Unemployment: prostitution does not equate to work

A trade union has strongly denied claims that it is recruiting prostitutes to its ranks.

The GMB union was forced onto the defensive after Glasgow City Council's deputy leader, James Coleman, said a union which promoted equality should have no truck with the sex industry.

Responding to the criticism, Robert Parker, the regional secretary of GMB Scotland, said: "The exact opposite is the case. What we would be doing is trying to protect women and others employed in that industry from exploitation and abuse."

The union chief said claims that prostitutes could join the GMB union were "arrant nonsense".

"At no time did we say prostitutes would be considered for membership of GMB Scotland. All our members have to be in legitimate employment, and prostitution does not come into that category," he said.

Parker admitted that "vulnerable people" employed in lap dancing clubs and sex shops would be considered for membership if they applied.

But he insisted that the union had "no intention of equating prostitution to work".

"That doesn't mean we would slam the door in the faces of organisations who do excellent work helping and representing these women if they came to us for advice," he added.

The Labour MP Lynne Jones, whose Birmingham Selly Oak constituency developed a kerb-crawling problem, says it is wrong to differentiate between prostitutes and those working in the wider sex industry.

"In many ways I think that prostitutes are to be less condemned than some sex workers in lap-dancing joints," she said.

"I wish there was no demand for any of these services, but there is and I think it is artificial to differentiate between different workers."

The MP is calling for a "thorough overhaul" of the laws governing prostitution - although she is stopping short of demanding legalised brothels.

"Society must be doing as much as possible to reduce the demand for these services. But since it exists it is better to acknowledge it," she said.

"I would sooner see women working legitimately, paying their taxes and giving one another the support that would come from collective action."

But Jones concedes that the government is not responsive to calls for a rethink on the legal status of prostitution.

"It's not seen as particularly important on the government's agenda other than being seen to be cracking down on kerb-crawlers," says the MP.

Whilst ministers are examining the criminal law in relation to prostitution, the Home Office has ruled out any moves to relax current legislation.

"We have no plans to liberalise the law. The government believes that liberalisation of the law could increase demand for the service," said a spokesman for the Home Office.