Homeworkers and their experiences

[Mitch]

Parveen: packing greetings cards

Parveen packs greetings cards and gift wrapping goods for a local card company in Bradford. She is aged 35 and married with four children aged between 13 and 8. She is a Muslim and came to the UK from Pakistan 20 years ago. Her parents and some of her extended family still live there.

The packing work varies from week to week. Sometimes she packs small cards into individual packs and then boxes. Sometimes she folds wrapping paper and packs it into bags. She gets £6 for packing a thousand cards and estimates she receives about £1 per hour.

Parveen has to be well organised to fit work in with her family commitments. She does 2 hours card packing in the morning, after getting the children to school. She then cooks and cleans, picks her children up afterwards, prepares the evening meal, clears up and puts the children to bed. She then does another 2 or 3 hours of card packing in the evening. She additionally works a nights or weekends to get the work finished, as there is no more time in the day.

Parveen is happy with her homework supplier. “They are good. I do think the wages are low but I’ve never said anything.” She says she would never consider making a complaint about her pay. “I wouldn’t want any come back on my family. I am grateful for whatever income I can get. Apart from child benefit I get no other income for myself and the children. I don’t look at the amount per hour, I just look at the end result-£30 per week is better than nothing. My husband has no claim to this money.” Her husband earns too much money to claim any benefits but he has two families to support so money is tight.

She explained the importance of homeworking for Muslim women. “We are not allowed to work outside, nor would I consider this. I have been brought up this way, even though my husband has lived in the UK most of his life. It is out culture; our community is very strict. Besides, how would I look after four children and manage my house duties with a 9 till 5 job?”

The name of this homeworker has been changed.

[Mitch]

Philip; rubber trimming

Philip started doing homework when an injury prevented him from working outside the home. He is the primary carer for 2 young children, and has no access to other childcare. He lives in Gosport, Hampshire with his wife and children.

Philip trims rubber components, which end up as ‘cats eyes’ (reflecting road studs), engine seals, medical components and gutter seals. Philip estimates his hourly wage at around £1.20 per hour. He has been in a 5-year long struggle with the company he works for to assert his right to be paid the national minimum wage, and to have employee status.

He usually works between 6 and 7 hours a day, he trims 2 bags of rubber in the morning while his children are at school, the rest in the evening when they are in bed. He usually works till about 1.30am but has worked till 3am to complete orders.

He considers himself to be an employee of the company. As for his employers, he says, “it depends what suits them. I refused to let them deliver work once because they said I was self-employed. I told them I couldn’t afford public liability insurance. The van driver returned later saying I was an employee and didn’t need it. But when somebody has a claim for unfair dismissal, or my trade union wants to negotiate with them they refuse and say we’re self-employed.”

He says losing his homework would cause him financial hardship. He describes his situation as ‘ridiculous’, but says, “I’m in a poverty trap and there’s no way out of it. Because I care for my children, it would be very difficult for me to find another job.”

[Mitch]

Sally: Packing Stockings for Tesco

In April 2004 Sally responded to an advertisement in her local paper for a homeworking job. She was offered the job and a few days later 32 dozen pairs of tights were delivered to her home by her agent who also explained carefully how they should be packed. The processes involved were:

· Sticking a sticker identifying her as the worker on a piece of card
· Wrapping a pair of stockings around the piece of card
· Assembling the box
· Putting the tights in the box
· Putting a sticker on the box
· Putting a barcode on the box
· In some cases, attaching a plastic hook to the box

At this point Sally had no idea where her work came from although she did know that the tights were being packed as Tesco’s own brand stockings and Cosmopolitan tights.

Sally worked for 6 days on the stockings. Her rate of pay was 7p per dozen and, as she had never packed stockings before she could only pack around 3 dozen per hour (21p/hour)

After 6 days Sally phoned the agent to ask her to take the work back as she was not prepared to work for such a low wage. The agent became abusive and said ’When Legs Eleven find out about this they will fine you’. This was how Sally discovered that she was working indirectly for this company.

When the agent called round to collect the tights from Sally’s home, she again was verbally abusive to her and refused to pay her for the work that she had completed.

