SLAVERY: INDENTURED SERVITUDE

Are au pairs to become a thing of the past?

Máté Horváth looks back on his time working as an au pair in Edinburgh as a life changing experience.

By Jane Bradley
Published 30th Apr 2023,

Au pair schemes were originally set up to be cultural exchange programmes.

“I really enjoyed the experience, and the different culture,” he says. “It was safe, it gave me another culture and new friends. This experience opened my view, and changed the way I think about the world.”

Mr Horváth, who, ten years later, is now married with three children of his own and settled in his native Hungary, spent a year living with a Scottish family, where he looked after their two children in return for food, board and a small salary.

"At school, I learned English and Latin,” he says. “So I had just one option to travel abroad: Great Britain. I wanted to try to improve my language skills.”

Máté Horváth, from Hungary, was an au pair in Edinburgh ten years ago.

Working as an au pair is often seen as a rite of passage for young people, like Mr Horváth, looking for an opportunity to experience culture abroad – and a useful source of live-in childcare for busy, working families. Around 20 countries in the world from China to France, the US and Canada have an au pair scheme.

From the French “au pair”, meaning “at par”, the term was used to describe the economic parity between the employee and employer – an exchange of work for a cultural experience.

Now, however, the numbers of people living in a foreign country in exchange for childcare and light housework has fallen, amid changes to immigration rules – and politicians’ fears that au pairs, who are often not subject to the same employment rules and rights as regular workers, could be being exploited.

In Norway, the government has this month put forward a proposal to scrap its scheme to permit foreign workers to enter the country as au pairs, amid fears that they are being exploited by the families who employ them.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the number of au pairs has plummeted since Britain left the European Union. Now, only people who already have the right to work in the UK can be taken on as an au pair, removing potential applications from most people from the 27 EU member states, unless they already had leave to remain in Britain. A separate visa pathway for au pairs was scrapped by the Home Office in November 2008 and despite a campaign led by the British Au Pair Agencies Association to re-establish a similar scheme after Brexit, the idea was not taken up by the UK Government.

Even in countries still operating a working au pair scheme, controversy is rife. An Australian study published in 2018 found the majority of foreign au pairs working in Australia, where they can be employed on a working holiday visa, were being asked to do housework on top of their childcare duties by families taking advantage of cheap labour, while au pairs from South America living in the US have complained of being exploited.

Mr Horváth had a good experience, taking the children of his employers to school and to extra curricular activities. He is concerned that fewer young people will be able to have the cultural opportunity he had.

“The family I lived with was very kind, patient, and lovely,” he remembers. “Before I moved, we talked around three or four times and the duties were clear. Sometimes, it was not easy to live in a family, because everything was totally different: the language, the weather, the rules, the people. But this was the reason why I wanted to travel.

"I really loved Edinburgh, it is so different to home. At my time, it was easy to travel, and easy to start working as an au pair. If it is not easy to travel and work now, less young people will be able to have that opportunity.”

In Norway, the decision to scrap the scheme has come following a string of court cases relating to situations where some people employed under the au pair scheme – many of them young women from the Philippines – were exploited by their employer.

In 2017, wealthy Norwegian investor Ragnar Horn and his wife, Joey Shaista Horn, were jailed for five months for fraudulently and illegally using two young women from the Philippines as au pairs at the same time, and putting them to work as their low-paid household help.

This came a year after Norway’s state immigration agency UDI ruled that 45 Norwegian families should be prohibited from having au pairs in their homes, because of the families’ alleged violations of the programme.

Peggy Hessen Følsvik, head of Norway’s largest labour confederation, LO, has branded the practice a form of “slavery”.

"Unfortunately, the scheme has given us many examples of gross exploitation of women. I am simply relieved that this scheme has now been put to an end,” she said.

Norwegian labour minister Marte Mjøs Persen last month submitted a proposal to end the au pair residence permit scheme. The plan is now out for consultation, which will run until the end of June, although it is likely to be approved.

“It is a system that does not work as intended. It is no longer a cultural exchange scheme as it once was. The scheme is used to obtain cheap labour in the home, either for childcare or housework,” she told Norwegian media.

“Even though many au pair live well with their host families, the program has also become a loophole to get cheap workers. The time when the au pair program was seen as a cultural exchange is over.”

One mother, from Edinburgh, says she was careful to do everything “by the book” when she employed an au pair to look after her three children. UK regulations state that au pairs should be given time to study and practise their English with the host family, as well as attending language lessons – and should not be expected to work for more than 30 hours a week.

She has taken in four different au pairs at different times – all from France, where the family has previously lived.

