UK

A Labour government must stand up for Palestine

 

7th May 2024Leave a Commenton A Labour government must stand up for Palestine

At the forthcoming general election, we are all hoping there will be a change of government, our aim must be to ensure that this results in a change of UK policy on Palestine.

Hugh Lanning

Labour and Palestine’s Hugh Lanning urges all those in Labour to take the struggle for Palestinian self-determination into the Party. We reproduce his speech from last Wednesday’s May Day rally hosted by Arise Festival and Labour and Palestine.

When the general election happens, every candidate of every party is going to be asked: what did you do in the war on Gaza?

They will all be judged by what they did and didn’t do – did they call for an immediate ceasefire, or support continuing the supply of arms and the “industrial carnage” in Gaza in the name of self-defence? Israel’s war on Gaza is going to haunt today’s generation of political leaders in the UK and across the globe.

We must start challenging the view that the survival of one group of people can be won at the expense of another. It took the death of white aid workers for Western governments and their media to start saying ‘enough’ – hypocritically so, after they had supplied the means to enable the massacres to take place.

This is not now and never has been self-defence. Israel is using it as a long-awaited opportunity to seek to eliminate a Palestinian Gaza from the map. This is not just an occupation, it is a full-scale colonisation of historic Palestine. We need to be calling for the decolonisation of Palestine, not just the piecemeal condemnation of individual acts of occupation and settlement by Israel. We must start upholding international law “to fully realise the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”

The pro-Palestine solidarity movement has been the biggest continuous political mobilisation this country has ever seen. How do we translate this incredible mobilisation into a movement?

One of the critically important arenas where this work needs to focus – particularly those of us still in the Labour Party – is to put Palestine upfront on the agenda of the Labour Party and every other political party. At the forthcoming general election, we are all hoping there will be a change of government, our aim must be to ensure that this results in a change of UK policy on Palestine.

As it stands, on Palestine, a Starmer government could be just as bad as a Sunak one. Many CLP’s have, but we need many more local constituencies to reclaim the right to discuss Palestine. We have therefore launched a motion for CLPs to use to discuss Palestine within their constituencies.

It says that international law is the central, legitimate framework that Labour must adopt, together with the need for actions to bring about Israel’s compliance. Not just an arms embargo of selling arms, but ending the totality of the arms trade, including the security and military collusion with Israel’s military machine. It also calls for Labour to support Palestine’s right to self-determination.

Please table and get this motion discussed in as many constituencies as possible. From day one, the pressure must be on a Labour Government for a dramatic shift in the UK’s stance.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have lost their lives; many more will die. We cannot allow that generational sacrifice to be in vain. We must ensure that Israel is made to feel that it can never again act with international impunity.

Together, we must ensure that Labour is standing up for the oppressed, not standing arm in arm with the oppressor.

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• Hugh Lanning is an officer of Labour and Palestine and also a former Chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign and former Deputy General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union
• Read the motion here.

 UK

Left MPs cry out for Rafah and challenge government complicity in war crimes

                 

7th May 2024Leave a Commenton Left MPs cry out for Rafah and challenge government complicity in war crimes

“As bombs rain down on a trapped and terrified population, we implore our government to find an ounce of humanity and end its complicity in war crimes”

Jeremy Corbyn MP 

By Labour Outlook

Israel’s assault on Rafah is now underway, with fears growing of a humanitarian catastrophe for the 1.4 million Palestinians taking shelter in the city. Reports that Israel is blocking aid, fuel or goods from entering the two crossings of Rafah and Kerem Shalom, will make humanitarian efforts to save lives even more difficult. 

Thousands of activists gathered outside Downing Street to speak out against the attack on Rafah, while inside parliament, a range of left MPs called on the Government to push for an immediate ceasefire, demanded an end to arms sales to Israel and challenged the UK Government’s complicity in war crimes.

Jeremy Corbyn was among those voices, labelling the military assault “another utterly despicable war crime.”

Richard Burgon MP, Secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs, spoke in parliament to demand that the Government take action against the clear breaches of international law by ending arms sales and suspending trade talks with Israel.

Speaking during the debate, Apsana Begum MP challenged the Government for continuing to arm Israel despite clear breaches of their own licensing criteria.