Sally contacted NGH, the National Minimum Wage compliance Unit and Tesco’s head office to complain. NGH contacted the trade union official at Legs Eleven distribution Centre and discovered that the piece rate Sally was offered was 3p lower than the lowest rate paid to on site workers for packing tights.

When Sally phoned Tesco’s she said ‘Do you realise how much people are getting paid to pack your tights?’ The person who answered the phone, asked her to repeat this and then replied ‘What’s that got to do with us?’

Sally said, ‘It’s your name on the label’

She was put on hold and, after being on hold for 15 minutes was cut off. She rang back and spoke to a different person, who put her through to someone else. Again she was put on hold and then cut off.

She said ‘They just weren’t interested’.


The problem with Piece rates!

On the piece rate set by Legs Eleven at 7p per dozen, to earn National Minimum Wage (£4.85) a homeworker would need to pack 831 packs of stockings per hour, which works out at 13 packs per minute!!

Surely even an experienced worker would struggle to meet these quotas and achieve National Minimum Wage?

[michele cryer]

wow! what stories...very very bad news for homeworkers...

Mitch, you're up late aren't you!!!

[Mitch]

Homeworker and NGH (National Group on Homeworking) member Louise gives her account of her struggle to get holiday pay from her former employer.
(The National Homeworker 2005)

"Being a mother of two young children an advert for outworker machinists was just what I was looking for. I applied for and got the position. I loved the job, it suited my lifestyle and my families needs. I could work when I wanted and still be there for my children, who were both under 5. The income was good, I could work as much or as little as I wanted.

The way it worked was on a set day each week I would collect my work from the factory a few miles away from my home. I would let them know when I picked up the work what my quantity requirements were for the following week, if things were very busy then I might be asked to do extra work and sometimes this might be as a rush order to be completed perhaps by the next day. This was not a problem for me as my children were young and in bed early and my husband worked evenings.

The product was easy to make and did not take over the whole house as some home work jobs can. I was making household products so the work was quite varied which prevented me from becoming too bored most of the time. As the children grew older I could still manage to drop them at school and be there to pick them up, I never had to rely on childminders and yet I was doing a useful job and contributing well to the household income, which was what I wanted.

During the summer months there was often less work as the demand was less. That gave me time during the school holidays to spend with the children, it couldn't have been better. I continued to work for this same company, as did a number of other people I knew, for many years without problems. My friends gave up the work in due course and found other work outside the home. One was told that due to lack of orders her services were no longer required, she accepted that and I carried on. Sometimes there was little work but most of the time I was kept quite busy.

Recently the workload became less each week, I was told it was due to seasonal reasons and that it would soon pick up. This happened most years at some time so I was not unduly worried. Time went on and things did not improve, then one week I was told that some outworkers had been laid off and that the work was being shared out as evenly as possible but they didn't know what the future held. Some weeks I was told orders were coming in and things would soon get back to normal but I was never sure.

When I collected the work one week I was told that as it wasn't urgent not to take it back for two weeks and there would be no work the next week either. Out of the blue I received a phone call saying that there was no more work for me and that as a self employed machinist they owed me nothing so that was that. I had worked for over 15 years weekly producing goods for this company often doing extra work at short notice and they could just end my job with a phone call! I did receive a letter a week or so later confirming I was being laid off. It stated that they could not foresee the downturn in the market and therefore were unable to give me any more notice than this. So after 15 years service the company did not see me as either a worker or an employee, so did not feel they should have to pay redundancy or give me notice?

I would have accepted losing my job, but the comment about me being owed nothing after all my loyal service cut me deeply and I couldn't let that lie so I contacted The National Group on Homeworking. I was stunned by how little protection is offered under the law to such a huge and vital group of workers. I was advised that I could take action to try and prove my employment status and that if successful I would indeed be entitled to redundancy pay and pay in lieu of notice. I was however entitled to holiday pay since 1998, due to a change in the Working Time regulations, which was something I was unaware of, and the company had never informed me of.

So Cat at NGH began to act on my behalf, corresponding with the company and fighting for my rights. Eventually the company agreed to a settlement. NGH were the only people who could help me make a stand against the power of the company. I had sought advice elsewhere and was told I had no rights under the law, thankfully the advisor gave me the address for NGH."