"We always gave the au pairs the opportunity to eat with us, although we were lucky that we have a sort of granny flat, so they had their own space if they wanted it,” she says.

"We did our best to teach them about Scottish culture, and we also paid for them to go to a language school while they were here if they wanted to.

"It gave the children an opportunity to keep up their French, but they’re not here to be nannies, they were more like a big sister and that was really nice for the kids. We’re older parents and the younger au pair can run around in the garden and jump on the trampoline a bit more than we can.

"We have stayed in touch with some of them and they have come to visit us again.”

How can au pairs work in the UK and other countries?

Au pairs wanting to live with a family in the UK need to already have permission to work here, meaning that since Brexit, the number of potential employees has greatly reduced. No specific pathway has been created for au pairs to enter the UK separately, since the Home Office scrapped a previous visa pathway in 2008.

Outside of those who already have a UK working visa, nationals who are eligible to apply under the Youth Mobility Scheme Visa – from Australia, Canada, Monaco, New Zealand, San Marino and Iceland – also have the opportunity to look for work as an au pair.

Au pairs usually live with the family they work for and are unlikely to be classed as workers or employees. They are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage or paid holidays.

Instead, they are treated as a member of the family they live with and get “pocket money” instead - usually at least £90 a week. However, depending on how much pocket money” they earn, they may have to pay Income Tax and National Insurance. They are also expected to be given time to study and practise their English with the host family, as well as attending language lessons.

Some countries have a separate route for those wanting to work as an au pair – while others require applicants to hold a working holiday visa, or be paid full salaries in accordance with minimum wage requirements.

In Spain, for example, applicants have to fulfil certain criteria, such as not being married, not having children of their own and having experience in childcare. They also need the right to live and work in the country – such as EU citizenship or an existing working visa.

Childcare is broken in the US, work-from-home won’t fix it

Sarah Green Carmichael

NEW YORK – It seems people can go hardly a week without a viral video clip from a virtual all-hands meeting.

In one of the most recent, Mr James Clarke, chief executive officer of media company Clearlink, is trying to justify a return-to-office mandate at the digital marketing and technology company when he suddenly suffers an acute case of rapid-onset foot-in-mouth syndrome.

In the section of the video that has ruffled the most feathers, he seems to be speaking to employees who want to continue to work remotely because they have been unable to find childcare.


“Only the rarest of full-time caregivers can also be a productive and full-time employee at the same time,” he says.

The comment has sparked outrage – and confusion. I don’t know any mum or dad who considers themselves a “part-time” parent. And plenty of working parents consider themselves primary caregivers, even if their child is in daycare 50 hours a week.

But in the context of his larger comments, it seems to me that Mr Clarke is worried about employees who say they need to keep working remotely because they do not have other daycare arrangements and their children are too young to go to school.

And I am sorry to say that, however clumsy his words, he is not wrong.

It is generally not a good idea to work full-time from home without some form of daycare for young children. For evidence, look no further than the first 18 months of the pandemic.

I spoke with Ms Jill Koziol, CEO of Motherly, a fully remote content company that requires all employees to have childcare.

“To cut out the commute time is such a gift to your employees and to families – and frankly, brings you more loyal and committed and productive employees,” she says.

But operating as a fully remote company requires openness and transparency – from both managers and employees.

Ms Koziol says they ask employees about their childcare arrangements as part of one-on-one conversations and in the context of the company’s flexibility benefits.

Employees are expected to work eight hours a day, at least six of which should be between 9am and 5pm in their local time zone. Approaching childcare conversations this way helps balance expectation-setting with empathy.

Data on how many remote employees are trying to get by without any outside childcare are hard to come by.

An estimate from Motherly’s annual survey of thousands of mothers suggests it could be about 7 per cent of full-time remote working mums.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Minor Issues: Why going back to full-time work might make me a better mum

The new normal of hybrid work

Although that is a small share, it has not stopped employers from worrying about it – or from making assumptions about what mothers are doing when they are working remotely. (And I am specifically using the word “mother” here because no one seems to make these assumptions about dads with remote jobs.)

For months now, when I have interviewed experts and leaders about the return to office and I bring up the challenges faced by parents, some of the men I spoke to have left me with the distinct impression they think mums (always mums) want to keep working remotely not to save time on commuting, but to simultaneously care for young children.

As a toddler mum myself, I cannot imagine anything more hellacious. Yes, during the height of Covid-19, when families were isolating and schools and daycares were closed, many parents did have kids at home during working hours.

But families found this excruciating.

Kids were on screens all day, partners were parenting and working in alternating shifts, and days were long – a patchwork of Zoom calls and Elmo marathons stretching from dawn to midnight.

