths in England and Scotland i.e. nearly 48,000 a year. Poverty makes people choose between heating and eating. Between 2011 and 2020, over a million people in England died prematurely from a combination of poverty, austerity and Covid. Another study estimated that around 93,000 people, including 68,000 pensioners and 25,000 working age adults are dying in poverty.

Yet the high priests were not satisfied. They invoked the gods of fiscal rules and balanced budgets to demand more sacrifices. They imposed two-child benefit cap to condemn 500,000 children to poverty, the biggest cause of child poverty. Just £2.5bn would lift more than half a million out of absolute poverty but successive governments have refused to do so, though they have handed tax cuts to banks and subsidies to corporations.

Winter is a harsh time for pensioners. The average state pension of between £9,000 and £9,500 is a major source of income for pensioners, and is less than 50% of the minimum wage. Their hard choices between heating and eating have been cushioned by winter fuel payments of between £100 and £300 a year. Even then last year, some 5,000 pensioners died from cold. The government responded by cutting Winter Fuel Payment for millions of pensioners below the poverty line. Thousands more will die. Seven Labour MPs voted against the cut and government ostracised them by withdrawing their parliamentary whip.

Some are unhappy about the downgrading of promised reforms to workers’ rights; something which might improve workers incomes and dignity. Any sustained dissent can undermine the power of high priests, Whips have warned Labour MPs not to put down any amendments on government bills and to resolve disagreements privately with ministers. The government is now planning to cut benefits of the old, sick, poor and disabled to force them to work.

In common with the medieval times, it is children, women, elderly and the less well-off who continue to be sacrificed. Wealth has not trickled-down and is hoarded by a few. The top 1% has more wealth than 70% of the population combined. Just 50 families have more wealth than 50% of the population. The bottom 50% of the population owns less than 5% of wealth, and the top 10% a staggering 57%. The wealthy elites control media, think-tanks and fund political parties to get shape public opinion and get their way. the government promised modest reforms to taxation of non-doms and private equity, but they are to be diluted as wealthy elites don’t like it.

Human sacrifice has changed form but hasn’t disappeared. Millions are sent to misery and premature death by elected governments. The mantras of fiscal rules, austerity, balancing the budget, outsourcing and privatisations have neither delivered prosperity nor happiness to the masses. Despite economic growth, people’s real incomes have been stagnant. Schools, healthcare and much of infrastructure is not fit for purpose. For investment in productive assets, the UK is ranked 28thamong 31 OECD countries. The state hands out vast subsidies and tax reliefs to corporations without any assessment of economic objectives.

A new leaf must be turned by restructuring the state, without that millions more will be sent to premature death. There is an urgent need to redistribute income and wealth, direct state investment in public services and democratisation of work. All legislation must be accompanied by assessment of the human cost. But corporate elites will oppose any loosening of their control of the state and any power for workers to shape corporate policies. Yet people must put lives before profits, critique the power of high priests and advance competing discourses. Our predecessors used oratory, leaflets, music, theatre, plays, unions, protests, marches, and community organisations to secure a modicum of rights and reliefs. We too need to do the same. As a wise man once said, ‘we are many, they are few’.

Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward.

UK

Labour Growth Group: MPs urge Rachel Reeves to spend more on public services

LabourList Staff  13th October, 2024

Rachel Reeves

A group of Labour MPs has written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves urging her to spend billions on improving public services, The Observer has reported.

The Labour Growth Group, which features Labour MPs including Josh Simons and Torsten Bell, wants Reeves to back a rewriting of fiscal rules that would allow for billions more to be poured into services including education, health and transport.

The letter, seen by The Observer, reportedly reads: “We give voice to the silent majority who benefit from economic reforms, infrastructure projects and growth, no matter how well organised the vocal minority.

“It is time to value these assets properly in our fiscal framework … Time is of the essence – the sooner we invest, the sooner our constituents will begin to benefit from that investment in their communities.

“If we delay, we risk further entrenching the barriers to growth that have held our country back for too long. We say this upcoming budget is the time to grasp the opportunity efore us and act with conviction.”

Recap on all of the news and debate from party conference 2024 by LabourList here.

It comes as the Chancellor has been reported to be considering options to raise further revenue in this month’s budget, including introducing national insurance on employer pension contributions and a potential rise in capital gains tax to as much as 39%.

Labour’s first budget since returning to office will be held on October 30.

UK

Budget 2024: ‘How Labour can fix the worst economic inheritance since 1945’

Jeevun Sandher    

14th October, 2024

Photo: QQ7/Shutterstock

Winning the last election means we have the chance to start rebuilding this nation’s prosperity after fourteen years of Conservative failure.

