TUC fears Budget will slow recovery

Commenting further on the Emergency Budget today (Tuesday) TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “This Budget got the big judgement about the economy wrong.
“The economy is still fragile, and today’s measures will certainly slow recovery and could well stop it in its tracks. Spending and benefit cuts together with the VAT increase will take much needed spending power out of the economy. The private sector has been hit as hard as the public sector today.
“Nor does the Budget live up to any claim to be fair. The unexpectedly big cuts in benefits will hit not just the poor but middle income families too. Unemployment will continue to be high, and anyone leaving school or college in the next five years faces a bleak future.
“The rich have largely been let off. They will hardly notice the VAT increase. The bank levy is less than half the £5-8 billion predicted – and is a fraction of city bonuses. The capital gains tax (CGT) increase is full of loopholes, and won’t stop tax dodging.
“Some of the really bad news is yet to come. Unprotected departmental budgets will be savaged. Local government will need to slash services if they are to freeze council tax.
“Public servants did nothing to cause the slump but are being asked to bear an unfair share of the burden. A wage freeze when inflation is high is a real cut in living standards – and the small concession for the low paid is still less than inflation.
“This budget was economically dangerous and socially divisive. The one thing we can now say is that we are very definitely not all in this together. Those on middle and low incomes have done worse than expected, and the rich have been let off much of what they feared. But we will all suffer from an economy that is now likely to be sluggish at best, and with a double-dip recession at worst.”

Budget is ‘dangerous and divisive’, says TUC

Responding to the Emergency Budget today (Tuesday) TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said:
“This Budget was economically dangerous and socially divisive. The one thing we can now say is that we are very definitely not all in this together. Those on middle and low incomes have done worse than expected, and the rich have been let off much of what they feared.
“But we will all suffer from an economy that is now likely to be sluggish at best and with a double-dip recession at worst.”

Leicester to lose central library

Leicester is to lose its' central libraries with the loss of 14 equivalent full time jobs. See the full story at: http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Stacks-potential-closure-overdue/article-2327156-detail/article.html
The Belvoir Street libray is to merge with the Reference Library on Bishop Street saving £228,000.

Unions ramp up campaigns against Academy plans

The Government is encouraging all schools judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted to become academies. Each school’s Governing Body will need to decide this month if it wishes to become an academy from this September. There is no requirement for the Governing Body to consult with parents before making this decision. This means that children could be attending an academy after the summer holidays, without any prior consultation with parents.
Once a school has become an academy, there is no way back.
Trade union members are committed to continuing to provide children with an outstanding education, but we have grave concerns about the proposed academy model. Academies were originally set up to improve the educational attainment of secondary school pupils in disadvantaged communities and under challenging circumstances. There is no evidence to suggest that converting an outstanding school into an academy will make any difference to pupils’ educational attainment, nor is there any evidence to suggest benefits for pupils in primary or special schools. In fact, we believe that the risks involved in academy status, in particular the loss of support from the local authority, far outweigh any of the suggested advantages of obtaining academy status.
We strongly believe that schools can only remain outstanding with the support and trust of its parents. Any
decisions affecting the future of  children’s education in such a fundamental way must be taken jointly by parents, staff, governing bodies and the community. If you, as a parent, share our concerns, we urge you to contact your parent representative on the Governing Body immediately to make your voice heard.

The teaching unions have produced model letters and petitions for use in campaigning against the spreading of Academies and these are avialable here:
http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/11674
and here:
www.nasuwt.org.uk/ChampioningEducation/Academies

Victory for PCS in court over civil service redundancy pay

A High Court judge has dealt the final blow to the government’s unlawful cuts to civil service redundancy pay.