Any homeworkers happening to browse at this forum please do contact me through it if you need any help, or would like to be put in touch with the National Group on Homeworking. This article and others will soon appear in the pending hard copy newsletter 'The Burnley Voice', with an idea again of trying to reach homeworkers in the Burnley and Nelson area, who would like to come together and share their experiences.

Best Mitch
Homeworker, Nelson & Part-time Cleaner to make ends meet!!

[michele cryer]

I'm stunned again at the audacity of these employers...it is terrible that they are getting away with tricks like this...

Definitely the time to get those hard copies of the Burnley Voice into the shops...

[Mitch]

"They must think women are gullible and we're not. We have got a voice. They think they can get away with stuff because we are women and think we have a soft touch but we're not. They don't see it as a legitimate job because we're women in the home. They think we're lazy and we're not. I'd like to see a man do a woman's work, to sit and do the homework, the housework, see to the children, and the cooking. A man can't cope! Hard enough for them to do one job, let alone two or three!".

(Homeworker speaking after an employment tribunal had denied her employee status, despite her having worked for the company for seven years, in 'Homeworking in Britain: Flexible Working or Exploited Labour?, by Lucy Brill, National Group on Homeworking, 2004).

[michele cryer]

Thanks for that Mitch...as I mentioned a couple of days ago, I may have one or two stories about Homeworking to share with you soon.

[octoberlost]

This is something we could act on. Have you thought of maybe asking for a day of action around the issue? This will raise awareness and maybe get something kickstarted....

Otherwise you could publicise a letter or article in Freedom, and Im sure they will be happy for something like this...

[Mitch]

octoberlost said:

This is something we could act on. Have you thought of maybe asking for a day of action around the issue? This will raise awareness and maybe get something kickstarted....

Otherwise you could publicise a letter or article in Freedom, and Im sure they will be happy for something like this...

Thanks Lost, good ideas taken on board. But somehow methinks I've more chance of reaching homeworkers firstly through articles in our own community magazine - The Burnley Voice, distributed locally, and secondly through an article in Northern Voices.

Freedom needs to work a little harder to connect with the community on the ground up 'ere in these parts - but perhaps it is making efforts to change. About time.

[Mitch]

"Homeworker and NGH member Deborah writes about her experiences as a machinist working at home making Pet Accessories".
______________________

"I worked for my last employer for six years. The first year as a full time sewing machinist in the factory and the next five years as an outworker working from home.

The job was very convenient for me as I could basically choose my own hours unless there was a rush order. The job fitted nicely around my family as I have 2 young children to look after.

Most of the time I had regular work except in the summer time when it could go quite slack but the company always kept me employed.

Things started to go wrong in August of last year 2004. I had never asked my employer for holiday except when I worked full time for them. I just thought that as an outworker I wouldn't be entitled to any holiday. A member of staff from the factory said I should be entitled, as I never signed another contract as an outworker.

I asked my employer about this and she replied she had no idea what I could be entitled to so I contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau, which in turn gave me the phone number of the National Group on Homeworking. That is when I got in contact with Cat. She told me that I should be entitled to something. I went back to my employer and that is when they agreed I was due some holiday pay and also they would be putting the price up on my units of work as I was under paid.

'This is great', I thought to myself. 'After 5 years I can finally take a holiday with pay. But why wasn't I ever told I was entitled to this? They knew all along that I could have holiday with pay but never once mentioned it to me. They thought they were on a winner'.

I had one week's holiday in September with pay. On November 26 of last year I received a letter in the post saying my employment would cease on the 31 December due to a lack of work. Not once did my employer attempt to talk to me face to face about any of this. The firm cut my work right down so my wages were fairly low. I couldn't survive on their pay so I asked if I could have the remainder of the time in holiday just so I could earn more money especially as it was coming up to Christmas.

What I didn't know at the time is that they weren't short of work, they had given my work to an employee who already worked in the factory so she could do the work at home in the evening. This way they wouldn't have to pay me any extra holiday and so on.

In January of this year Cat started to deal with my case and it finally ended after a few months with an out of court settlement.

I had to prove my employer was wrong in the way he treated me. I've recently found out that I wasn't the only person he treated like this, there have been others.

As an outworker I didn't know I had any rights but NGH proved me wrong. Since all this happened the firm has closed down".

In - THE NATIONAL HOMEWORKER, Summer 2005, p.3