We have inherited the worst economic conditions since 1945. Fourteen years of cuts in investment left us with an historic fall in wages, the highest energy bills & inflation in the G7, and almost 3 million out of work due to sickness. Winning on July 4th means we get the chance to fix all this.

We can fix our economy by investing to rebuild our prosperity. When we were last in government, we invested in our public services, physical infrastructure, and skills. The result was each of us producing more year-on-year a.k.a. economic growth. Real wages increased by over a third as we invested in our workers, carbon emissions fell as we invested in clean energy, and waiting lists fell as we invested in our NHS. 

In stark contrast, the past fourteen years were characterised by stagnation and then decline. The list of what we need to fix is very, very long. Below I set out (just) three of the major economic problems we face and how this Labour government can fix them.

Problem 1: Worst wage squeeze in 200 years 

The previous government’s decisions led to historic cuts in investment. Less investment led to a no-growth economy where each of us stopped producing more. Wages first stopped growing and then started falling. The squeeze in wages was unprecedented – the worst since Napoleon threatened our shores.

The Conservatives directly cut public investment (austerity) and indirectly cut private sector investment too. The private sector invested less as the last government created instability and lowered returns to investment by, for example, cutting skills funding.

UK real wage growth since 1900

Fixing It: Ending austerity will mean a very welcome increase in public investment. Private investment will rise when, firstly, we create the basic stability businesses need to invest and, secondly, when we rebuild our skills and infrastructure so each of us can produce more.

Problem 2: Highest energy prices and inflation in the G7

The last government’s cut and then blocked green investment. David Cameron’s decision to “cut the green crap” led to declines in home insulation and the blocking of onshore wind farms. This left us dependent on natural gas. Natural gas is more expensive than clean energy in any case. But Putin’s invasion of Ukraine caused the price of natural gas to skyrocket even higher, which then left us with the highest energy prices and inflation in the G7. 

Inflation in G7 nations

Fixing It: Investing in our own clean energy and insulation through GB Energy and our Warm Homes Plan will lead to lower energy bills. Home-grown clean energy is also more secure than fossil fuels supplied by foreign dictators. Solar and wind are 50 to 75% cheaper than natural gas. This is likely to fall even further in the coming years. 

Problem 3: Three million too sick to work

Almost three million are too sick to work because the last government broke our NHS. They left us with the longest waiting times in history, which means we were the only OECD nation to continue to see long-term sickness rise after COVID. A functioning health service is not an optional extra, it is serious economic infrastructure that the Conservatives decimated.

NHS waiting lists

Fixing It: Rebuilding and reforming our NHS will help us all be healthier – and a healthier nation is one that produces more. We need to rebuild our NHS by hiring more doctors and nurses and we need to reform it too.

To stop chronic health conditions like heart disease becoming more common and costly, we need to invest in prevention rather than cure, and we need to prioritise funding for GPs rather than hospitals. That is the whole essence of the Darzi report that we will implement.

‘Building economic strength from the rubble’

We can meet the economic challenges we face and create a nation where each of is better off. Previous Labour governments have built economic strength from rubble.

As Attlee once built the welfare state and laid the foundations for Thirty Glorious Years of growth, so too can this Labour government. We can raise public and private investment, build clean energy, and rebuild our healthcare system so that each of us can be more prosperous in the years to come.

Jeevun Sandher

Jeevun Sandher is the MP for Loughborough and served as an economist researching inequality and poverty at King’s College London and as a UCU trade union rep.@jeevunsandher

View all articles by Jeevun Sandher

UK

New Employment Rights Bill must build an economy that works for women

Labour Hub Editors

OCTOBER 11, 2024

By the Women’s Budget Group

The Government’s Employment Rights Bill is an ambitious step forward for workers’ rights, which has the potential to build an economy that truly works for women. Recent research carried out by WBG found that:

• 1.47 million women will have new rights to sick pay under new provisions.
• 555,000 women to have job security due to banning of exploitative zero-hour contracts and focus on women-led sectors.

Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, Director of the Women’s Budget Group, commented: “Women are still the majority of workers in low paid or precarious work in our economy. They have the most to benefit from new workers’ rights laws pledged by the new Government. The ambition set out in today’s Bill has the potential to reduce the gender pay gap and economic inactivity, growing the economy over time. Maintaining this ambition throughout the consultation process over the coming months will be vital to ensure the Bill is effective in building a feminist future of work where every woman is paid fairly, can work flexibly but with security and is free from discrimination or injustice.”