A FlexJobs survey from spring 2021 shows the toll: 21 per cent of working parents had to reduce their hours; 16 per cent had to quit their jobs; and 40 per cent said they worked too long and could not unplug.

As daycare centres and schools reopened, and vaccines became available for everyone but infants, parents gratefully put this chaos behind them.

Yet, isolated anecdotes make it clear that there are likely still some parents who are trying to work remotely with children at home.

For these outliers, there are probably challenges of availability and access – but the main challenge is likely cost.

In Utah, where Mr Clearlink is based, the average annual cost of infant daycare is US$16,572 (S$22,105).

Utah also has the highest number of children in a family, with about 2.32 kids each household. Daycare for one baby and one toddler would cost about US$28,608. The average salary for women in the state is only US$23,000.

I cannot blame families for wanting to keep exorbitant daycare costs down. But remote jobs are not the answer to America’s broken childcare system.

Ms Koziol has advice for employees who want to keep working remotely: Combat any unspoken employer fears by being explicit that you have full-time, outside-the-home daycare.

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

Australia aims for free childcare as spiralling costs discourage parents from working

UK childcare enrolments jump after squeeze on household income

On video calls, keep your camera on, both to make communication easier and to show that your home workspace is free of distractions. If there are occasionally children appearing in your Zoom calls, explain why it is an exception: Kiddo is home sick that day or daycare centre is closed due to weather.

Managers who are concerned about employees’ remote-work arrangements need to deal with them on an individual basis, not at all-hands meetings. Surely more companies could adopt Motherly’s “core hours” approach to flexibility.

But more broadly, what would really help diffuse the tension over employees’ childcare arrangements is better childcare – childcare that is easier to find, easier to pay for and higher quality. But that will likely take government intervention.

It would be a worthy investment.

“Our economy needs mothers in the workforce,” says Ms Koziol. “We are losing our competitive edge. Millennial women are the most educated demographic in our economy. We’ve got to find a way to make it work for them.”

Remote work is one way to do that. But remote work only works in conjunction with childcare. 

BLOOMBERG

Sarah Green Carmichael is a Bloomberg Opinion editor. Previously, she was managing editor of ideas and commentary at Barron’s and an executive editor at Harvard Business Review, where she hosted HBR IdeaCast.

Canada: Ex-Indian students may be deported in case related to fake documentation

ByAnirudh Bhattacharyya
Apr 30, 2023

There are at least 30 students facing removal proceedings, though that hasn’t escalated to the final order being passed, as yet.

Toronto: As many former international students from India face possible deportation from Canada in a case related to fake documentation, Canadian authorities have issued their first removal order in this regard.

Former international students from India, facing deportation from Canada, staging a protest in downtown Toronto on March 30, along with supporters. (Supplied pic)

Karamjeet Kaur, based in the city of Edmonton in the province of Alberta, received the removal order from the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) on April 24, after exhausting her legal options in challenging potential deportation.

Kaur, originally from Faridkot in Punjab, was sent an air ticket for New Delhi, via Toronto, for May 29. Kaur, who arrived in Canada in 2018, described the official action as “unfair” and said that she was “not a criminal”.

Kaur is among a group of several such former students. There are at least 30 other such students facing removal proceedings, though that hasn’t escalated to the final order being passed, as yet. Another 130 or so cases are being investigated.

These students arrived in Canada between 2017 and 2019, and in rare instances, in 2020. They started receiving notices from the CBSA in 2021 and last year, for a hearing as the agency concluded the letter of offer of admission to a Canadian higher education institution, which formed the basis of their study permits, was “fake”.

The majority of affected students were represented by the agent Brijesh Mishra of the Jalandhar-based counselling firm EMSA Education and Migration Services Australia.

The ex-students said they were being victimised for no fault of theirs. In an open letter under the banner of Victim Students released in March, they said, “We are desperate for justice; we are victims of fraud; we have no criminal level but facing a removal order.”

“No one can understand our anguish when we learned for the first time through CBSA that the offer was fake and we have been dying and struggling ever since,” it added.

The letter to Kaur stated the removal order had now become “enforceable” and “the foreign national against whom it was made must leave Canada immediately”.

Some of the impacted students have joined together and staged protests to bring attention to their plight, seeking some leniency from the Government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. They are planning another such demonstration in Toronto this week.

Hindustan Times.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anirudh Bhattacharyya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb.

Productions shot in B.C. are still struggling to spotlight diverse characters, study shows

Story by Yasmine Ghania • Saturday, April 29,2023

Research shows some marginalized groups are significantly underrepresented, or misrepresented, in B.C.'s film and television industry.

