Tag: Lazarowicz

Lararowicz: ‘Good employers have no interest in Government attack on rights at work’

Mark Lazarowicz MP has strongly criticised Government plans for employees to trade in basic rights at work such as statutory redundancy pay in return for shares in the business they work for.

In a Westminster speech yesterday the North and Leith MP (pictured below) said: “I am a strong supporter of employee share schemes to enable them to benefit from the growth of their company and participate in the way it is run. However, these Government plans would produce exactly the opposite result since employees would lose basic employment protection in return for shares that can always go down as well as up in value. A number of leading businesses have already said they want nothing to do with the scheme – good employers realise there are much better ways to motivate their workforce than a bribe to give up basic employment rights.”Mark_Lazarowicz[1]

The Government proposes that in return for shares in the company they work for, employees would lose the right to statutory redundancy pay, request flexible working and training, challenge unfair dismissal (apart from where this relates to anti-discrimination law) or be required to give longer notice to return from maternity or adoption leave.

Mr. Lazarowicz was the author of the Employee Share Schemes Bill which became law in 2002. That sought to encourage employee share ownership and long term involvement by them in the running of the business, but he believes these latest plans would make it easier to sack them.

The House of Lords initially voted to delete this part of the The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, with several former Conservative Ministers voting against the Government. However the Government reinserted the proposals for the Bill to be debated in the House of Commons and won yesterday’s vote. The Bill will now return to the Lords for further discussion.

Government ‘caught red-handed’ over pension reforms

Hundreds of local women will lose out as a result of the latest pension reforms, according to North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz.

House of Commons Library research has revealed the true cost of last week’s pension reforms to 500 women in Edinburgh North and Leith and 2,900 women in Edinburgh as a whole who are set to lose out. Five hundred local women born in 1952 and 1953 will not be eligible for the single tier pension since they are due to retire in 2017, before the state pension reforms come into effect. Men born during the same period, however, will qualify.

The news comes after the Government claimed that “we have to be absolutely transparent [about who will lose]” yet it has failed to make clear the full consequences of the planned reforms.

The unravelling of this latest pension announcement is the second time this government has been caught trying to hide the full impact of its changes for pensioners following the Granny Tax, according to Mr Lazarowicz.

He added: “Ministers have been caught red-handed hiding the truth on pension reforms. This government’s pension changes have hit hardworking women in Edinburgh time and again and these reforms are no different. 500 women will be nearly £2,000 worse off compared to men, but instead of being honest with the women that will lose out this government tried to bury the truth. Once again Ministers have been caught with their hands in pensioners’ pockets – it’s about time this government had the decency to be honest about who will lose out under their plans.”

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Lazarowicz attacks government for ‘betrayal’ of disabled workers

Mark Lazarowicz MP has condemned the betrayal of Edinburgh Remploy workers by Government and calls on all sides to work together to support workers made redundant.

The North and Leith MP was reacting to news that the Edinburgh Remploy factory in South Gyle is to close. Mark Lazarowicz MP for Edinburgh North and Leith has attacked the betrayal by the UK Government of disabled workers at the factory and called on Remploy, the Department of Work and Pensions, Scottish Government and the City Council to work together to help find the workers alternative employment.

Mr Lazarowicz (pictured below) said: “The news makes me wonder whether the Government was genuinely seeking to find bids to keep factories open or whether it was simply offering false hope. One of the stated aims of its welfare changes is to support disabled people into work wherever possible – laudable in principle but it is hard to square that with the way that it has treated Remploy workers. Staff will now find themselves out of work at a time when unemployment in Scotland is almost two and a half million. I call upon Remploy, the Department of Work and Pensions, Scottish Government and the City Council to make a concerted effort to help them find alternative employment.”

The factory was reprieved from closure along with other factories in July as the Remploy Board deemed that there was a potentially viable business plan to secure its future, but those hopes have now been dashed.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that there had been an expression of interest in the factory, but that it had gone no further. She added: “We have followed the advice of disability expert Liz Sayce to use the £320m protected budget for disability employment more effectively, to support more disabled people into mainstream jobs instead of loss-making segregated factories. We have put in place an £8m package of employment support for those affected, including a Personal Case Worker to help individuals with their future choices, as well as access to a personal budget.”

Lazarowicz attacks government for 'betrayal' of disabled workers

Mark Lazarowicz MP has condemned the betrayal of Edinburgh Remploy workers by Government and calls on all sides to work together to support workers made redundant.

The North and Leith MP was reacting to news that the Edinburgh Remploy factory in South Gyle is to close. Mark Lazarowicz MP for Edinburgh North and Leith has attacked the betrayal by the UK Government of disabled workers at the factory and called on Remploy, the Department of Work and Pensions, Scottish Government and the City Council to work together to help find the workers alternative employment.

Mr Lazarowicz (pictured below) said: “The news makes me wonder whether the Government was genuinely seeking to find bids to keep factories open or whether it was simply offering false hope. One of the stated aims of its welfare changes is to support disabled people into work wherever possible – laudable in principle but it is hard to square that with the way that it has treated Remploy workers. Staff will now find themselves out of work at a time when unemployment in Scotland is almost two and a half million. I call upon Remploy, the Department of Work and Pensions, Scottish Government and the City Council to make a concerted effort to help them find alternative employment.”

The factory was reprieved from closure along with other factories in July as the Remploy Board deemed that there was a potentially viable business plan to secure its future, but those hopes have now been dashed.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed that there had been an expression of interest in the factory, but that it had gone no further. She added: “We have followed the advice of disability expert Liz Sayce to use the £320m protected budget for disability employment more effectively, to support more disabled people into mainstream jobs instead of loss-making segregated factories. We have put in place an £8m package of employment support for those affected, including a Personal Case Worker to help individuals with their future choices, as well as access to a personal budget.”