“But the Government can and must go further to genuinely improve women’s working lives and address the impact of unpaid care work and lack of access to justice. To deliver a feminist future of work, these reforms must also go hand in hand with bold reform and invest in our early education and childcare and social care systems as well as restoring access to legal aid. The Government must carry out and publish meaningful equality impact assessments to ensure policy is truly effective in reducing inequalities in the workplace and across the economy.”

On pregnancy and maternity discrimination, she said: “It is promising to see a commitment to strengthening the pregnancy and redundancy protections in line with what was set out in Labour’s manifesto. Our research finds that the most widespread employment law issue women seek help with is pregnancy/maternity discrimination. Extending the time limit for bringing a claim for three to six months will hugely increase vulnerable women’s access to justice. And we eagerly await the review of parental and carer’s leave. We urge the Government to continue to prioritise and deliver this within their first year, as committed to within the manifesto.”

On extending sick pay, she said: “The Bill also brings good news on lowering the threshold for statutory sick pay eligibility and removing the three-day wait period before a worker can claim it. It is important that rights to sick pay are extended to all workers. This would mean that 1.5 million women would have new rights to sick pay.”

WGG calculate there were 555,000 women on zero-hours contracts between April and June 2024 and 910,000 women who currently earn less than £123 a week according to TUC in January 2024 – that is 70% of 1.3 million.

Dr Stephenson added: “This is a step toward tackling women’s health-related economic inactivity, with 1.5 million women out of the workforce due to long term sickness (200,000 more women than men). Extending it to all workers and paying it at an adequate rate increases the impact on economic activity, allowing workers to take time off at early stages of a health condition and increasing the chances of recovery and remaining in the labour market.”

On gender pay gap reporting, she said: “However, it is important that policy design within the Bill is truly able to achieve its aims. For example, proposals around gender pay gap reporting for outsourced workers may inadvertently entrench low wages within female-dominated sectors like cleaning, rather than promoting fair, in-house pay. Addressing the root causes of the gender pay gap, which are often linked to low pay in roles traditionally occupied by women, should be a primary focus.

On Equality Impact Assessments, she said: “We welcome the extensive consultation Labour has pledged across many of the measures in the Bill, and are ready to support the Government in ensuring these policies are effective in creating an economy that works for women. To this end, it is critical for the Government to publish comprehensive equality impact assessments (EIAs) for the Bill as a whole and for each individual policy by the second reading of the Bill on 21st October. Meaningful EIAs will provide a foundation for informed policymaking, helping to dismantle systemic inequalities and avoid perpetuating cycles of inequality.”

Dr Stephenson argued for a holistic approach to policy-making: “Furthermore, if this Bill is to ‘genuinely improve women’s working lives,’ it must address the intersecting challenges women face. This includes not only employment protections but also improvements to childcare and social care infrastructure, as well as expanded access to legal aid. Only through holistic, well-designed policies can we build a resilient and inclusive economy.”

WBG argues that Labour’s Employment Rights Bill has the potential to help reduce the gender pay gap over time and build a feminist future of work:

– More women (3.5%) than men (2.8%) are employed on zero-hours contracts.

– 6.5% of women do not earn enough to qualify for sick pay compared to 2.8% of men.

– The gender earnings gap (weekly pay) was 25% for all workers in 2024 while the gender pay gap (annual pay) was 14.3%.

– More women (10.5%) than men (7.2%) are classified as low earners.

– 72% of people who work part-time are women.

– 25.1% of women compared to 19.1% of men are economically inactive.

WBG recommends that in order to deliver on the aim of closing the gender pay gap and increasing gender equality the Government should go further by:

• Extending statutory sick pay to self-employed workers and increase the rate without changing the period of payment.
• Delivering comprehensive reform of the social care and childcare systems as well as paid carers’ leave, to help redistribute unpaid care work.
• Ensuring genuine flexible working by introducing an advertising duty for all jobs to be advertised as flexible except in reasonable exceptions.
• Reviewing and restore legal aid in discrimination cases to ensure women have access to new employment rights as well as adequately resourcing the EHRC to enforce women’s rights.
• Introducing a new model of parental leave ensuring six months non-transferable leave for each parent and, a six-month shared leave entitlement.
• Strengthening and properly enforce the public sector equality duty with new duties and training on government officials.

The UK Women’s Budget Group is the UK’s leading feminist economics think tank, providing evidence and analysis on women’s economic position and proposing policy alternatives for a gender-equal economy. It acts as a link between academia, the women’s voluntary sector and progressive economic think tanks.

