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          Set her free placards

          “There is still time to stop this flight”: protest against forced deportations of women at 10.30pm tonight

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          “They might as well have called it the Steve Bray law”: huge support for Mr Stop Brexit

          Police speak to Steve Bray

          Noisy protest warning and now a court summons for Mr Stop Brexit

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          The mathematics of human behaviour: how my new model can spot liars and counter disinformation

          woman on boat

          Where have all the EU citizens gone, long time passing…?

          to seek asylum is not a crime

          Momentous week ahead for women trapped in detention in County Durham

          RMT official picket

          Rail strikes: is class solidarity back?

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          South Tyneside’s parade set to be the most colourful yet

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          doctorbird

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          gymnast

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          The Hoppings is back in Newcastle!

          Chi Onwurah MP

          Chi backs watchdog for fast fashion industry

          High Force waterfall

          Feeling the full force of Teesdale at the High Force Hotel

          A group of swimmers stand in the sea at sunrise.

          Interview with cold water swimmer Sarah Rowland

          Meat feast pizza

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            Seventeen Nineteen: Hidden Stories in Sunderland church

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            Go glammas! How older people are turning to TikTok to dispel myths about ageing

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              South Tyneside’s parade set to be the most colourful yet

              RMT official picket

              Rail strikes: is class solidarity back?

              Visitors in the former Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland

              Seventeen Nineteen: Hidden Stories in Sunderland church

              Nigel Todd

              Nigel Todd remembered: a socialist legacy

              Three boys stand in front of a man. All three of them are stood in front of a fire engine.

              Firefighting Uncle helping to raise £260,000 for nephew with rare cancer

              Kennedy and Rhind

              Kennedy and Rhind: more time to enjoy a North East favourite

              Campaigning for Samuel in Loftus Market Place, 1906 - "More Boots - less Beer."

              Opposition to the first immigration bill

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                The 110th anniversary of the Titanic’s departure

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                Prime Minister Boris Johnson signs the Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union"

                The parody of disinformation: Boris Johnson on Ukraine and Brexit

                Boris Johnson’s comments on Ukraine and Brexit are an insult

                TV Agency staff jumping in the air

                The TV Agency celebrates 10th anniversary with global success

                North East of County Dublin

                North East of England and North East of County Dublin: Compare and contrast

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                Copping out of COP: Ukraine, fossil fuels and nuclear fusion

                Placard with Boris Johnson as a clown

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              Ben Houchen: workers rights “excluded from freeports”

              Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor claims that workers rights are excluded from freeports. Is this really the case?

              David WalshbyDavid Walsh
              16-01-2022 06:32
              in Business, Economy, North East, Politics, Region, Teesside, UK, UK News
              Ben Houchen

              Ben Houchen screenshot

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              It all seems terribly recondite, especially in the light of the seeming cracks in the tectonic plates of the Tory Party, but I’d like to go back to another little Tory fib – this time from our very own Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley Mayor. This concerns the totally justified stance of local trade unions that any Freeport on the Tees must not be used to create “rights-free” zones with lower wages and poorer conditions. Leading this demand is – naturally enough – UNITE, who represent the vast majority of workers at Teesport and on the various terminals and jetties along the river. 

              UNITE defending terms and conditions

              Following the election of new UNITE General Secretary, Sharon Graham, UNITE is committed to setting up a new “hub committee” made up of shop stewards and company representatives – and the union adds it will “defend terms and conditions” and ensure the promise of thousands of skilled jobs is delivered.  

              Just before Christmas, UNITE Regional Officer Pat McCourt said:

              “While we welcome the creation of potentially thousands of new jobs on Teesside, it is just as important that the workers who will make this freeport a success are fairly rewarded, enjoying secure employment with good terms and conditions. UNITE is determined that there will be no race to the bottom in this freeport.”

              A response from Ben Houchen

              This only served to trigger Ben Houchen’s auto-cue.

              The Gazette reported that:

              “Mr Houchen has hit out at the union’s stance – saying it ‘makes no sense’ and arguing workers’ rights and employment laws were ‘specifically excluded’ from freeports. This means there is no change in rights and regulations to employees, and nor can there be.”

              However, the freeports contain no such provision in their structure. To do this, the legislation setting them up would have to specifically geographically disable a whole raft of existing trade union and labour relations law. The primary legislation is the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 which has been amended over time, most recently the Employment Relations Act 2004 and the Trade Union Act 2016. It covers things like access to ACAS, health and safety and the ability to strike. The only excluded groups are the armed services and the bobbies – no mention of Freeport workers.

              Merseyside equivalent

              However, the clincher comes from 140 miles away over the other side of the Pennines. There, the North West TUC (representing all the affected workers in the new freeport zone), Merseyside’s equivalent of Ben Houchen (Steve Rotheram), the combined authority and the local employers (specifically Peel Ports, the docks operator) are happily sitting down around the same table under the aegis of a contract between the TUC and the other parties. 

              And so, in late October, at a meeting of the LEP / LCR partnership, Ms Lynn Collins on behalf of the Trade Union sector took her seat. In her remarks she “advised that she had been helping to support the mass testing pilot in Liverpool. She thanked the Local Enterprise Partnership for communicating with businesses to promote the scheme. She referred to the issue of low levels of statutory sick pay for employees and the absence of information from the Government. She reported that the consultation on the Fair Employment Charter had ended the previous week. She also referred to the “Kickstart” scheme and stated that a Project Worker had been engaged to work with Trade Unions on good standards and practice within the scheme. Union Learn facilities were being used to give support to people as the disproportionate impact of Covid was becoming apparent. She also referred to the increasing awareness of Long Covid as a long-term medical condition and how staff can be supported who were unable to return to work full-time.

              Merseyside and Middlesbrough

              Alas for Ben Houchen, it wasn’t a spectre of barricades in the streets of Bootle or Birkenhead, but sound practical Trade Union input into shaping the world of work.  If it can be done in Merseyside, it can be done in Middlesbrough.  Over to you now, UNITE.

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