Challenging Poverty in Changing Times

Jack Dromey MP

Birmingham Unemployed Workers Centre in association with the Midlands TUC are holding a conference entitled: Challenging Poverty in Changing Times.

We have secured a top line up of speakers who will address the conference on a range of issues:
Jack Dromey MP speaking on the Welfare Bill and the effects on the Voluntary and Community Sector
Heather Wakefield, UNISON Head of Local Government speaking on Cuts and the effects on public services/society and in work poverty
Nicola Smith, TUC Head of Economic and Social Affairs Department speaking on the TUC National perspective on Poverty

Workshops to include:
• The Changing Regime of Welfare Benefits and the effects on society
• The Geography of Poverty/in work Poverty in the West Midlands

This conference is open to trade union officers and activists / voluntary, community and faith groups.

Date and Time: Friday 11 March 2011 registration from 9.30 a.m., conference runs from 10.00 am to 2.30 pm.
Venue: Birmingham City Council, Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB
Lunch will be provided free of charge to conference delegates.
To book your place, please email Michelle Kesterton at: mkesterton@tuc.org.uk or telephone 0121 262 6383

Midlands TUC Annual Conference 26th February 2011

Lee Baron, left, the new Chair of the Midlands TUC

with outgoing Chair Gerard Coyne.

The Midlands TUC held its' annual conference on Saturday 26th February at the Communication Workers Offices, Summer Lane, Birmingham. High on the agenda was the planned March for the Alternative which will be taking place in London on the 26th March.

The conference was addressed by TUC National Organiser Carl Roper who gave the latest information on the march, including updates on stewarding and travel arrangements. Coach drop off points were of particular concern and the TUC was working hard to get coaches as close to The Embankment, where the march will assemble, as possible. However, there are constraints being imposed by the police on coach movements through the capital and not all drop off and coach parking sites had as yet been identified.

The call for stewards was reiterated so the march could be adequately supported on the day and unions were urged to get there nomination sin so the appropriate training could be arranged.

The conference elected a new Chair for the Midlands TUC, with Lee Baron of the Communication Workers Union taking the helm and succeeding Gerard Coyne of Unite. the Vice Chairs, also elected at the conference are Adrian Axtell of Unite and Eleanor Smith of UNISON.

One in five workers in the east midlands are doing £5,140 of unpaid overtime a year

Cheryl Pidgeon

Around one in five workers (20.2 per cent) in the east midlands are regularly doing unpaid overtime worth around £5,140 a year, according to a TUC analysis of official figures published today (Friday) to mark Work Your Proper Hour Day (WYPHD). The TUC analysis finds that workers in the region are slightly less likely to do unpaid overtime than the UK average (21 per cent) – and those that do unpaid overtime give away 7.5 hours of free work every week.
Across the region, 371,000 people worked unpaid overtime last year, worth around £1.9 billion to the economy.
Today is Work Your Proper Hours Day – the day when the average person who does unpaid overtime would start to get paid if they did all their unpaid overtime at the start of the year.

Public sector workers in region are the most likely to do unpaid overtime, with over one in four (28.7 per cent) regularly putting in more than seven hours of unpaid overtime a week, compared to around one in six workers in the private sector (17.2 per cent).

Across the UK, a record 5.26 million people worked unpaid overtime last year – the highest since records began in 1992.

Workers clocked up an average seven hours 12 minutes unpaid overtime a week, worth £5,485 per person and a record £28.8 billion to the economy.

The increasing amount of unpaid overtime worked is likely to be a symptom of tough economic conditions, low recruitment activity and rising unemployment, with staff having to pick up new work as well as the work left over by colleagues who have been made redundant, the TUC believes.
Staff in the public sector put in 702 million hours of unpaid work last year. With heavy job losses about to hit the public sector, the amount of unpaid overtime is likely to rise even higher, putting an extra strain on staff already stressed about increasing workloads, pay freezes and increased pensions contributions, says the TUC.
The TUC is calling on bosses to recognise the extra free hours that staff put in and for everyone, including managers, to work their proper hours today by taking a decent lunch break and leaving work on time.

TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said: “With tough economic conditions making employers reluctant to recruit, existing staff are picking up much of the increasing work load through unpaid hours.

“While most staff are happy to put in some extra free time to help their company through, forcing staff to endlessly put in too many hours could lead to increased stress levels, which can make staff ill and reduce the quality of the work they do.

“Public sector workers – already experiencing a sharp cut in their earnings as they have their pay frozen and pension contributions raised – will be understandably upset about the amount of extra unpaid work they are expected to do with the threat of redundancy looming over them.

“Work Your Proper Hours Day is a light-hearted campaign and today is an opportunity for bosses to thank staff for going that extra mile.

“But there is a serious side to excessive overtime, irrespective of whether staff get paid for it. Bosses should always be on the lookout for a damaging long hours culture in their workplace and take steps to protect their workforce.”

First major industrial action against council cuts




The T shirts say it all.



The first major industrial action against council cuts came as UNISON members withdrew their labour at Nottinghamshire County Council today.

UNISON members came from across the county to express their disgust at proposed cuts to libraries, care homes and other essential services. The march, estimated at nearly 1,000 strong, started from The Embankment and crossed the River Trent via the historic Trent Bridge. The rally outside County Hall heard from TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon and UNISONs Head of Local Governmen, Heather Wakefield.

The march was supported by other TUC affiliated unions including the GMB, FBU, PCS Unite and the NUT.

The County Council was due to set its budget for the forthcoming year later in the day.

CWU - Keep the Post Public Campaign!

There are some things in life that are truly difficult to put into words sufficiently such as the love you have for your children and family. I was privileged to be asked to attend the CWU Nottingham- Keep the Post Public Rally on saturday 19th February. When I arrived and turned the corner and saw the magnificent parade of unions, community organisations, Labour Party branches and bands who had taken so much pride and effort to make the rally an event to remember, I felt a similar inability to describe my pride in them and the work we do as a Movement.

This wasn't work - this was a passion for the work we do , for the things that make our world a great place and for the principals we hold dear. So utterly proud does not do this event justice- for once a TUC official lost for words!
Can't wait for the UNISON Notts County demonstration and rally tomorrow!
March 26th - London - see you there also!

Hotel Workers battle to defend minimum wage

Ireland: Hotel workers battle to defend minimum wage

Members of the IUF's Irish affiliate SIPTU at the Davenport Hotel in Dublin have mounted protests after being taken off the roster for refusing to sign new contracts reducing their national minimum wage rate by almost €1 an hour.

The outgoing Irish Government pressed through legislation allowing for the minimum wage to be reduced, but gave assurances that this could not happen without the consent of workers affected.

However, at the Davenport Hotel workers have been brought into three meetings over the past three weeks and repeatedly told they must sign the new contracts or face being taken off the roster. They were not given a copy of the new contract, either in English or in their own languages.

The women, who are from Lithuania and Poland and have worked as cleaners at the Davenport Hotel for between four and six years, refused to sign the new contracts on 1st February when the new legislation came into force and have been removed from the payroll ever since. SIPTU served strike notice on the hotel on 9th February over the hotel’s decision which it regards as an effective lockout.

Although the dispute involves only five people it has implications for over 300,000 workers affected by the new National Minimum Wage legislation and related rates of pay in the hotels, contract cleaning, security and other low pay sectors.

Visit www.iuf.org for further details and how you can show your support- thanks everybody.

50,000 NHS job losses uncovered by new cuts campaign website

False Economy – the cuts campaign website that formally launches today (Wednesday) – reveals that more than 50,000 NHS staff posts are set for the axe, destroying government claims that the NHS is in safe hands.

Health secretary Andrew Lansley said in April 2010 of possible NHS job cuts under Labour: “They will cut the number of nurses, the number of doctors and the number of hospital beds. It does not get more frontline than that.”

David Cameron then famously claimed before the election that he would “cut the deficit, not the NHS”.

