date: 16 June 2008

embargo: for immediate release

TUC Vulnerable Workers Project to share its findings with unions

The TUC Vulnerable Workers Project (VWP) is running a seminar for unions to share its findings and talk about initiatives for organising and representing vulnerable workers.

The event, on Monday 14 July at Congress House, will be valuable to unions working on strategies and action plans for engaging with and representing the interests of vulnerable workers. The VWP's report Vulnerable Workers Project: Lessons and Opportunities for Unions will also be launched at the seminar.

Most of the workers that the VWP has worked with during the last year have reported that there is no union presence in their workplace, and that their employers are often hostile to unions. As a result, they have contacted the VWP for advice in dealing with issues in their workplaces. As well as giving advice to these individuals, the VWP has developed a group recruited from workers in building services who have made advice enquiries to the project.

Research carried out by the VWP found that advice providers recognise that they cannot meet the needs of vulnerable workers on their own and they expressed a willingness to work more closely with unions.

Project Manager of the VWP Bob Blyth said: 'The VWP has been running for a year and we have a good idea of the problems that vulnerable workers in Tower Hamlets and the City of London face.

'Through our focus groups, seminars, and work with community organisations and employers, we have developed initiatives to engage, develop and represent vulnerable workers, and hopefully unions can benefit from this knowledge.'

The VWP has used these findings to develop a series of initiatives offering potential for targetted organising strategies and campaigns. These will be presented for discussion at the seminar and include:

• Working with voluntary sector organisations and employment rights advice agencies to develop groups from their client base;
• Conducting learning needs and training assessments for vulnerable workers, to put pressure on employers to include vulnerable workers in their training provision;
• Developing training in employment rights for supervisors and negotiating delivery of this with employers;
• Giving training and support to community support groups to develop advisers to help fellow members in their community, or sector, to pursue their employment rights.

The VWP has also made recommendations including:

• Funding being made available to support employment rights publicity campaigns with advisers who will advise, guide and encourage workers to pursue their employment rights;
• Involvement of trade unions in Government training and welfare to work programmes to ensure that awareness of employment rights and work procedures are included in these programmes;

Speakers at the event are Regional Secretary of the Southern and Eastern region TUC (SERTUC) Megan Dobney, Unite Deputy General Secretary Jack Dromey, TUC Senior Policy Officer Nicola Smith, and National Institute of Economic and Social Research Senior Research Fellow Hilary Metcalf.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The seminar will be held on Monday 14 July, 2-4.30pm at the TUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS. To attend the seminar contact Bob Blyth on 020 7467 1355 or email bblyth@tuc.org.uk

- The VWP, based in Whitechapel, is a £400,000 project funded by the Department for Business (BERR) and delivered by the TUC. It aims to improve the plight of vulnerable workers in London's labour market by helping them and their employers better understand their rights under the law.

- A copy of the VWP's briefing paper Lessons and opportunities for Unions can be downloaded from the website www.vulnerableworkersproject.org.uk

- Hard Work Hidden Lives, the report of the TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Employment, is available at: www.vulnerableworkers.org.uk

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (700 words) issued 16 Jun 2008