22 July 2004

Employee/er rights and responsibilities:
"No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age... I am here to represent Yorkshire women who always have dinner on the table when you get home. I am going to promote men's rights... I just don't think they clean behind the fridge enough." These are the words of Mr Godfrey Bloom, newly elected member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the UK Independence Party (UKIP), on his first visit to Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament, who is now sitting on a European Parliament's women's committee!


Mr Bloom's non-politically correct comments have predictably aroused contrasting reactions by his peers and from members of the public. A number of small businessmen have recognised the issue raised by Mr Bloom and have complimented him saying that he is 'telling it like it is'. Others, including businessmen and women, have strongly criticised his views as being outdated and setting back the cause of equality of opportunity decades!


Mr Bloom is one of 11 new MEPs from the UKIP who are concerned about the extent to which the EU is getting involved in legislation with regard to businesses and employment. Mr Bloom does not think that the EU should get involved with such matters and should leave contracts between employers and employees to the businesses themselves. Opponents of his view would argue that employees need protecting because of market failure, in this case they do not have sufficient information to be able to make informed decisions about their rights and responsibilities at work.


Mr Bloom further believes that such legislation actually causes women to be squeezed out of work despite the good intentions of legislators. He suggested that such legislation might be appropriate for large businesses where employees could be organised to cover effectively for colleagues on maternity leave but small businesses would be in a more difficult position. It wasn't just women Mr Bloom was commenting on, he also suggested that businessmen in similar situations would not employ a male who might be absent for some time because of illness or some other reason. He said that he could not understand why 'something so blindingly obvious had caused such a furore' and implied that his comments were meant in fun. He did not think that Strasbourg was a place where much fun happens!


There seems to be some splits in the views of those who have reacted to his comments. Some have praised him for expressing what can be reality for many small businesses whilst others have suggested that his comments show the UKIP as being a middle class equivalent of the British National Party (BNP)!