Image: Woman Suffering from Stress at Work. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/193749286@N04/51418722107. Author: CIPHR Connect,  licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

'Innocent' British nerve agent victim caught in global murder plot: inquiry

London (AFP) – A British woman who died after being exposed to the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok was unwittingly caught up in an "illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt", a public inquiry was told on Monday.


Issued on: 14/10/2024 - 

The attack on the Skripals was the first offensive use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II 

© Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP

Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old mother of three children, died in July 2018 after spraying herself with what she thought was perfume from a discarded bottle containing the deadly chemical weapon.

Her death followed a failed poison attack against former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, southwest England. The UK government has said it was "highly likely" Russia was behind the plot.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury in March 2018. They survived after intensive hospital treatment and now live under protection.

At the start of public hearings into Sturgess's death in Salisbury, inquiry lawyer Andrew O'Connor said the perfume bottle contained enough Novichok to poison "thousands" of people.

"It's no exaggeration to say the circumstances of Dawn Sturgess's death were extraordinary," he told the hearing.

"When Ms Sturgess was poisoned by Novichok four months after the Skripal poisoning, the real possibility emerged that she had been caught -- an innocent victim -- in the crossfire of an illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt," he added.

UK authorities believe that agents targeting the Skripals threw the perfume bottle away, making the two cases "inextricably interwoven".

The attempt to kill Skripal, on whom Russian President Vladimir Putin had sworn vengeance, plunged London-Moscow relations to a new low.

Britain blames the Novichok attack on two Russian security service officers who allegedly entered the country using false passports. A third has been named as the operation's mastermind.

All three are thought to be members of the GRU Russian intelligence agency. Russia, whose constitution does not allow extraditiona, has denied involvement and dismissed the inquiry as a "circus".

Diplomatic ties

Six years on, relations between the countries -- already hit by claims that Russia was behind the 2006 radiation poisoning of former agent Alexander Litvinenko -- remain in deep freeze.

The Sturgess inquiry will include closed sessions to investigate "private material" and intelligence related to the case. The Skripals will not give live evidence due to safety concerns.

Dawn Sturgess died after handling a perfume bottle that contained the deadly nerve agent Novichok © - / METROPOLITAN POLICE/AFP

Sturgess's family was "particularly concerned" about whether the UK government had taken appropriate steps to protect the Skripals and the wider public from collateral damage, according to O'Connor.

International arrest warrants have been issued for the suspects, but Theresa May, who was prime minister at the time of the attack, warned justice was unlikely.

She told the BBC last week that she hoped the inquiry would help "the family and friends of Dawn Sturgess feel it has got to the truth."

But "closure to all the people affected would only finally come with justice, and that justice is highly unlikely to happen," May added.

The Salisbury incident resulted in the largest-ever expulsion of diplomats between Western powers and Russia, and a limited round of sanctions by the West.

Those sanctions have now been outstripped by the West's response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Catherine Roper said it was "important to remember that at the heart of this inquiry are Dawn's family and loved ones whose lives have been irreversibly changed".

"The purpose is to provide Dawn's family, friends and our wider communities in Wiltshire the opportunity to access the fullest possible information surrounding Dawn's death," she added.

Sturgess' family is to give evidence on Tuesday.

© 2024 AFP

POSTMODERN SHOW TRIAL

Russian prosecutor demands 3 years prison for French researcher

Moscow (AFP) – A Russian prosecutor on Monday requested a sentence of three years and three months in a penal colony for a French researcher accused of breaching a "foreign agent" law.

Issued on: 14/10/2024 -

Vinatier is a veteran researcher on Russia and is married to a Russian © Alexander NEMENOV / AFP/File

The trial of Laurent Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, comes amid tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine war.

The 48-year-old was arrested in Moscow in June and charged with collecting information on Russia's military without being registered as a "foreign agent", a crime punishable by up to five years in a penal colony.

A prosecutor told the judge that Vinatier should be found guilty and sentenced to "three years and three months to be served in a penal colony", as the researcher listened with head bowed.

Vinatier has acknowledged violating the Russian law, saying he was unaware he should have registered as a "foreign agent".

Wearing jeans and a pale blue shirt, he looked weary and subdued but gave a final speech in Russian, even quoting the national poet, Alexander Pushkin.

"I agree with the charge fully. I fully admit guilt," he said.

"I ask for a merciful and just sentence in the case," he added, apologising to Russia for breaking the law as well as to his NGO and family.

He read a poem by Pushkin titled "If life deceives you" with the lines that "the heart lives in the future: The present is desolate: everything is momentary, everything will pass."

