News 16 - 22 February 2021

Hello, good evening and welcome. Amidst the government’s charge towards lifting the current restrictions, are we approaching the use of lockdown three? Our first paragraph as usual looks at the last weeks Covid oriented stories.

Stevens Bolton brings us up-to-date with the ongoing issue of employers monitoring staff who are working from home.(1)   The Guardian present a study which shows that UK garment workers are at a higher risk of dying as a consequence of Covid.(2)   The Daily Mail reports that a UK delivery driver has become the first worker in the UK to be sacked for not wearing a face mask.(3) Next we look at three stories which try to tackle the ‘vast can of worms’ that is the ‘no jab no job,’ position first espoused recently by Pimlico plumbers.  The Labour Party article looks at potential discrimination issues this could bring to the fore,(4) the second article we present looks at this same issue but in more detail.(5)     The third is an article which seems to imply that God is in agreement with this seemingly harsh position.(6) The Lord indeed moves in mysterious ways.    The TUC call for people who are unable to work from home due to shielding commitments to be allowed to claim furlough.(7)

The rest of the news this week is a roundup of all those other articles which are not primarily Covid focused but deserve some attention all the same.  Good housekeeping looks at the continuing discrimination faced by women trying to juggle working with the menopause.(8)   CMP look at the disproportionately high levels of hostility faced by LGBT workers in the workplace.(9) Possibly the biggest story of the week has been the Supreme Court ruling to uphold previous Employment Tribunal decisions & continue to recognise the employment status of Uber staff as ‘workers’ and not self-employed, despite the near ‘Donald Trump’ like fanaticism of Uber themselves to get this decision overturned.(10) The Bristol Cable brings us a story again highlighting the plight of employees in Amazon warehouses.(11)  We have a round-up of stories which includes a look at the collapse of Philip Greens Arcadia Empire.(12)   We have an article on employment law and religious objections to homosexuality.(13)  Our final journalistic Segway this week brings us two articles, the first looks at the disproportionate weight of responsibility women have had to bear through the Covid pandemic.(14)  Lastly we close on an article by the TUC which highlights that the self isolation scheme has not been fit for purpose.(15)