However less than 10 months into the coalition government, the reality couldn’t be more different, with NHS cuts across the country including:

· East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which expects to shed 1,013 full-time equivalent staff from 2010-15, including almost 50 doctors and dental staff, and 270 nurses, midwives and health visitors.

· Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which is cutting 682 full-time equivalent posts between 2010 and 2013. 110 posts have already gone.

· University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust, who are currently forecasting a reduction of 1,349 full-time posts from 2011-15, which is 22.5 per cent of its entire staff.

· Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, who expect to cut 461 full-time posts by 2015 – a 16 per cent reduction, including a 12 per cent cut in nurses, midwives and health visitors.

· Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, which is cutting 1,755 full-time posts in 2010-11 – nearly a nine per cent net reduction in one year, including 120 doctors and dentists, and 620 nurses.

· Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, who plan to shed 1,115 full-time posts from 2011-14, mainly through natural turnover.

The total confirmed, planned and potential NHS staff cuts across the country currently stands at just over 53,150 posts – and that’s before a host of trusts are expected to announce staff cuts over the next four months, including all Wales’ health boards.

The national total is already twice the previous estimate of 27,000 job cuts, published by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) last November.


The cuts in mental health trusts are particularly acute, with cuts of over 15 per cent at the following NHS Trusts; Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership, Derbyshire Mental Health Services, Mersey Care, and Kent and Medway and Social Care Partnership Trust.

False Economy’s figures have been collated for the most part from NHS trusts themselves under the Freedom of Information Act but also include figures sourced by the RCN Frontline First campaign, as well as press reports and foundation trusts’ annual plans published by the national regulator Monitor.

The figures are, where possible, given as full-time equivalents, net of any recruitment of new staff. False Economy’s figures include the 4,000 job cuts recently predicted by Northern Irish health minister Michael McGimpsey over the next four years, plus 3,000 job cuts previously announced by NHS trusts that are now subject to revision.

While most of the cuts are likely to be achieved through natural wastage rather than compulsory redundancies, it is hard to see how 20 per cent staff cuts – such as those planned by Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust – can be achieved without directly impacting on patient care.

False Economy www.falseeconomy.org.uk is a new website that has already established itself, as the hub of Britain’s growing anti-cuts movement. It allows people to upload details of local cuts, provide testimony on how the cuts will affect them and promote local groups and activities.

A video, narrated by Samuel West, makes the case that the cuts are bearing down on those who did least to cause the crash, and that there is an alternative to the cuts that relies on economic growth and a fair tax system to close the deficit.

False Economy brings together the new generation of social media campaigners with the traditional campaigners in unions. The site’s director is Clifford Singer who ran the MyDavidCameron spoof poster site during the election campaign, and its management committee brings together a wide cross-section of online campaigners with the TUC and other union representatives.

False Economy Campaign Director Clifford Singer said: “We now list more than 100 local cuts campaigns in our directory, and it’s fascinating how many are using social networks like Facebook to communicate. Some even formed through Facebook. But the point is they aren’t just talking to each other on the web, but using it to organise campaigns on their local high streets.

“UK Uncut is a brilliant example. It started as a few friends sending messages on Twitter, but grew into a high-profile, nationwide campaign against tax avoidance and greedy banks. It turned upside down the notion that internet campaigning is just about ‘clicktivism’ – low-effort activities like online petitions – and could be used as a powerful organising tool.”

MyDavidCameron is launching a new spoof version of the Conservative campaign poster that replaces “We can’t go on like this. I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS” with ”We can’t go on like this. I’ll cut” followed by a scrolling tally of NHS cuts. The poster is available at www.falseeconomy.org.uk/poster

The campaign against the government’s deep, rapid cuts is really taking off all round the country. False Economy combines the strengths of union traditions with the creativity of the new generation of campaigners more used to Twitter than branch meetings. It’s rapidly become a home both for those taking their first steps in protesting about their local library closing and also for long-established opponents of the cuts.