© Shutterstock / Virrage Images

Some Hollywood North productions still uphold stereotypes such as the female lead longing for love and the Black or Asian sidekick who serves as a punchline for audience laughs, according to a recent study.

The study, a joint project by the Union of British Columbia Performers (UBCP/ACTRA) and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, breaks down how almost 7,000 characters were represented in productions shot in British Columbia between 2018 and 2021.

It concluded that some marginalized groups are still significantly underrepresented, or misrepresented, in the province's film and television industry.

The report, which dives deep into data on gender, race, disability, body shape, age and LGBTQ identity, finds that while there have been some improvements in inclusive character creation and casting, white people are still playing two-thirds of all characters.

Natasha Tony, who provides inclusive leadership and workplace training for the film industry through her company Elevate Inclusion Strategies, says the data gives the industry a baseline to start measuring progress.

"These numbers tell a story," she said. "For many years we have had that single story and right now, we're starting to really understand that we've been missing out."

According to the study, the most prominent stereotypes for racialized roles were criminals, Black "mama bears" and/or angry Black women, service workers and Black sidekicks.

Black and multiracial characters were sidekicks more often than they were protagonists, "reinforcing the idea that characters of colour should not be the centre of the story," the study said.


Other data shows less than five per cent of characters were LGBTQ, less than four per cent had a disability, just over five per cent were considered overweight and less than one-fifth of all characters were over 50 years old.

"We've been missing or lacking in-depth storytelling that is telling the story through intersections through our overlapping identities," Tony said.

Tony, a former extras casting director, said she is cautiously optimistic there is a cultural shift happening now compared to 20 years ago when she was hiring through an intersectional lens.

"To be able to say we're not going to stereotype and put all of the racialized people behind bars, that we're not going to have women only size zero to six, let's have non-binary people ... that was, at that time, groundbreaking."

Embracing accents

But Vancouver-based actor Melita Sekgwa is more pessimistic about progress in the industry.

"There hasn't been much impact. If anything, it feels even harder now," she said.

She's especially concerned about the difficulty people with accents face in getting cast. Sekgwa says even though it's no longer explicitly stated in disclaimers that accents are not wanted for a certain role, people are still getting rejected behind the scenes.

"Even though they are a true reflection of the society that we live in, both in Canada and the United States. So very disappointing to be honest," Sekgwa said.

Sekgwa, who is originally from Botswana, says she's working on her accent "to be marketable and employable" but feels it's unfair that she has to do that work.

"There should be an accommodation in the script where people are just themselves with the way they speak. Because it shows the diversity of who we are," she said.

Yogi Omar, a queer activist who co-owned a talent agency in Vancouver for many years until 2020, says the industry needs better representation at the top levels, including network executives and directors.

"Ultimately, everyone is answering to the network or answering to the big boss," he said. "If the changes don't really happen from the structure of the network, changes aren't going to happen."

CANADA

Basic income could play an important role in creating a more just and sustainable food system

Story by Charles Z. Levkoe, Canada Research Chair in Equitable and Sustainable Food Systems, Lakehead University

 Kristen Lowitt, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, Queen's University, Ontario   

Yesterday  The Conversation, 

A farmer at the Roots Community Food Centre urban farm in northwestern Ontario harvests Gete-Okosomin squash in summer 2021.© (C. Levkoe)

Canada’s food system is experiencing ongoing stresses from supply chain disruptions, price inflation and extreme weather events. Canadians are feeling the effects of these stresses: in 2021, nearly 16 per cent of provincial households experienced some degree of food insecurity.

Federal programs such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and the recent grocery store rebate point to the impact direct government income interventions can have on ensuring equity in times of emergency, including access to food.

Some have discussed the new grocery store rebate, which is to be delivered through the GST/HST tax credit system, as closely aligned with proposals for a basic income guarantee. But a basic income guarantee would involve regular payments, not just a one-time rebate.

A basic income guarantee could play a key role in reducing individual and household food insecurity among society’s most vulnerable and ensure everyone can meet their basic needs with dignity.

What the research says

There is general support among basic income advocates in Canada for implementing income-tested basic income, which would involve delivering cash transfers to individuals whose incomes fall below a certain threshold.

As sustainable food systems experts, we suggest that a basic income guarantee could not only be an important tool for addressing economic access to food, but also in supporting sustainability across the food system.

We draw on our research with Coalition Canada, a network of basic income advocacy groups. Our research brought interdisciplinary teams of scholars and practitioners together to develop a series of case studies examining basic income through the lens of different sectors. These sectors include the arts, finance, health, municipalities and the criminal justice system.

Our work focused on the agriculture and fisheries sectors and involved members of the National Farmers Union, Union Paysanne, EcoTrust Canada and the Native Fishing Alliance.