Mr Justice Sales confirmed today (18 June) the Public and Commercial Services union was right to challenge the way the terms of the civil service compensation scheme, which governs redundancy payments, were slashed.
The decision quashes an amendment to the scheme that the previous government had claimed was effective from 1 April, and requires the new government to enter into negotiations with PCS if it wants to change the scheme in future.
While the judge quashed the detrimental changes to the scheme, he retained elements - relating to protection against age discrimination - that provide improvements. The union says this shows it was not opposed to change on principle, but that any alterations had to be fair and agreed.
The union’s challenge, by way of a judicial review, was heard over two days in April and the judge ruled on 10 May that the previous government had acted unlawfully. Both sides were then given a few weeks to reach an agreement on the terms of an order to quash the amendment, but failed to do so, and the case went back to court for a final hearing on 9 June.
The union always maintained the changes to the compensation scheme would have made it easier and cheaper to cut tens of thousands of civil service jobs and privatise more of our public services.
PCS deputy general secretary Hugh Lanning said: “We are delighted with the ruling that proves our members were right to oppose the cuts that the previous government tried to force through.
“It’s rare for a High Court judge to side with a trade union, so we believe this vindicates our stance and our assertion all along that this was a grossly unfair attempt by the government to rip up the rights of its own workforce.
“The new government now has a golden opportunity to show it is truly committed to consultation and negotiation, by getting round the table with us to agree a new scheme that is fair and protects the rights of civil and public servants.”
Richard Arthur, head of trade union law at Thompsons Solicitors, who acted for PCS, said: “The ruling confirms that a government cannot simply change redundancy rights which have already accrued for civil servants without agreement by the unions.
“With the exception of some favourable age-related changes, all the benefits in the new scheme are quashed and all the benefits in the old one are protected. The new scheme that was imposed on civil servants was simply unlawful.”
The ruling comes days before the coalition government is expected to announce further cuts in public spending in its emergency budget next Tuesday (22 June).
PCS will hold events across the country on Tuesday, including outside the Treasury in Parliament Street in London between 12pm and 1pm, and will launch its Tax Justice and Jobs report that details how more than £120 billion is estimated to be lost to the economy every year through tax being evaded, avoided and uncollected.

Corby council jobs risk

Corby Chief Executive Chris Mallender has warned that more jobs may be lost as aresult of budget cuts. See the full story at: http://www.northantset.co.uk/corby/Budget-cuts-risk-to-jobs.6326349.jp
Jobs have already been lost through natural wastage and he warns that this may not be possible in the future.

TUC welcomes Government plans to tackle prejudice against LGBT people

Commenting on Government plans to tackle prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people announced today (Thursday) by the Minister for Women and Equalities Theresa May, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “The TUC warmly welcomes these wide-ranging plans to tackle discrimination against LGBT people in the UK. It is wrong that so many children and adults face harassment, intimidation, ridicule or violence simply because of their sexuality.
“We are pleased to see plans include stamping out homophobic bullying in schools, ending hate crimes against LGBT people and allowing same-sex couples to register their relationships in religious settings high up on the Government’s equality agenda.
“Britain should be a place where people are treated with respect regardless of their sexuality or gender identity, and unions stand ready to work with the Government on these measures in any way we can.”

UCU members vote for strike action at Wolverhampton College

UCU members at Wolverhampton College are to strike next Monday - 21st June - after 91% of their members voted in favour of action short of a strike while just under 70% voted in favour of strike action.

Therefore the strike will be going ahead on 21st June and UCU plans for this day will be to picket all campuses in the morning before all members make their way to a protest at the City Centre Campus (Metro One) at 11.30am. It is anticipted that UCU members will be joined by Unison members from the College and hopefully other Trade Unionists.

At 12.00 / 12.15, all protesters will start to march through Dudley St towards the Wulfrun Hall.
At 12.30, the Rally will commence at the Wulfrun Hall. Speakers to be announced.

