Self-Employed Rights

One of the many things I didn't quite grasp from the recent Labour Party conference was the pledge about new, equal rights for the self-employed.  

Now I've been self-employed for the past 15 years, ever since I moved on from my trade union career and role as Unison's Head of Local Government and chief negotiator in Scotland.

And for a while, at least, it was a struggle I can tell you because my former 'friends' in the Labour Party used their contacts and networks to make it difficult for me to get work, even in areas where I was highly experienced and eminently well qualified.

But all's well that ends well as they say and in recent years these shadowy networks have lost their power and ability to 'poison the waterhole', although it tells you something about the Tammany Hall way in which the trade unions and Labour Party operate at times, that they were able to do this in the first place.

What puzzles me about the Labour pledge to end what the party calls "21st century discrimination against the country's 5 million unemployed is who, exactly, is doing the discriminating?

Because how can I enforce rights against myself or discriminate against myself?

So I will listen with interest in the run up to the general election to see what actually comes forward in terms of practical proposals or legislation, as the whole business sounds to me just like one big publicity stunt.