Readers' letters: Strippers’ rights should be protected

I am not a qualified solicitor nor as I understand it is Cllr Watt (“Strippers hit back at councillor’s claim exotic dancing is ‘not work’ ”, News 22 July). I might be wrong.

Notwithstanding, they might care to consider the court cases (not personal positions that are neither Scottish Labour party policy nor in the Edinburgh Labour party 2022 council manifesto) around employees, workers and so-called "entertainers” (ACAS's website too is very helpful).

Our trade unionist forefathers will be turning in their graves at an Edinburgh Labour party shunning those who it was formed to protect, that includes, by the way, dancing mothers, sisters, friends and more (the image adjoining the story is of a dancer in the Burke and Hare club - hardly offensive).

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This issue about the legal status of "self-employed strippers" has been settled in many first world jurisdictions internationally, including the UK.

I commend to the 11 Labour councillors (there are 63 in total currently running our great city council) to consider the brave women who took on the odious Peter Stringfellow and won in establishing their rights back in 201

There are many other such cases where brave "workers" have gone to the courts and been successful eg Uber drivers.

As recently as January 2022 in a case called Nowak v Chandler Bars Group Ltd, dancers established that they fall within the definition of “worker” found in various UK employment laws.

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Evening News readers should be aware that there are many "ordinary" members of the Labour party in Edinburgh who disagree with my/our party's position in the council on the above and indeed individual local associations have passed motions supporting the women and their respective unions fighting for their rights. I cannot imagine (so please do disclose council), the financial burden on the council in pursuing this folly of theirs.

There are, I believe, many signs around these safer entertainment venues with signs along the lines of "you may not touch the girls".

I say to my council comrades in a similar vein "hands off the rights of these women to work and hands off their workers' rights".

Douglas McBean, Edinburgh.

Labour’s not so proud health care history

All four home nations face major hospital patient discharge concerns owing to ongoing staffing problems due to Covid and post Brexit recruitment issues. Scotland did not vote for Brexit but we suffer as part of the Union.

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The Nuffield Trust reported that last winter, hospital trusts in England were asked to work with local partners to cut delayed discharges by half by the end of January. However, the situation has actually got worse since.

In Labour-run Wales, the Senedd’s Health and Social Care Committee Report in June found that a workforce crisis in the social care sector is resulting in patients staying in hospital for days, or even weeks, longer than necessary.

Also, the report acknowledged that it was difficult to gauge the full extent of the problem as, unlike in Scotland, the Welsh Government suspended reporting requirements on ‘delayed transfers of care’ at the start of the pandemic but there are more than 1000 people in Welsh hospital beds when they could have been discharged.

When a Labour MP, Pamela Nash, Ian Murray and Anas Sarwar voted with the Tory/Lib Dem coalition government for £30 billion worth of cuts on 13 January 2015 which removed £2550m from the Scottish Government’s budget.

Fraser Grant, Edinburgh.

Write to the Edinburgh Evening News

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