GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

have to make sure that we change it. Mental ill health in the workplace,

comrades, is increasing and it is increasing at a rate of knots. It is not just

about pressures that are brought in from the home. The pressures of work are

immense – less people doing more jobs, less people having to push profits

forward for a company, more hours being worked and, of course, you get

people doing numerous jobs to make ends meet. Low pay is the scourge of

mental ill health in this industry. I know because we work in an industry that is

low paid, thousands of people who are paid right down as far as the minimum

wage and if you look at the likes of McDonalds workers, so far less than that.

This is a problem that is faced. People do not know whether they are going to

be able to eat, they do not know whether they are going to be able to pay the

bills. People are sofa surfing. This is the lifestyle that a generation that is

coming up now is going to be faced with, even worse than what we have faced

in the past and we have to do something about it.

I have got to say, I think the motion is great, I think it is the best motion on the

agenda this week, but one thing I would say though is that I do not agree with

going to the Health and Safety Executive and looking at them to do a risk

assessment. Health and Safety Executive have been absolutely hammered by

successive Governments and it was not just Tory Governments. Labour did it

itself. They have been absolutely decimated and you are lucky, you know,

comrades, if you get a health and safety inspector if you have a death in the

workplace. It is most certainly not guaranteed. So asking them or depending

on them to write a risk assessment for mental ill health at work is a no no.

We have got to make sure that as trade unionists we do the things that we do.

We are great at listening. Sometimes we are great at putting finances forward

and putting motions forward, but I will tell you what we have got to do, we have

got to become deliverers, every single one of us. There are some fantastic

courses out there in colleges, the GFTU runs some great stuff, I know that our

own learning services are doing some fantastic stuff with mental ill health, but it

is not just about engaging our reps. We have to engage business as well.

Whilst we have got a Government that is prepared to take away protective

legislation, we have got employers out there who are prepared to not do what

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