Report to the People
Protection for Homeworkers
Do you ever notice these job adverts which seem to appear overnight on railings, lamp posts, newsagents’ windows or in the small ads, which offer vast sums of money by working at home?
For everyone who begins their working day standing in the rain waiting for a bus, or stuck in a traffic jam, homeworking may seem attractive. It allows many people to carry out a vast range of work - from envelope addressing to assembly work - and join the labour market without the expense of commuting.
However, as a former official with the GMB - the union for Scotland’s estimated 38,000 homeworkers - I am all to well aware of the problems workers in this sector can face.
Only 9% have a written contract; just a quarter get information about their tax and National Insurance; a third receive an itemised pay slip. Many have no guarantee of minimum hours of work and there are problems surrounding maternity pay, sick pay, holiday pay and pensions.
But while I recognise these issues, and will continue to campaign for homeworkers’ rights, there is a group of people who are exploited far more than any genuine homeworkers: the victims of the homeworking scam.
These scams offer non-existent work, for example making up kits, for which you must pay. Of course, even if you are able to complete the kit, the company finds excuse after excuse not to accept your work - usually claiming it’s unsatisfactory. Indeed, I recall watching a consumer programme in which a top jeweller repeatedly had the necklaces she made for one such company rejected as substandard.
This is not legitimate homeworking - this is exploitation which, thanks to a bill going through Westminster, will soon become criminal.
Although employment law is reserved, a legal technicality (homeworking was not mentioned in the schedules to the Scotland Act) meant that the Scottish Parliament had to formally agree that the legislation would apply to Scotland.
I was glad to have an opportunity to speak in the debate and welcome the fact that, at long last, we are cracking down on the unprincipled parasites who run these operations.
Such exploitation is a disgrace and I am looking forward to it being consigned to the history books.
Also last week, the Executive launched its latest Programme for Government. Copies are available online at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/government/pfg-00.asp
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