Harsh spending cuts will be all pain and no gain

The next round of Government spending cuts will weaken the economy, lead to hundreds of thousands of job losses, hit the poorest in society hard through a loss of services, and leave an even deeper deficit, according to a new report published by the TUC today (Wednesday). All Pain, No Gain: The Case Against Cuts looks at economies that have made severe spending cuts in the past – Britain in the 1980s, Canada in the 1990s and more recently Ireland – and finds that the end result for the UK in 2010 will be damaged public services, rising unemployment and increased suffering for the most vulnerable.
Nor will cuts reduce the deficit, according to the TUC report. A harsh round of spending cuts will harm the economy, causing the Government’s tax receipts to fall as companies pay less tax on their profits and newly unemployed public servants no longer pay income tax. And with hundreds of thousands of newly unemployed workers on the dole, the benefits bill will rise too.
Instead of spending cuts now, the TUC report urges the Government to actively work for an international growth package, raise taxes for those most able to pay, and abandon the cuts timetable which demands that the deficit be halved by 2014.
Commenting on the report, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “The huge spending cuts planned by the Government risk imposing a great deal of pain on the British people – especially for those at the bottom – and for absolutely no gain. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
“Cuts are the worst way to plug the hole in the public finances. They have not worked in Ireland and did not work in 1980s Britain.
“The speed and severity of UK cuts is more likely to spook the markets than please them as a double-dip recession looms and Europe embraces the self-harm of deficit fetishism. Business confidence, order books and consumer demand is all very brittle.
“The cuts programme increasingly looks less like economics and more like a political project to restructure the state and roll back support for not just the poor and vulnerable but the services on which middle-income Britain depends.
“It is increasingly clear that the Government cannot eliminate the deficit on the timetable they have chosen without the deep cuts in spending advocated by Reform, the think-tank close to government, today. Voters did not vote for cuts in health, education, pensions, the police and for privatising the road under their feet.”
Politicians are wrong to think it’s possible to do away with ‘backroom’ jobs without affecting services says the report, as any cuts to human resources, finance or administrative staff will make life much harder and more stressful for those on the frontline, says the report.
Similarly the report dismisses claims that services can be run any more efficiently or cheaply by using the private sector. With many out-sourced projects going over budget, the end result is a decline in the quality of service and poor value for money.
The report also looks at the experience of governments in Canada and Ireland to make its case against cuts:

• Canada aggressively cut back on spending in the 1990s, slashing the budgets of key departments like education and health. Over 265,000 jobs were lost in the public sector but many economists agree that the halving of its deficit came about more as a result of healthy global growing economy than the programme of spending cuts.

• The Irish Government embarked on a severe programme of spending cuts soon after the country entered recession in 2008, affecting child and unemployment benefit, education and transport, as well as public sector pay and pensions. Despite the cuts, the economy didn’t improve, unemployment went up and the deficit has remained the same.

All Pain, No Gain urges the UK Government to turn away from its £60 billion cuts programme and manage the public deficit by:


• Accepting that growth is the only way to tackle the deficit and work with governments around the world to maintain levels of public spending and prevent the return of another economic slowdown.
• Increasing taxation, especially for those most able to pay, introducing a Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions made between banks, as well as closing the loopholes that wealthy individuals jump through to avoid paying tax.
• Abandoning the restrictive timetable that demands the deficit be reduced by a half or more by 2014.

- All Pain, No Gain is available at www.tuc.org.uk/all_pain_no_gain

Costs of public sector pensions are being presented in a highly selective way

Responding today (Tuesday) to comments made by the Government on the costs of public sector pensions, TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said: “Ministers are presenting the costs of public sector pensions in a highly selective way. They are not comparing like with like – and have not been clear that a main cause of the increased net cost of public sector pensions is their decision to freeze public sector pay.
“The cost of public sector pensions they talk about is the difference each year between how much it costs to pay pensions to staff who have already retired and the contributions that current staff and employers are making – even though contributions are to pay tomorrow’s pensions not today’s.
“As ministers have decided to freeze pay, contributions – a straight percentage of pay – are also frozen.
“As pensions rise with inflation, inevitably the gap between pensions and contributions will grow even though the cost of pay and pensions will fall as the freeze bites.”

