I’m sure that Jeremy Corbyn has attacked contractors before…well he seems to be at it again, with remarks made in a recent speech.
The Labour leader said in a speech at Peterborough that if a Labour Government were elected and he was Prime Minister then the “unscrupulous use of agency labour and bogus self employment” would be abolished.
It appears that Mr Corbyn is jumping on the popular bandwagon of insinuating that umbrella contractors and other freelance professionals are in some way “unscrupulous” and “bogus,” and just a way for big companies to hire workers without having to give them the benefits that employees enjoy.
What Jeremy Corbyn and many others don’t seems to understand, or maybe just don’t want to understand, is that we are in the middle of a revolution right now where people are demanding more control and freedom over the way they work.
In other words, for many people, becoming a contractor or starting a freelance business is the perfect way to use their skills to make money, while at the same time having the control to get more free time and achieve a good work-life balance.
Having Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister anytime soon probably isn’t going to happen, so most umbrella contractors can ignore this recent speech and just get on with business.
However, that’s not to say this should be ignored altogether because there has been more reports of people taking companies to court in the employee vs contractor debate, with some of them winning.
Of course, there are instances out there where employees do need more rights and even having politicians such as Mr Corbyn speaking about their situation, it’s just that most of the reports I’m reading have nothing to do with this type of thing at all.
Take the Uber situation as an example, where drivers are hired on a freelance basis which is made plainly clear right at the start. If you don’t want to accept this then don’t go any further and don’t apply to become a driver. It really is as simple as that.
That’s why it is beyond me why some drivers are taking Uber to court (and sometimes winning). It just doesn’t make any sense.
Compare that to a situation where someone is offered a permanent full-time job with guaranteed hours and a pension, only to then have those things taken away from them.
This is the type of situation Jeremy Corbyn should be talking about instead of attacking umbrella contractors and an industry who really doesn’t want his attention or support.