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell labelled the assault “genocide in action,” urging for international action to end the attack and for an urgent vote in parliament to end UK complicity in war crimes.

Zarah Sultana MP called for immediate action to stop the assault, including banning arms sales and for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold Israeli Prime Minister and Israeli Government officials accountable for war crimes.

Diane Abbott MP criticised ongoing government support for Israel, which is allowing them to continue the assault without consequence.

Adding to the call for arms sales to Israel to be stopped, Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP raised the plight of the 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering in an area “more densely populated than Paris.”

Citing the Tory Deputy Foreign Minister’s own comments, where he stated that he couldn’t see how an assault on Rafah could be compliant with international law, Imran Hussain MP asked why the Government has still not taken action to support the ICC’s war crimes investigation or to stop arms sales to Israel.

Nadia Whittome MP joined the debate, calling out the Government’s failure to hold Israel to account and asking what will it take for them to stop enabling war crimes?

Kim Johnson MP warned of the “catastrophic consequences” for the Palestinian civilians sheltering in Rafah, furthering the call for the Government to press for an immediate ceasefire, end arms sales to Israel and challenge Israel’s breaches of humanitarian law.

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• You can read our write-up of the demonstration held in opposition to the Rafah offensive on May 7th, 2024, here.

Londoners protest Israel’s offensive in southern Gaza

'My family escaped this kind of persecution. My family escaped this kind of genocide. It is because we're Jewish that we're here,' says Jewish protester

Burak Bir |08.05.2024 - 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather outside Downing Street to protest against the ongoing war in Gaza and expected Israel's military offensive in Rafah as its forces seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and ordered evacuation of 100,000 of residents in London, United Kingdom on May 07, 202

LONDON

Residents of London staged demonstrations Tuesday against Israel's military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is home to 1.5 million displaced civilians.

Students from University College London held a gathering at the main campus in Bloomsbury, where they recently set up an encampment, joining several other university campuses across the Western world.

Placing Palestinian flags in the area, they called for an end to Israeli attacks, demanding an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

They also chanted slogans including "We are students. We won't be silent. Stop the bombing now.”

The rally was also supported by a group of people who gathered behind the gates of the campus.

Later, a large crowd held a separate demonstration outside the Prime Minister's Office in Whitehall, criticizing the UK’s support for Israel.

Pro-Palestinian Jewish activists were among the attendees at the rally, which was organized as an "emergency protest" following Israel's evacuation order in Rafah.

The protesters repeatedly shouted "Cease-fire now.”

Speaking to Anadolu, Amba, a Jewish protester, said that anyone who tries to say that being anti-Zionist is somehow antisemitic is "weaponizing my identity and my family's identity."

"My family escaped this kind of persecution. My family escaped this kind of genocide. It is because we're Jewish that we're here," she said.

She said this is what her ancestors "would have wanted," saying the weaponizing of her identity makes her feel unsafe when not attending a pro-Palestine protest.

"I feel the most safe with this sign in this type of crowd," she added, carrying a sign that said "Jews against genocide. Free Palestine"

On the situation in Gaza, she said: "It is hard to find words to put to that as a Jewish person, I guess all I can say is we know what this looks like. And ‘Never Again’ meant never again."

The Israeli army said the 401st armored brigade seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza.

Army footage showed Israeli tanks rolling through the area and the Israeli flag raised on the Gaza side.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,100 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.


Seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.


Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Downing St demonstrators say no to Rafah offensive

7th May 2024Gaza, International, John McDonnell, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Rafah1 Commenton Downing St demonstrators say no to Rafah offensive

‘Over recent months, politicians have given us meaningless words, expressions of false concern, always far too late, all while shoring up the flow of arms to Israel’

Neha Shah

Labour Outlook’s Sam Browse reports from today’s demonstration outside Downing Street.

As the Israeli military rain bombs on the Rafah crossing in Gaza, thousands gathered outside Downing Street to demand the government and political leaders push for an immediate ceasefire and a suspension of all arms sales to Israel.

The demonstration, supported by a variety of organisations including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al Aqsa Mosque, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, came as Israel began its assault on one of the most densely crowded regions in Gaza. After months of sustained assault and ground incursion, Israel’s military has displaced over a million Palestinians, with many fleeing to Rafah after Israeli authorities declared it safe. 

