Month: February 2018

Tesco faces £4 billion bill for back pay, because vagina

/ Mike Buchanan / 9 Comments

From time to time I shop in Tesco’s various stores around Bedford. Invariably I check out my own shopping, it saves time, and I required no training for the task. I spent many years as an executive in the logistics sector, and the idea that the work of a checkout person is equivalent to that of a warehouse worker is nonsense on stilts. If women want to be paid the same as warehouse workers, they should become warehouse workers, and face all the things that make working in warehouses a less attractive job, including unsocial hours, and the need to operate expensive equipment competently and safely. A piece by Robert Miller in today’s Times, emphases ours:

Tesco is facing a demand for up to £4 billion in back pay from thousands of mostly female shop floor staff in what could become Britain’s largest claim for equal pay.

Leigh Day, a law firm, has launched a legal action on behalf of almost 100 shop assistants who say that they earn as much as £3 an hour less than male warehouse workers in similar roles. [J4MB: They’re not similar roles. If they were, more women would want to do them.]

Up to 200,000 shop floor staff could be affected by the claim, which could cost Tesco up to £20,000 per worker in back pay over at least six years.

Paula Lee, a Leigh Day lawyer who is representing the women, told The Guardian that the most common rate of pay for women was £8 an hour, while for men it could be as high as £11 an hour.

“We believe an inherent bias has allowed store workers to be underpaid over many years,” she said. “There might be lifting and carrying in the distribution centre but there is also lifting and carrying in shops as well as dealing with customers asking questions and handling money.” [J4MB: The ‘lifting and carrying’ in shops will  be much less than in warehouses. As for ‘customers asking questions and handling money’, well, that requires high-level skills, doesn’t it? These women must be paid the same as warehouse workers, because vagina.]

The first claims are being submitted through Acas, the conciliation service, before proceeding to employment tribunal. Similar actions against Asda and Sainsbury’s are in the employment tribunal process.

A Tesco spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on a claim that we have not received. We work hard to make sure all our colleagues are paid fairly and equally for the jobs they do.”

Among the insightful comments, some from ‘Nikki’:

Male and female workers that are shop assistants are paid the same.

Male and female workers that work in the warehouse are paid the same.

Logic conclusion: shop assistant role is paid less than warehouse worker.

Post modernist conclusion: because there are more female shopping assistants and there are more male warehouse workers it is a sexism plot to pay men more.

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New domestic abuse law ‘could change Scotland’ (by criminalising men in heterosexual relationships)

/ Mike Buchanan / 11 Comments

Our thanks to James for this. The start of the piece, emphases ours:

A bill to criminalise psychological domestic abuse has been passed, with some campaigners saying it “could change Scotland forever”.

The Domestic Abuse bill, which has wide backing, creates a specific offence of “abusive behaviour in relation to a partner or ex-partner”.

This includes psychological abuse such as coercive and controlling behaviour as well as violence.

Critics claimed it could be difficult to gather sufficient evidence.

However MSPs voted by 118 to one to pass the legislation, with every member speaking in favour during the final debate.

It later emerged that Conservative Margaret Mitchell – who had spoken of the “total consensus” behind the bill – had recorded the only vote against. She said she pressed the wrong button during the vote and blamed the mistake on not wearing her glasses. [J4MB: We need more women in politics.]

Members stood to applaud domestic abuse survivors in the public gallery after the result was announced.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said it was a “momentous day”, saying laws would now “reflect the experience all to many women have suffered”.

Grid girl hits back at ‘middle class feminists who are forcing other women out of work’

/ Mike Buchanan / 6 Comments

Our thanks to Stu for this. Extracts:

A backlash has started after F1 grid girls and darts walk-on women were consigned to history. Former grid girl, model and Presidents Club host Rachel Reid has hit out at ‘well off’ and ‘middle class’ women who she believes are behind the demise of the industry.

She’s taking part in a protest being held this weekend in Birmingham for women who work in motor sport, hospitality, boxing and other promotional industries…

The current controversy started with revelations about a men-only Presidents Club dinner which forced hostesses to dress a certain way and included claims of harassment. Miss Reid was a hostess at the infamous Presidents Club charity dinners for eight years in a row.

She said: ‘I have never seen money like it in my life, the raffle tickets alone would pay off a normal person’s mortgage. It was £100 for five hours work and we could drink if we wanted to, I had some great nights there. And I certainly was not abused or harassed during my time there. ‘What no-one seems to understand is that these events need pretty women to coax the money out these rich men.’ The 39-year-old from Birmingham added: ‘It is amazing what a smile can do from an attractive woman, the money raised for charity was mindblowing and we were proud to be a part of that.’

Women offered 70 per cent discount for architecture conference in Lisbon

/ Mike Buchanan / 4 Comments

Our thanks to Leigh for this. The start of the piece:

Organisers of the Resonate conference have offered female delegates cut-price entry, in an effort to improve the gender balance of the event taking place at the AL_A-designed MAAT museum in Lisbon next week.

The decision to offer a “special price for women in design” – cutting the full ticket price of €220 (£195) to €60 (£53) – was taken by organisers MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology) and reSITE to “improve the gender balance in the industry”.

The idea came about when reSITE, a non-profit organisation focussing on the urban environment, called for ideas about how to address the gender imbalance in architecture and design.

“reSITE aims to be a part of the movement that elevates female voices as the solution and an opportunity to achieve social balance,” said a statement from the organisation.