Overall, our research suggests that a basic income guarantee could have a significant impact on the economic uncertainties faced by farmers and fishing communities in Canada. It could also contribute to a more just sustainable transition in the food system.

Reducing economic uncertainty

One potential impact of a basic income guarantee would be reducing economic uncertainty for the most vulnerable agriculture and fisheries workers.

People employed in food and fish processing and as farm labourers are especially vulnerable to seasonal unemployment, low wages, uneven employee benefits and unsafe working conditions, including high rates of occupational injury and illness.


A guaranteed basic income could have a significant impact on the economic uncertainties faced by those working in the agriculture and fishing industries in Canada.© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

A basic income guarantee could offer individuals more financial security and control over their employment choices, and thus address the racialized, classed and gendered disparities prominent in food systems labour.

Supporting new fishers and farmers

A second potential impact of a basic income guarantee could be supporting new entrants in agriculture and fisheries. Across Canada, the commercial fishing and farming workforces are aging.

Supporting new farmers and fishers, especially those using more socially and ecologically sustainable practices, is an essential part of building a more resilient food system.

New entrants face substantial barriers related to high entry costs, such as access to land and equipment or purchasing a boat and fishing license, combined with uncertain and fluctuating prices for their goods.

While a basic income guarantee alone can’t address these challenges, it could provide greater economic stability for new farmers and fishers when they invest in infrastructure and training.

Preparing for future stressors

A basic income guarantee could also be a step towards building resilience against ongoing stressors, like the climate crisis and extreme weather events, along with preparing for future emergencies.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that those with more stable incomes and flexible work arrangements are better able to adapt to unexpected shocks. For example, during the pandemic, boat-to-fork seafood businesses better weathered seafood chain disruptions because of their adaptable supply chain configurations and proximity to consumers.

At present, small-scale farmers and fishers tend to receive the least support, because most subsidies go to larger industrial enterprises. However, these small-scale producers play a crucial role in supplying food for regional and local markets, which can serve as important buffers during times of crisis and reduce the stress of long-distance supply chains.

Establishing a basic income guarantee would be a proactive step in supporting equitable livelihoods for small-scale farmers and fishers.


Indigenous fishermen leave the harbour in Saulnierville, N.S. in October 2020.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Next steps for the food system

Although a basic income guarantee has the potential to bring about many positive impacts, it shouldn’t be a substitute for existing government-funded agricultural and fisheries programs such as grants, public research, and training and skills development programs.

A basic income guarantee also shouldn’t replace contributory programs, like the Employment Insurance fishing benefits. A basic income guarantee would offer support to fishers whose earnings are too low to qualify for employment insurance, or who are unable to go out on the water.

Further research and policy efforts will be crucial for gaining a fuller understanding of how a basic income guarantee might intersect with other financial supports like insurance, loans and climate funding.

Additional research will also be crucial for understanding how a basic income guarantee could support migrant workers brought in through the Temporary Foreign Worker program. Migrant workers are an essential part of fisheries processing and meat and horticulture production.

There is also a need to think systematically and holistically about the role of basic income across the food system. The only way to accomplish this is with further input from farming and fishing communities and Indigenous communities in collaboration with anti-poverty, food sovereignty and food justice organizations.

We believe a basic income guarantee is a promising tool for contributing to sustainability and justice across agriculture and fishing sectors, while encouraging the development of cross-sectoral networks, research and policy agendas.

The authors would like to acknowledge the author teams of Coalition Canada’s Case for Basic Income Series for their contributions to this article.

This article is republished from a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation, 

Read more:
The Canadian government should make the grocery rebate permanent to combat the affordability crisis

A guaranteed basic income could end poverty, so why isn’t it happening?

Kristen Lowitt receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Charles Z. Levkoe receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Government of Ontario.

Quebec's Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect On May 1

Story by Sofia Misenheimer • 2h ago

Quebec's Minimum Wage Increase Takes Effect On May 1© Provided by MTL Blog

Minimum wage in Quebec is increasing by a dollar to $15.25 per hour as of May 1. The change will affect almost 300,000 workers in the province, including those who receive tips. But some say it's not enough.

The government announced this move in January as part of its plan to improve the standard of living for low-income earners. It will mean an extra $2,080 per year for a full-time worker who puts in 40 hours per week.

Employees who receive tips will see an increase in their base pay from $11.40 to $12.20 per hour, an increase of 80 cents.

Labour Minister Jean Boulet is calling Quebec's wage hike "A historic increase that will help employees better meet their needs while respecting companies' ability to pay."