The Rafah offensive has been met with outrage by human rights organisations and multilateral diplomatic organisations such as the UN, with many claiming that it confirms the charge of genocide Israel is currently defending in the International Court of Justice.

However, while the UK and US governments have verbally opposed the offensive, they have not committed to any concrete action to stop it. Speaking for the Government in the House of Commons earlier today, Andrew Mitchell, a Foreign Office Minister, refused to outline exactly what leverage the Foreign Office is using to match words with deeds.

If the Government were serious it would immediately halt the licensing of arms sales to Israel – a step it has so far refused to take – and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

Speaking at the demonstration, Palestine Solidarity Campaign Vice Chair, Neha Shah, said “over recent months, politicians have given us meaningless words, expressions of false concern, always far too late, all while shoring up the flow of arms to Israel. As we’ve said before, David Cameron, David Lammy, Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak – you are all responsible.”

“We are all here today because we know that our Government’s direct, historic, and ongoing complicity in Israeli colonialism and genocide bestows on us, the British people, a special responsibility. And so, as the tanks roll into Rafah, we must remember that we hold the power to end this genocide.”

Coming from the House of Commons Chamber, John McDonnell told the crowd assembled outside Downing Street “we are witnessing what is a massacre, mass murder of civilians – men, women, and children – and yet the Government is doing nothing.”

“We say to the Government, the least you can do now is make it clear to Netanyahu that there will be no more arms from Britain to feed this war machine. But the Government refuses to act.”

“What we should be saying to Netanyahu is that you are a war criminal and we will pursue you for as long as you live until we get you in the international courts.”

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• For updates on more actions, follow the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.

Protesters rage against Israel’s attack on Rafah

The protest outside Downing Street came as the student movement in the US and Britain grows

On the Rafah protest outside Downing Street

Around 5,000 people raged against Israel at the emergency protest outside Downing Street, central London, on Tuesday. The demonstration was called after Israel rejected a ceasefire proposal and ramped up its slaughter in Rafah.

Protesters blocked the road and chanted, “One solution, revolution.”

Danny from north London told Socialist Worker, “Israel doesn’t want to accept any ceasefire deal. They have their agenda. Israel wants to take over the whole of Gaza and they’re getting away with it.

“We have to push back against the whole establishment.

“We need to go beyond a ceasefire. We need a Palestinian state. That can only happen if the Arab countries stop siding with the West, or the people in the West stand up and revolt.”

One speaker argued that people around the world must stand against Israeli settler colonialism. He said, “The Zionist genocidal state cannot succeed. It’s killing an entire people.”

He added, “Israel’s genocide has exposed a hypocrisy. Currently, across the road, they are flying a Ukrainian flag above Downing Street. Where is the Palestinian flag?” Our rulers “have unknowingly stirred a revolution, a revolution that will smash the gates of the prisons that hold Palestinian hostages”.

“It’s our duty to write on the pages of history the liberation of Palestinians,” he said.

Labour MP John McDonnell said, “We are witnessing a massacre, a mass murder and yet the government does nothing.

“There must be no more arms to feed Netanyahu’s war machine. Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. We must keep marching, shouting and demonstrating.

“I offer solidarity to all those students encamping across the world, and the workers picketing factories to prevent arms. We will not rest until we bring the children of Gaza peace and justice.”

A member of Jewish Voice for Labour said, “What sort of country responds to a ceasefire proposal by attacking Rafah and killing children? It’s not a Jewish or Muslim issue, it’s an issue of humanity. We have to oppose this brutality.”

Jenny from Coventry said, “The forced displacement of Palestinians must be stopped. Women, children and men—thousands of lives have been lost. We’ve got to stand up and fight back.”Over 1,000 people marched from Manchester city centre to the university Palestine encampment. Other events took place in Liverpool, Derby, Weymouth, Dorchester, Bridport, Hastings and Brighton.

Calendar of resistanceWednesday 8 May: Globalise the campus resistance: international student-staff assembly, 7.30pm, Register for Zoom link here and share bit.ly/campusresistance24

Hear from students and staff building encampments in Britain, the US, Paris and more.Thursday 9 May: Stop the War has called an activists’ meeting at the Palestine 21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD, 6.30pm to discuss action including building for the 18 May demonstration.
Saturday 11 May:

NW England regional march: Assembly 12 noon Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool, L3 5TQ to march to St George’s Hall for a rally.

