To those of us who get paid according to the time we give and who work to a deadline, the current discussion about workers’ rights is poignant. And the debate is relevant not just to paid work. The kind of questions being thought about are, of course, pertinent to the self-employed… but they are important in the home, too – for mums, for dads and, perhaps especially, for children.
Workplace practices are changing fast and the new gig economy and flexible work force is resulting in some people not being given permission to stop work – or at least not being paid if they take time off – if they are ill. Others don’t know if they’ll get any work or, conversely, when it will stop.
It’s apparent that the Tories’ review on modern employment, being conducted by Matthew Taylor, must include some protection for who does what when, where and for how long. In some work places at least, where employment is fixed, there are long-established habits and traditions governing these very things.
Households can have similarly long-standing habits – sometimes very firm ones – saying who does what and when, too. Others have an equally firm tradition that there are no habits anyone in the household has to stick to. Nobody has to do what they’ve always done and people should be allowed to do whatever they wish.
Families tend to be more permissive now, but there are still plenty of households where the children just have to do what they are told. It’s a shame when the youngest boy or the shyest girl, or the one who hates eating what Mum cooks, can’t speak up. Perhaps they could do with something on their side like a trade union. It may be, of course, that some families actually have such a thing. I’d like to know it if they do.
What do you think? Have your say below