False Economy’s new research on NHS job cuts gives the lie to government claims that the NHS was safe in their hands. Not only are they reorganising the NHS in a way that strips out many of its founding principles, but also insisting on immediate cuts that will certainly harm frontline services. To echo Andrew Lansley, it does not get much more frontline than that.

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis said: “The Tories are not the party of the NHS – they are the party that will destroy our NHS. Losing 50,000 health workers will hurt. It’s only a matter of time before the toll of bed shortages and ward closures mount up. With fewer nurses on wards, the return of long waiting lists, and a rise in cancelled operations, patient care will be an early casualty.

“The Tories cannot ignore the mounting evidence that they have got it wrong on the health service, and wrong on recovery. They need to put the brakes on the cuts, and shelve the titanic re-organisation of the health service before it’s too late.

“Instead of sacrificing patients, the Tories should make the UK’s major banks pay their fair share in tax, and tackle the galling spectre of big City bonuses.”

Well said Dave !

London -March 26th- See you all there! Thanks for your support!

CWU March to save postal services in Nottingham

The Communication Workers Union organised a very successful march and rally in Beeston, Nottingham, on Saturday 19th February. The march went from the Royal Mail Centre in Beeston, through the centre of the suburb, to the rally at The New Venture Social Club near Beeston railway station.
Speakers included Cheryl Pidgeon, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary, Billy Hayes and Lee Baron from the CWU, and Nottingham South MP Lillian Greenwood.
The march was well supported by members of the CWU with many travelling from outside the region to  show their solidarity. There was also excellent support from other unions with UNISON and the National Union of Mineworkers banners flying proudly on the march.

4,000 Pageviews!

We have just reached 4,000 pageviews on this site! Amazing!
After a slow start the rate of hits has increased substantially with the most recent thousand hits taking just over four weeks.
Thanks to all our visitors from around the world who are making this blog so worthwhile. Around 60% of hits are international with 40% or so from the UK. Please do visit regularly to see what is new on the site.

Misguided, dangerous and undemocratic- government plans for public sector

The Prime Minister signals more clearly than ever the Government’s determination to dismantle the public sector by opening up all our public services to private contractors and voluntary organisations. The prospect of the privatisation of health, education, libraries, parks, social care and much more will be set out in an ‘Open public services’ White Paper in the next two weeks – although of course it will be framed in the softer language of the Big Society.
The proposals remove any doubt about whether or not the Government’s reforms are driven by ideology. Despite evidence that privatisation does not deliver better services, the Government plans to push ahead with reforms that will mean private companies and other bodies can compete to deliver virtually all public services. Cameron’s article mentions exemptions for the judiciary and the security services but everything else appears to be up for grabs.

Of course, education and health are already seeing this approach to public service delivery being pushed through in the form of wide-ranging legislation. The Health and Social Care Bill allows ‘Any Willing Provider’ to deliver NHS services, removes the cap on how much income Foundation Trusts can make from private patients and devolves commissioning to consortia of GPs – some of whom are already passing 100% of this work onto private companies.

There are many reasons why the plans are misguided, dangerous and undemocratic. Here are five of them:

1. It doesn’t mean better results: The TUC responded to the call for evidence to inform the white paper, setting out evidence from a number of sectors about how privatisation often leads to poorer quality and higher costs. For instance, price competition in health in the early 1990s led to a fall in clinical quality, the outsourcing of hospital cleaning in the 1980s was linked to increased hospital infections, and evidence from the equivalent of free schools in the USA found that more than a third had results that were ‘significantly worse’ than their state-school counterparts. Since railway privatisation, the taxpayer subsidy to the industry has actually increased rather than decreased (see p.12 of this recent report for the DfT), at the same time as standards have declined and prices for passengers have risen.

2. It does mean a postcode lottery: Localism is an attractive word and as a policy it has potential benefits, enabling providers to better tailor services to the needs and demography of the local population. But coming at the same time as drastic cuts and the Government’s Open public services agenda, what it will mean in practice is vastly diverging levels of service provision and quality between different areas. Whilst wealthier individuals will be able to travel or pay to find the best services, those who don’t have the resources to do so will rely on overstretched local provision.