“By bringing together all different backgrounds we can create provocative conversations around design and architecture for everyone. “

The move comes as the industry reels from the involvement of property professionals implicated in sexual harassment during the Presidents Club scandal earlier this month. [J4MB emphasis]

 

Amber Rudd considers pardon for suffragists on voting rights centenary

/ Mike Buchanan / 3 Comments

Women are in so many respects above the law, so why shouldn’t suffragettes – long-dead female terrorists who delayed female emancipation – be pardoned? A piece by Valentine Low in today’s Times, emphases ours (the paper uses the word ‘suffragists’ in its headline, but the article is about the suffragettes):

Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has said that she will look into whether suffragettes can be pardoned for criminal acts.

A campaign aligned with the centenary of women securing the right to vote is being supported by figures including Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader.

Jeremy Corbyn said that suffragettes with criminal records would be pardoned under a Labour government. The party would also give an official apology for the miscarriages of justice and persecution suffered by the campaigners, he said.

Nearly 1,000 women were arrested and many were imprisoned in the fight to deliver the Representation of the People Act. Given royal assent 100 years ago today, the law extended the right to vote to all men over 21 and women over 30 who met certain conditions.

Thousands of gay and bisexual men were posthumously pardoned last year under Turing’s Law but unlike many suffragettes their offences have now been abolished.

Ms Rudd said that she would look at individual requests for pardons but that they may be difficult to grant for violent crimes or arson.

“I’ve seen this campaign and can completely understand where it’s coming from [because of] the extraordinary pain and violence these women went through to deliver this vote,” she told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. “I will take a look at it but I must be frank: it’s complicated.”

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, which is leading the campaign for pardons, said that this would be a “fitting tribute”.

Mr Corbyn told his shadow cabinet, which was meeting at the Museum of London where an exhibition is marking the centenary, that the country must recognise the “enormous contribution and sacrifice” made by the campaigners.

“Many of those women were treated appallingly by society and the state. Convictions of suffragettes were politically motivated and bore no relation to the acts committed. Some were severely mistreated and force-fed in prison post-conviction so a pardon could mean something to their families.”

A lantern parade and a life-size display of key members of the suffrage movement are among events in a year-long programme [J4MB emphasis] launched by Theresa May today.

Events include Deeds Not Words, a lantern parade organised by Bristol Women’s Voice, and the opening of Making Her Mark at Hackney Museum, east London. Life-size images of key figures from the suffrage movement will be shown in Trafalgar Square.

Guides in Wales can earn a centenary badge designed with the help of Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of the British suffragette leader, Emmeline.

The Museum of London exhibition includes the scrapbook of the actress and prominent suffragette Kitty Marion — sometimes called Edwardian England’s most dangerous woman — who was convicted of setting fire to the grandstand at Hurst Park racecourse in Surrey. The book, which has never been displayed before, includes newspaper clippings suggesting that she carried out more arson attacks.

A letter from prison from another suffragette, Winifred Rix, to her 12-year-old daughter, Frances, apologises for missing her birthday party. “How lovely about the party. I am longing to hear all about it. You will write & tell me all about it presently won’t you? I shall think very much about you on the day; in your pretty little frock.”

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Another rape case collapses as lawyers condemn failing system

/ Mike Buchanan / 7 Comments

A piece by David Brown and Frances Gibb in today’s Times, emphases ours:

The trial of a man accused of rape collapsed yesterday after it was revealed that police had failed to investigate messages which showed that the encounter was a consensual one-night stand.

Christopher Penniall spent 16 months on bail before the prosecution case was dropped on what would have been the opening day of his trial.

Judge Christopher Kinch said that the case highlighted the importance of police pursuing lines of inquiry raised by those who have been accused of crimes.

Some of Britain’s leading criminal solicitors and barristers are calling today for Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, to extend the present review into failings by police and prosecutors to disclose evidence. In a letter to The Times, they question why an inquiry by the Crown Prosecution Service and Metropolitan Police into live rape and sexual assault cases, “is not being extended to other kinds of cases that might be equally affected by non-disclosure of material”.

In the letter the lawyers say that “the system of disclosure, particularly as it relates to electronic media, has long been unfit for purpose”. They also question whether the inquiry will examine all electronic evidence held by the police.

The Met is reviewing 600 cases of rape and sexual assault that are awaiting trial in London while the CPS is reviewing thousands of cases nationally after the collapse of several trials when evidence crucial to the defence came to light at the last minute.

Richard Foster, chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, said that one in five cases it referred back to the Court of Appeal as suspected wrongful convictions involved failings in disclosure — this amounted to hundreds of cases over the years.

Woolwich crown court was told that Mr Penniall, 43, from southeast London, co-operated fully with police when he was arrested after the allegations in September 2016. He gave officers his mobile telephone and login details for his Facebook account, which he said contained messages that proved he had consensual sex with the complainant.

However, messages deleted by the alleged victim, which supported his account, were downloaded by police from her phone only after requests by defence lawyers two weeks ago, the court was told.

Hugh French, for the prosecution, said that after a review of the downloads, and a fresh interview with the alleged victim, it had been decided to drop the case because there was no longer a realistic prospect of a conviction. Judge Kinch said that the problems with disclosing evidence useful to defendants was “a big issue that has been thrown sharply into focus”.

He praised the prosecutors for dropping the case after the new evidence emerged but questioned why police had not obtained the deleted messages earlier.

“This case just highlights the importance of the police pursuing full telephone downloads where they are clearly central to the allegations being made and the defence being made,” he said. He added that the decision to drop the case was an “entirely appropriate and a proper decision . . . made with a diligent assessment of the evidence”.

Chetna Patel, the defence barrister, said outside court: “This case highlights the importance of police pursuing full telephone downloads which are central to the allegations being made.”

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