However, a study by the Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS) in 2022 shows that one in five Quebecers falls below the income threshold required to meet their basic needs. According to the report, a living wage in the current economy is at least $18 per hour, which is the minimum income needed for an individual to lead a dignified life and cover essential expenses.

The cost of living in Quebec has risen significantly due to inflation since the study, adding to the financial strain on low-income workers.

Quebec's minimum wage is the third highest in the country, behind British Columbia at $15.65 and Ontario at $15.50 per hour.

Stop-work order after underground fire at Nova Scotia's Donkin coal mine, no injuries

Story by The Canadian Press • Today

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour says it has issued a stop-work order following a fire at the Donkin coal mine in Cape Breton.

The department says in a tweet that the fire, which broke out Sunday in the underground mine, is under control and no injuries were reported.

It says no workers were underground at the time of the incident.

The mine resumed operations last year after it was shuttered in March 2020 amid slumping coal prices and roof collapses that led to repeated government stop-work orders.

In January, it was revealed that owners Kameron Coal Management Ltd. had been cited for a lengthy list of safety violations since the operation reopened in mid-September.

The violations ranged from an unqualified employee doing electrical work and the use of an unapproved ventilation control device to the improper storage of compressed gas cylinders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2023.

UK 

Nurse Strikes to Go On Even as GMB Union Accepts Pay Deal

Ambulance staff also plan two-day walkout beginning Monday

Health leaders warn of significant disruption to service


Royal College of Nursing members protest in London, UK, on April 27.

Photographer: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

By Kwaku Gyasi and  Alexandra Muller

April 30, 2023

UK nurses warned there will be no quick conclusion to strikes as health-care workers prepare for a new walkout beginning tonight.

Members of the Royal College of Nursing will strike from 8 p.m. Sunday until midnight on Monday. Ambulance staff in some regions will also walk out on Monday and Tuesday, in the sixth consecutive month of industrial action for the National Health Service.

The strike is particularly controversial after members of another major health union, the GMB, voted Friday to accept the government’s latest pay offer. That may add to pressure on the RCN to accept a deal with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government after a May 2 meeting of the NHS Staff Council, an umbrella labor body.

In an interview with Sky News, RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said that her membership had made it “loud and clear” that the current deal still wasn’t good enough and that the offer does nothing to address the staffing crisis at the NHS.

“The current pay structure does not work for nurses otherwise we would not have the retention and recruitment problems we’ve got,” Pat Cullen told Sky News on Sunday, adding that if the Secretary of State and the government continue to ignore the nurses’ voices and try to impose a settlement, “we will be re-balloting our members come to mid may, close to mid June, and that means we could face strike actions right up until the Christmas period.”

Health leaders in England warned of significant disruption to services this bank holiday weekend, with the walkout affecting emergency departments, intensive care and cancer wards for the first time. Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said the strike action by nurses was the “most worrying so far.” Some hospitals were struggling to find enough staff for specialist areas including children’s services, he said in an emailed statement.

“It is hugely disappointing some unions are escalating strike action this week — including the RCN, despite only a third of its members rejecting the government’s fair and reasonable offer on pay, which other unions accepted,” Steve Barclay, the health secretary, wrote Saturday in an emailed statement.

Cullen said that national exemptions were in place to make sure patients received critical care. “Our nurses, as I’ve said time and time again, will never leave their patients unsafe or create more risk that’s already in the system at this point in time,” she said on Sky.

The GMB union voted on Friday 56%-44% to accept the government’s offer, which has split NHS staff including nurses, dietitians and ambulance attendants across the country. Earlier on Friday, members of the Unite union turned down the same nationwide package by a similarly narrow margin of 52%-48% and are participating in the weekend walkouts.

“I would urge them to think again and to do what the other trade unions in the health service have done, which is to accept what I think is fair and reasonable pay offer, reflecting the value that we do place on hardworking NHS staff,” Transport Secretary Mark Harper said on Sky.

The vote by the GMB could be pivotal for the government’s effort to end the dispute, since it is one of the larger unions and could tip the balance toward acceptance.
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The Conservative government has been battling with industrial disputes across multiple sectors as union leaders demand workers’ pay keeps up with soaring inflation, which remains around 10%. The walkouts in health care, education, train services and other critical industries are now entering a 12th month. The unrest appears to have hurt Sunak’s Tory party, which is trailing Keir Starmer’s Labour Party by a double-digit margin ahead of a general election expected next year.

UK

Warning nurses could hold strikes ‘up until Christmas’ as NHS workers walk out in latest industrial action

Story by Matt Watts

EVENING STANDARD  • MAY 1,2023

Nurses could continue to hold strikes “up until Christmas” if the current dispute is not resolved, the leader of the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

NHS services across England are facing major disruption on Monday after nurses walked out in a 28-hour strike over pay.

