Friday, October 14, 2011
Equity seeks power to pursue low-paying employers
The Stage: Equity is calling for the right to launch employment tribunal cases on behalf of members who have been underpaid, claiming individuals are too “afraid of damaging their employment prospects” by taking action themselves. Currently, trade unions are not able to initiate a tribunal on behalf of members who claim their right to the national minimum wage has been abused, because a case must be brought by an individual. A union is then able to provide that individual with legal advice and representation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
This is the exact reasoning to be a part of a union. The fact that it is a news worthy problem for the union to deal with a theatre that is not paying union members the agreed rate is truly scary for our industry. The fact that actors and stage managers who are part of the union are scared about their job prospects if they ask to be paid what has already been agreed upon by the venue is just downright disgraceful.
I was unaware of this issue until now. I guess I assumed that Equity should already be able to file tribunals on its own because it seems, going along the lines of what Luke said, like that is one of the inherent reasons that unions exist. It's awful that these people who are being underpaid can't fight for their rights for fear of losing their income entirely. What kind of work environment is that?? I hope that Equity's concerns are addressed right away. People are hurting enough in this economy as it is, and these hard-working people should be able to fight or have their union fight for the pay they deserve. (I'm also a little shocked about the reality television minimum wage issues...television competitions seems so big time to me that those things shouldn't occur...but I guess it's an indicator of the corruption of the corporate world.)
I totally agree with both Luke and Shannon. This is what unions are for and I am glad they are trying to help. But something is nagging me about this article wont the employer find out which employe it is regardless? If the union takes them to court they are going to use the employe as evidence. That makes me kinda wonder why the union is using it as its main sell point. Regardless if the union can help people get the money they deserve I think they are doing there job
I think it's a good idea for the union to be able to start tribunals based on issues that are observed by the union even if they aren't reported by individual workers. While most workers aren't likely to be comfortable reporting underpayment, especially because most of the workers with these jobs need them fairly badly, the union might be able to locate these issues based on other reported information. I hope that they get this ability and are able to protect workers who are otherwise unable to defend their rights as workers.
Post a Comment