SW England regional Nakba Day march: 12 noon, College Green, BristolSaturday 18 May: The coalition organising the national marches has confirmed another national demonstration to mark the anniversary of the Nakba when Zionist settlers and militias forced at least 800,000 Palestinians off their land to make way for the Israeli state. It will also step up demands for an end to the genocide and to the arming of Israel.

Assemble 12 noon, BBC Portland Place for march to Whitehall, London. Route map here https://x.com/PSCupdates/status/1786380570617946278Saturday 8 June: Stop the War trade union conference 10am-4.30pm, Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London, N7 6PA. Details here or share at tinyurl.com/STWconf0806

Watch: Police use bulldozer to halt pro-Palestine protest at Amsterdam University

HT News Desk | Written by Vaishnawi Sinha | Edited by Aniruddha Dhar
May 08, 2024 

Dutch police resorted to using a bulldozer when a pro-Palestine protest inside Amsterdam University campus turned violent.

The police and pro-Palestine protestors clashed inside the campus of Amsterdam University when the march turned violent. Police were seen using batons on protestors when they attempted to march past the Holocaust Monument on their way to Amsterdam's city centre.

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Students and employees of the University of Amsterdam take part in a pro-Palestine rally on campus (Reuters)(REUTERS)

Thousands marched in Amsterdam on Tuesday, finally convening at a central university and putting barricades on the narrow canal-facing road in front of the campus buildings. However, the Dutch police resorted to using bulldozers to knock down these barricades to avoid escalations in the march.

Videos from the protest showed the police using bulldozers to remove the barricades set up by pro-Palestine protestors, with officers wielding batons and shieled beating up protestors and removing tents.



Earlier in the day a crowd of several hundred had gathered, chanting slogans against the war in Gaza and denouncing Israel’s ongoing military operations. "Free, Free Palestine!", protesters shouted. "The people united will never be defeated."

"Students and staff describe the use of pepper spray, police batons, police dogs and bulldozers to forcefully remove them. People were injured because of this excessive violence," a group calling itself Dutch Scholars for Palestine said in a statement.

The University of Amsterdam also said in a statement that what started out as a peaceful march to show solidarity with Palestine soon turned violent, with protestors turning hostile, getting violent and burning an Israeli flag.

Protesters had ignored requests by the university and the mayor to leave the campus, police said. They further said that a total of 169 people were detained from the rally, and all but four of the protestors were released a few hours later.

One officer suffered hearing damage, a police spokeswoman said, adding that it was still unclear how many other people may have been injured. "The police's input was necessary to restore order. We see the footage on social media. We understand that those images may appear as intense," police said.

Tensions remain high in universities across the United States, now spreading to Europe, after a pro-Palestine movement launched by Columbia University nearly a month ago. Since April 18, just over 2,600 people have been arrested on 50 campuses, figures based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

(With inputs from Reuters, AP)

 

CAMBRIDGE

Scores protest against Gaza war outside university

Mousami Bakshi,Brian Farmer

Mousumi Bakshi/BBC News
Scores of people have taken part in a demonstration against the Gaza war in Cambridge

More than 100 people have protested against the war in Gaza in one of the UK's most famous student cities.

A demonstration took place in Cambridge alongside the setting up of a protest camp outside King's College.

One student said pro-Palestinian protesters wanted Cambridge University to "disclose" links to companies and institutions "complicit in Israel's genocide".

The university said it would not tolerate "any form of discrimination, intimidation, incitement, bullying or harassment".

Mousumi Bakshi/BBC News

One demonstrator said she was "part of a global collective which is a struggle for Palestinian liberation"

One protester, who declined to give the PA Media news agency her name, described herself as "part of a global collective which is a struggle for Palestinian liberation".

She said protesters were demanding that the university "disclose all of its research collaborations and financial ties with companies and institutions complicit in Israel's genocide and then to divest from these".
 
Another protester told the BBC that demonstrators needed to say something about "Israel’s occupation of Palestine".

"The university was not listening to us, was not hearing our demands," he said.

“It was not disclosing any of its financial ties which we know it has.