NHS England warned that staffing levels in some areas of the country will be “exceptionally low, lower than on previous strike days”.

The strike, which will end just before midnight, comes after a High Court judge ruled it would be unlawful for the industrial action to continue into Tuesday as originally planned.

But members will be reballoted after rejecting a pay offer put to them earlier this year, despite other unions accepting it.

Pat Cullen, chief executive and general secretary of the union, said a failure by the government to change its approach to pay would mean the same cycle of strike action repeating again and again.

“It is for the secretary of state to come back around the table and put a better offer on the table,” Ms Cullen told Sky News on Monday.



(REUTERS)© Provided by Evening Standard

If this fails to materialise, Ms Cullen said the country could “see our nursing staff on picket lines up until Christmas. But we don’t want that”.

“We do need to bring this health service back from the brink”, she said.

Ms Cullen urged Health Secretary Steve Barclay "not to be disrespectful" to nurses amid their "biggest strike yet" over the bank holiday.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary's comment came after Mr Barclay described their ongoing industrial action as "premature" and "disrespectful" to the other trade unions who are meeting to discuss the Government's pay offer on Tuesday.

Under the NHS Staff Council, the unions will consider the offer of a 5% pay increase for 2023/24 along with a one-off payment worth between £1,655 and £3,789 for the current financial year for nurses in England.



(PA)© Provided by Evening Standard

NHS workers are taking part in march in central London on Monday. Unite said the march coincides with a strike by its members in Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Related video: Nurses' strikes could last 'until Xmas' (Sky News)

Duration 0:45 View on Watch

It follows concerns over the impact of the strike action on patient safety.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen said on Sunday that measures were in place to keep patients safe after concerns were raised about the impact of the strike action on emergency services.

The union initially said it would not agree to derogations - broad areas of care where staffing is guaranteed despite industrial action - but granted some exemptions on Friday in an apparent U-turn.

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is among organisations where nurses have agreed to derogations after it voiced “serious concerns” about patient safety during the walkout.

The hospital said it was “incredibly grateful” to RCN members for offering assurances but took the decision not to stand down a “business continuity incident” until it was confident it could staff services during the strike.

The Unite walkout follows rejection of the Government’s pay offer by its members.

The union said that with inflation still in double figures, the offer is a “substantial real-terms pay cut” for NHS workers.

Unite members at South Central, South East Coast and West Midlands ambulance trusts alongside workers at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, The Christie Pathology Partnership, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust will all take part in industrial action on May 2.

It added the number of rescheduled appointments due to strike action is set to hit half a million next week.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has said the 28-hour nursing strike is “premature” and “disrespectful” to other unions.

The comments come ahead of a meeting of the NHS Staff Council, made up of health unions, employers and Government representatives, which will discuss the Government’s 5% pay offer.

“I think this strike is premature and is disrespectful to those trade unions that will be meeting on Tuesday,” he told broadcasters.

But Ms Cullen said there are national exemptions in place for “those really acute urgent services”.

Urging the public to use NHS services wisely, NHS England asked those who need non-urgent care to go to pharmacies or dial 111 as their first port of call.

Dame Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England, said: “We are grateful to the RCN for agreeing a process of safety critical mitigations and we continue to support all nurses, those who work and those who take industrial action.

“These mitigations do not represent a return to standard staffing. The industrial action will still have a very significant impact on services during the strike period and patients can expect to see longer waits for care.

“The public should use the NHS wisely, with those needing non-urgent care using pharmacies and 111 online as their first port of call. And if you have a life-threatening emergency, please seek help in the usual way by dialling 999.”

Nurses make up a quarter of NHS staff and are the biggest proportion of the health service workforce.

Post-pandemic work in the public sector: A new way forward or a return to the past?

Story by Eric Champagne, Professeur agrégé, École d'études politique, Directeur, Centre d'études en gouvernance / Associate professor, School of Political Studies, Director, Centre on Governance, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa, 

Aracelly Denise Granja, Research Assistant, Centre on Governance, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Olivier Choinière, Professor of Project Management, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)

THE CONVERSATION • Thursday, April 27,2023

Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada picket outside a Service Canada office in Canmore, Alta., in April 2023. More than 150,000 federal public-service workers are on strike across the country after talks with the government failed. Remote work is a negotiation issue.© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Three years after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, many public health restrictions have been lifted and organizations are requiring workers to return to the office.

The desired return to pre-pandemic societal norms versus the pushback from employees who want to continue to enjoy the benefits of working from home has sparked debate about what the future job market will look like.