The judge was due to announce the verdict at 1330 GMT.

The proposed sentence took into account that Vinatier "fully admitted guilt" and "repented for what he did" but also "significant threats connected to Russia's security", the prosecutor said.

Vinatier's lawyer Oleg Bessonov said the proposed sentence was "extremely harsh".

"Our client committed a crime for the first time in Russia... and fully admitted his guilt," the lawyer said, asking the judge to fine him instead.

The "foreign agent" law has been widely used to crack down on Kremlin critics but not usually foreign citizens.

French President Emmanuel Macron has demanded Vinatier's release, saying the "propaganda" against him "does not match reality".

Vinatier was charged over a requirement introduced in 2022 that people who collect information on Russia's military and arms that could harm country's national security, register as "foreign agents".

Russia has not charged or publicly accused Vinatier of espionage.

Tensions between Moscow and Paris are running high after France charged Russian-born Telegram founder Pavel Durov in August over illegal content on the popular social media platform, with the Kremlin warning against a "political persecution".

France has also strongly supported Ukraine in its fight against Russia's offensive and is training thousands of Ukrainian troops.

Vinatier is an adviser with the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and is a veteran researcher on Russia and other post-Soviet countries.

The Centre "works to prevent and resolve armed conflicts around the world through mediation and discreet diplomacy", it says in a statement on its website.
'Love for Russia'

According to sources interviewed by AFP, the Frenchman had been working for years on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, before Russia launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022.

In his final speech in court, Vinatier said that he first visited Russia 20 years ago and decided to work there.

"I fell in love with Russia. My wife is Russian, my friends are Russian. I lived a Russian life, that's who I am," he said.

Russia has arrested several Westerners and charged them with serious crimes during its Ukraine offensive, which ruptured ties with the West.

Washington has accused Moscow of arresting US citizens on baseless charges to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.

On August 1, Russia freed US reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and more than a dozen others -- including Russian opposition politicians -- in its biggest prisoner swap with the West since the Cold War.

© 2024 AFP

Russian state targets Ukraine Solidarity Campaign

OCTOBER 11, 2024

A Russian authority — the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (ROSKOMNADZOR) have issued a demand to the Internet website hosting company WordPress to remove the website of the UK-based Ukraine Solidarity Campaign (USC).

Campaign organisers have been notified by WordPress’s legal department that they have received the demand from ROSKOMNADZOR to shut down the campaign’s website, following multiple successful appeals to raise money for urgent frontline, medical and transport aid.

The web hosting company confirmed to USC that it will not comply with the request. USC has been informed that while Russia has previously sought to close criminal activities online, this was a new initiative, and they had singled out the USC.  

The USC website is now blocked by the Russian Federation. However, the intervention by ROSKOMNADZOR demonstrates the determination of the Russian state to attack international organisations that support Ukraine.

Alex Sobel MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ukraine, said: “Censorship in Putin’s Russia is the norm. He is trying to spread his autocratic tendencies far and wide. We not only need to resist them but ensure Russians can read and hear the truth about Putin’s murderous actions in Ukraine.”

 Mick Whelan, General Secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, an affiliate of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign said it was the act of “a desperate despot seeking to hide his actions not only from his own people but the world. Deluded, as the world already knows and stands with Ukraine.”

Christopher Ford, USC Secretary said: “Russian hybrid war has sought to undermine popular support for Ukraine. Due to our campaigning, the Russia and Putin apologists have failed and the majority of the labour movement has stood by Ukraine. Now Russia wants to silence us, but they will fail and solidarity will win.”

John McDonnell MP, former Shadow Chancellor and a founder of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, said: “This is just another grubby attempt by Putin to prevent the Russian people from knowing the truth about Putin’s attack on Ukraine and the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people.”

The organisers of the campaign remain determined to grow their activity and strongly condemn the use of such intimidatory tactics. They view the demand as another example of Russia’s continued censorship of online content and its increasingly authoritarian laws to control information. These actions have seen the country plummet in global rankings of Internet freedom. Russia scores just 21 out of 100 points according to Freedom House, down by yet another two points since 2022.

The Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, founded in 2014, exists to build solidarity and support for Ukraine across the UK labour movement and build links between trade unions in the two countries. Five national trade unions, including UNISON, NUM, UCU, PCS and ASLEF are affiliated to the campaign, as well as a number of local and regional branches. The campaign group has been organising fundraisers and the delivery of material aid, including medical equipment and vehicles to units staffed by trade unionists on the ground in Ukraine.