Action Mesothelioma Day

On 25th February the government gave a commitment to increase medical research into asbestos-related diseases, ‘including considering how best to establish a world-leading network of medical practitioners to research asbestos-related disease’.
An important aspect of such research is to establish how best to meet mesothelioma patients’ needs for palliative care, which include:

Effective pain relief accessible at all times;
Strategies to cope with breathlessness;
Help with the psychological effects of mesothelioma;
Help coping with terminal illness
Support for carers and respect for their needs

The Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team are holding their annual Action Mesothelioma Day event to discuss these issues and more. The event takes place on Friday 2nd July from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., meeting in Cinema 1, The Quad, Market Place, Cathedral Quarter, Derby, DE1 3AS.
Speakers include

• Mr Martin-Ucar – Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at Nottingham University Hospitals
• Claire Darlington – Lung Cancer Nurse Specialist
• Lisa Barker – Derbyshire Carers’ Association
• Graham Sherlock-Brown – Mesothelioma Patient

Registration for this event is from 10.00 a.m.
Following the speakers we shall be proceeding to the Market Place to add messages to the memory tree, hosted by Tony Tinley of Unite the Union.

Lunch is available from 1.00pm

1000 hits on the blog!

We have just recorded 1000 hits on the blog since we started counting them - thanks for making this a worthwhile addition to the Midlands TUC media work!

International Transport Workers Federation - Piracy – enough is enough

The International Transport Workers Federation has launched a campaign calling on governments to take action against piracy, and is seeking support for an international petition.
Pirate attacks on seafarers have increased in frequency and violence over the past few years. In 2009 more than 200 ships were attacked by pirates and almost 900 crew members taken hostage. Hundreds of seafarers are still being held hostage. The campaign coalition is made up of trade unions, shipowners and insurers. They are calling on governments to find real solutions to the growing problem of piracy, to take immediate steps to secure the release and safe return of kidnapped seafarers, and to work together to secure a stable future for Somalia.
The campaign is backed by Nautilus International and the RMT, and supports TUC policy on the issue (resolution 46, carried at Congress 2009).
The petition is available on the ITF website via this link: http://www.endpiracynow.org/
and more information can be found on the Nautilus International website: http://www.nautilusint.org/News-and-Events/Pages/article.aspx?newsid=109
The aim is to get half a million or more signatures by World Maritime Day on 23 September 2010. Please circulate widely to colleagues and members to help achieve this aim.
Contact: Alice Hood (0207 467 1225 email ahood@tuc.org.uk)
TUC Economic and Social Affairs Department

Students receive employment rights advice

TUC staff attended the University of Birmingham Jobs Fair to talk them through the potential pitfalls of getting a summer job. Regional Policy and Campaigns Officer Alan Weaver, and Chayoung Jeong, Vulnerable workers project officer, spent the day talking to students about the National Minimum Wage, health and safety, and the pitfalls of working for a poor boss.

"Not every employer is a bad one" said Alan Weaver, "many will treat their temporary staff very well and there will be no problems. However, from experience we know that some students are taken advantage of during their employment, and we aim to ensure more know their rights when dealing with their boss".

Chayoung added, "many of the young people we spoke to were international students and had no idea of their employment rights. Hopefully the message will get through that no one should be exploited or mistreated in work.

The visit came about because of the close working relationship with the students union based Jobzone which helps place students into work through vetted employers who meet the stringent procedure's laid down by the University. "We value our relationship with the Jobzone staff," said Alan Weaver, "they provide a fine service for students and are called in where there are the occasional problems. We help if we can and are very pleased to attend the termly Job Fairs to support students seeking work".

TUC produce two new guides on drugs and alcohol for workplace reps

The TUC has today produced two new guides for workplace representatives. They are on drugs and alcohol policies, and drug testing in the workplace. They are at:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-17993-f0.pdf
and
http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-18000-f0.pdf
There are also html versions on the TUC website: http://www.tuc.org.uk/