Hybrid and remote arrangements became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic and became vital tools for the continued functioning of society, the economy and all levels of government.

These arrangements enabled thousands of employees to keep their jobs, companies to remain operational and the public sector to continue providing essential goods and services to citizens.


Schoolchildren participate in online lessons while their mother works from home in January 2022 in Mississauga, Ont.© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Dramatic changes to how we work

Consequently, the pandemic caused sudden and profound changes to traditional work models.

While some thought these changes would be permanent, a partial and gradual return to the conventional workplace has begun.

Does this simply involve adapting the full-time, pandemic-fuelled remote work model to current times, or does it signal a complete return to the pre-pandemic way of working?

We’re exploring the behaviour and decision-making process of the government of Canada in terms of remote and hybrid work environments before, during and after the pandemic.

Our analysis results from a thorough review of several official government documents, including new information released through access-to-information requests and additional informal observations and insights from the field.

The evolution of remote work

A year prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the federal government started experimenting by offering “new and flexible (shared) workplace solutions” for employees in 14 departments who could work remotely.

But prior to 2020, the number of Canadian employees who worked at home full-time was statistically low: Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey 2016 reported that less than four per cent of employees were working from home most of the time.

This suggests that even though remote work was already recognized as a viable employment option by some organizations before the pandemic, it wasn’t used efficiently as a widespread work arrangement until COVID-19.

As a result of the pandemic, the government of Canada has provided guidance to departments and agencies to outline how the public sector can best provide remote and hybrid work arrangements to their employees in an effort to normalize this new way of working.

Related video: 32 Pandemic Habits We Should Continue (Money Talks News)

Duration 1:24 View on Watch

No direct contact with citizens

The pandemic has dramatically changed the way public sector employees work, especially in the federal government, where a wide variety of jobs don’t require direct interactions with the public.

As Evert Lindquist, a public administration scholar at the University of Victoria, has noted, remote and hybrid work models were accelerated by the digitization of the government:

“Many governments have instituted digital service agencies, established open data platforms, adopted social media channels, created innovation labs and proclaimed commitment to ‘open government.‘”

In the public sector, remote work became a way for governments to continue functioning remotely during COVID-19.

Once the pandemic stabilized, the government of Canada began a gradual, partial return to the designated workplace, initially giving departments considerable latitude to experiment with different hybrid models and the opportunity to make their own choices with few limitations.

But this strategy — based on flexibility and managerial discretion — didn’t last very long.

New rules were imposed by the Treasury Board Secretariat on departments in December 2022, including a requirement for public servants to work 40 to 60 per cent of their regular monthly schedule at the designated workplace. These rules have been criticized by many who believe they mark the beginning of a return to the pre-pandemic way of working.



President of the Treasury Board Jean-Yves Duclos, shown on video, joins other public officials, including Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, in a COVID-19 briefing in January 2021.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Remote work as a negotiation issue

All these changes happening in a short period of time have created uncertainty and even distrust on the part of federal government employees toward their employers — so much so that remote work is now a central issue in the negotiations for the new collective agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) representing 120,000 employees.

The ability to continue to work from home is a point of contention, particularly pertaining to employees who were hired during the pandemic since they don’t have a physical office and have only ever worked from home, especially those in rural areas.

The federal government and federal employees are both navigating uncharted territories.

On the one hand, those who currently work remotely want to preserve as much flexibility as possible in their work patterns.

On the other hand, enshrining the right to work remotely in a collective agreement will significantly limit the employer’s ability to impose return-to-office mandates over the long term. It could also create inequality and competition among those whose jobs can easily be done remotely and those who provide direct services to the public.

Multiple issues at play

In addition, there’s uncertainty about the long-term impact on the quality of team work, the management and design of government buildings and the psychological impact of isolation on employees. There’s a lot more at stake in these negotiations than salary issues.

Although the rules have recently been tightened and are still a major focus of the current bargaining process, the government of Canada has shifted significantly when it comes to the role of remote and hybrid work before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The crisis has irrefutably transformed the workforce in all sectors, and a complete reversal to pre-pandemic work models isn’t likely.

Even though many political and administrative decisions on remote work loom on the horizon, we argue that workplaces will continue to evolve in the months and years ahead.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
The pandemic deepened gender inequality in dual-career households

Employees are feeling burned over broken work-from-home promises and corporate culture ‘BS’ as employers try to bring them back to the office

Olivier Choinière is affiliated with the Centre on Governance (University of Ottawa). Olivier is a former Government of Canada executive (2018-2022). During this period, he held several responsibilities, including the Director of the Future of Work Office in a major department (2021-2022).

Aracelly Denise Granja and Eric Champagne do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.