3. Bureaucracy will increase, not decrease: Although the Government’s stated aim is to reduce bureaucracy, in fact the plans are likely to lead to increased bureaucracy and spending on transaction costs and consultants. The process of tendering, awarding and overseeing reams of contracts will be incredibly resource intensive. Threats to national collective arrangements for bargaining over pay would lead to the replication of detailed and time-consuming negotiations in every school and local authority rather than a clear, equality-proofed national approach.

4. The changes are anti-democratic: Removing public services from democratic control establishes a contract-based culture which is likely to create plenty of work for lawyers but will weaken democratic oversight. Using a market approach to accountability rather than a democratic approach is likely to distort outcomes and leave the most vulnerable – who might not have the financial or other resources needed to exercise choice – without a voice. Local councillors, already stretched by the pressures of central government cuts, will struggle to adequately scrutinise and challenge the multiple providers in a fragmented system.

5. Public service workers’ living standards will bear the brunt: Forcing down pay, terms and conditions is the quickest way for private providers to maximise profits. Combined with inflation, a pay freeze for public sector workers and changes to pensions, this could add up to an unprecedented squeeze on living standards. TUPE provisions may well protect transferred staff, but the removal of the ‘Two-tier code’ means that there is little in the way of safeguards for new staff .

Ultimately what these changes will mean is private companies making profit from the services we all rely on. The magnitude of these changes and the threat they pose should not be underestimated.

Big Society - no thank you!

A society that makes you redundant one day after decades of serving the public brilliantly then asks you to do the same role for free the next is not big and no society that I want to be part of! London - March 26th - See you there! Cheryl Pidgeon- Regional Secretary Midlands TUC

Reforms to Disability Living Allowance Risk Widespread Poverty

Cuts to the disability living allowance (DLA) will leave disabled people, their carers and their children in poverty.

Disabled people – and those living with and caring for them – are more likely than non-disabled people to face poverty and restricted chances in life.

The current failing of the allowance is not that it is paying too much, as the government believes, more that it is not generous enough to provide disabled people with a decent standard of living.

Limiting the different rates of the allowance will mean many claimants could lose the benefit. The new allowance due to replace the DLA – the personal independence payment – is much less generous and will be available to far fewer people, and seems to have been designed primarily to cut government spending.

DLA claimants are all too often portrayed as malingering benefit dependants, but fraud is rare. Recipients of the current benefit rely on it to pay for basic food and accommodation. Any cut in the allowance would reduce the living standards of disabled people, and risk leaving them and their children in permanent poverty.

The TUC is concerned about changes to the mobility component of DLA, which could see older disabled people particularly hit by the loss of vital income, and left isolated in care homes and hospitals.

Many younger people who rely on this money to access the community and live a fulfilled life will also be adversely affected.These proposals clearly show that the government is targeting some of society’s most vulnerable people to pick up the cost of the recession.

We are very definitely not all in this together – while the champagne corks pop in the City as yet another round of mega bonuses is announced, disabled people are facing harsh cuts to their already meagre support allowance.

Taking away this vital financial aid will consign thousands of disabled people and their families to a life of poverty.

As government slashes local authority budgets, councils will be forced to fall back to providing only the services they are bound to do by law, axing discretionary spending on support schemes and assistance for disabled people.

The TUC is calling on the DWP to carry out an urgent investigation into the impact of the proposed reforms to the DLA on carers.

Not only will carers be affected by the whole family’s lower income if the person they care for loses entitlement to benefit, but these changes could also affect their eligibility for carer’s allowance, carer’s premium and other vital benefits.

Government review of sickness absence must not cut sick pay

Dame Carol Black and David Frost are to carry out an independent review into sickness absence.
If this were a genuine attempt to support those on long term sickness get back to work then the TUC would welcome it with open arms. We are concerned that it will end up as just another part of the government's cost saving onslaught on the income and rights of those at work and those on benefits.