"And so we are taking a stand; we are escalating the situation.”

Joe Giddens/PA Media
Cambridge University said it was fully committed to 'freedom of speech'

Police said no arrests had been made at the protest.

The Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign has urged people to write to the university to express support for the encampment and "their demands"

A Cambridge University spokesman said the university and King's College, on whose lawn the tents were set up, were operating normally.

"The university is fully committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law and we acknowledge the right to protest," it said in a statement.

"We ask everyone in our community to treat each other with understanding and empathy. Our priority is the safety of all staff and students.

"We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred."

Mousumi Bakshi/BBC News
Protesters have set up a camp outside King's College

The university has issued "protest guidance" which said: "All members of our community should feel safe and we will never tolerate any form of discrimination, intimidation, incitement, bullying or harassment."

Pro-Palestinian protesters retake MIT encampment as University of Chicago clears demonstration



By —Charles Rex Arbogast, Associated Press
By —Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press

May 7, 2024 

CHICAGO (AP) — Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the University of Chicago on Tuesday as tension ratcheted up in standoffs with demonstrators at other college campuses across the U.S. — and increasingly, in Europe.

READ MORE: Roiled by protests, Columbia University nixes major commencement ceremony

Nearly three weeks into a movement launched by a protest at Columbia University, the Rhode Island School of Design held talks with protesters occupying a building, and MIT dealt with a new encampment on a site that was cleared but immediately retaken by demonstrators.

The confrontations come as campuses try a range of strategies, from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action, to resolve the protests against the Israel-Hamas war and clear the way for commencements.

At the University of Chicago, hundreds of protesters had gathered in an area known as the Quad for at least eight days. Campus administrators warned them Friday to leave the area or face removal.

Police in riot gear blocked access to the Quad early Tuesday as law enforcement dismantled the encampment. Officers later picked up a barricade erected to keep protesters out of the Quad and moved it toward the demonstrators, some of whom chanted, “Up, up with liberation. Down, down with occupation!” Police and protesters pushed back and forth along the barricade as the officers moved to reestablish control.

“The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests,” school President Paul Alivisatos said in a message to the university community. “Where appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed.”

By 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, the number of protesters had doubled to more than 200. About 30 minutes later, campus police removed a barricade and stepped aside to allow protesters back into the Quad where they gathered in front of Levi Hall, the campus administration building.

At MIT, protesters were given a Monday afternoon deadline to voluntarily leave or face suspension. Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university. On Monday night, dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza break.

Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been at the encampment for two weeks and is calling for an end to the killing in Gaza.

“Specifically, our encampment is protesting MIT’s direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.

No arrests had been made as of Monday night, according to the MIT spokesperson.

At the Rhode Island School of Design, where students started occupying a building Monday, a spokesperson said the school affirms students’ rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and it supports all members of its community. The RISD president and provost were meeting with the demonstrators, the spokesperson said.

The student protests have spread to Europe, where they are gaining momentum. Police arrested about 125 activists Tuesday as they broke up a camp at the University of Amsterdam, and German police dismantled an occupation at Berlin’s Free University. Students also have held protests or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and Britain.

Many protesters want their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort. Others simply want to call attention to the deaths in Gaza and for the war to end.

Demonstrations at New York City’s Columbia University, where the protest movement began about three weeks ago, have roiled its campus. Officials on Monday canceled its large main ceremony but said students will be able to celebrate at a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies this week and next.

Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks.

Similar encampments sprouted up elsewhere, leading universities to struggle with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

READ MORE: Nearly 2,200 arrested in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses as police clear NYU encampment

The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony. Students abandoned their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest. Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security. The University of Michigan’s ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times Saturday.

A group of faculty and staff members at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the administration for amnesty for student protesters who were recently arrested and suspended.

Harvard University’s interim president, Alan Garber, warned students that those in an encampment in Harvard Yard could face “involuntary leave,” meaning they would not be allowed on campus, could lose their student housing and might not be able to take exams.

At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students. The University of California, Los Angeles, moved classes online for the week because of disruptions after the dismantling of an encampment last week that resulted in 44 reported arrests.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

LeBlanc reported from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Associated Press journalists around the U.S. and world contributed to this report, including Jeff Amy, Christopher Weber, Mike Corder, Barbara Surk, Rick Callahan and Pietro de Cristofaro.

 

‘Alarming risks’ to Scotland’s food delivery couriers

7 May 2024

A new study has highlighted the risks encountered by food delivery couriers, with a majority feeling “unsafe” when at work and every woman surveyed having experienced sexual harassment or abuse.

The two-year project, involving the University of Strathclyde, gathered feedback from 207 workers, including 33 women, employed in the food delivery industry in cities across Scotland.

It reveals more than 81% felt unsafe in their job, yet continued owing to financial necessity, while 78% believed their employer focused more on the needs of customers rather than employees. More than 60% suffered racial or ethnic abuse and 55% were physically abused, primarily owing to road incidents and accidents.

The study was led at Heriot-Watt University and also involved Nottingham Trent University.

Dr Anastasios Hadjisolomou, of Strathclyde’s Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, the University’s lead in the research, said: “This research, using and responding to Scotland’s Fair Work Framework, highlights that Scotland’s vision to be a Fair Work Nation is far from being met.

 

As this research shows, those working in the delivery sector in Scotland remain trapped in a precarious working regime, whilst data reveals unfair and hazardous working conditions.

 

“With this report, we call employers and policy makers to protect those who are most vulnerable in the Scottish labour market, and society. Only then we start talking about a fair economy and a fair society.”

The food courier sector flourished following the COVID-19 pandemic, with an increasing number of restaurants, stores and food delivery companies delivering directly to customers.

Employment in food delivery remains an important avenue for many people to enter the labour market, and a primary source of income for 48% of those surveyed, particularly among migrant workers. However, the sector is said to lack essential policies to protect employees, normalising unfair practices. Migrant workers, comprising a significant portion, face barriers such as qualification recognition, visa constraints, and language proficiency, limiting their opportunities to move into alternative careers.

The report documents first-hand accounts from food delivery couriers.

Among them is ‘Jordan’, whose real name has not been published to protect his identity.

He said: “I’m constantly being threatened by people not only customers but on the road, it’s like they see a guy with a delivery bag and they’re constantly giving me grief.”

‘Jay’ said: “It’s very dangerous work because there’s more and more ‘hit and run’ specially for riders working at night and some colleagues really get hurt and then they can’t work of course.”

Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), supports calls for delivery couriers to be protected by employment rights.

She said: “This report shines a light on the galling abuse suffered by food delivery couriers which cannot be allowed to go unchecked.

“To read that all women surveyed had experienced sexual harassment or abuse, with 81% of couriers overall feeling fundamentally unsafe in their work, is inexcusable and requires urgent action from government.

“These workers need protection. If we are to become a Fair Work Nation by 2025, the exploitative, abusive practices this vital research…highlights must be purged.”

The research was funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).

NORTHERN IRELAND

Social workers to strike over staff shortages

1 hour ago
Catherine Morrison,BBC News NI
PA

Some social workers in the Belfast Health Trust are taking 48 hours of strike action from Wednesday over a "staffing crisis" in family and childcare services.

About 40 members of the Nipsa trade union from three offices across Belfast will take part.

Industrial action will also extend to other trust areas in the coming weeks.

Nipsa said in some cases, staffing was about 30-50% below the required levels, which the union claimed had led to excessive workloads and stress.

'All-time high'


BBC News NI understands that in one office in the greater Belfast area, where 10 social work staff are needed, there are only two in place.

There are about 3,000 social workers in Northern Ireland.

A major report published in 2023 found hundreds of vacancies and an increase in demand for services following the pandemic.

The number of looked-after children has also hit an all-time high, with at least 3,800 looked-after children.

'Crying, leaving ... stressed out'

Nipsa said the strike action came after a period of negotiations with the Department of Health, which failed to address the problem of staff shortages.

Damien Maguire, who has been a social worker for 20 years, said some staff were working 50-60 hours every week.

"We can't do this anymore," he said.

"We can't have our members crying, leaving the profession, stressed out, retiring early, leaving to go to other jobs that they don't necessarily want to go into.

"This is people's lives, it's children's lives and it's families' lives but it's also the lives of those social workers who have lived experience of what it's like to work in the system."

The strike action is due to last until 10 May.

The BBC has contacted the Department of Health for a response.