The fact that the review is being conducted by a leading voice of employers' interests, with no corresponding involvement from unions representing workers affected by sickness absence, gives us little confidence in the outcome.

You do not get workers back to work by cutting their access to benefits or pay. You get them back by providing access to early rehabilitation and supporting those who have been ill for a long time by giving them confidence to return.

The other way to reduce the number of long term sick leave is to prevent them from becoming sick in the first place, but the cuts in the budgets of the Health and Safety Executive, and the fall in enforcement activity from local authority safety inspectors means more employers can get away with running unsafe and unhealthy workplaces.

Cameron's Blue Print is "anti- democratic"

The Prime Minister's proposal to make all public services open to private sector bidders is a naked right wing agenda that takes us back to the most divisive years of the 1980's. The Prime Minister has been telling us that the cuts are sadly necessary, not a secret political project to destroy public services. Yet his recent proposal to privatise everything that moves is exactly the kind of proposal that voters would reject if put at an election.

What is particularly laughable is the idea that this will reduce bureaucracy. Pirvatisation replaces democratic oversight and accountability with a contract culture that is a job creation scheme for lawyers. Voters and service users will lose their say in what will be a get even richer scheme for the companies that win contracts. Public service workers should be very afraid. The real profits will come from attacking their terms and conditions, and will only entrench the longest decline in living standards for ordinary people since the 1920's. This is classic nasty party stuff. March For the Alternative - London March 26th - see you there!

CWU march and rally to Keep the Post public

Marching to Keep the Post Public

The CWU is holding the Nottingham leg of its' Keep the Post Public campaign tommorrow. Speakers include CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes and Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood.
Assemble: From 1 p.m. at the Mail Centre, Padge Road, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 2RR. March commences at 2 p.m.
Rally at New Venture Social Club, Tehcnology Drive. off Meadow Road, Beeston, Nottingham

Government review of sickness absence must not cut sick pay

Commenting on the government announcement today (Thursday) that Dame Carol Black and David Frost are to carry out an independent review into sickness absence, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said: “If this were to be a genuine attempt to support those on long-term sickness get back to work then the TUC would welcome it with open arms. However we are concerned that it will end up as just another part of the government’s cost-saving onslaught on the income and rights of those at work, and those on benefits.
“The fact that the review is being conducted by a leading voice of employers’ interests, with no corresponding involvement from unions representing workers affected by sickness absence, gives us little confidence in the outcome.
“You do not get workers back to work by cutting their access to benefits or pay. You get them back by providing access to early rehabilitation and supporting those who have been ill for a long time by giving them the confidence to return.
“The other way to reduce the number of people on long term sick leave is to prevent them from becoming sick in the first place, but the cuts in the budgets of the Health and Safety Executive, and the fall in enforcement activity from local authority safety inspectors mean more employers can get away with running unsafe and unhealthy workplaces.”

Funding for refugee advice services is to be cut by 60% from 1 April.

The Refugee Council has launched this action so that people can tell their MPs that these devastating cuts must be stopped. You can see the action at: www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/cuts
Please take a moment to take the action and please circulate the link to your networks.
Thanks for your support

Cheryl Pidgeon

Midlands TUC Regional Secretary

Reforms to disability living allowance risk widespread poverty

Campaigning against benefits cuts

Cuts to the disability living allowance (DLA) will leave disabled people, their carers and their children in poverty, says the TUC today (Friday) in its submission to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) consultation on the benefit which closes today. Disabled people – and those living with and caring for them – are more likely than non-disabled people to face poverty and restricted chances in life, says the TUC.
Its submission argues that the current failing of the allowance is not that it is paying too much, as the government believes, more that it is not generous enough to provide disabled people with a decent standard of living.
The TUC believes that limiting the different rates of the allowance will mean many claimants could lose the benefit. The new allowance due to replace the DLA – the personal independence payment – is much less generous and will be available to far fewer people, and seems to have been designed primarily to cut government spending.
DLA claimants are all too often portrayed as malingering benefit dependants, but fraud is rare. Recipients of the current benefit rely on it to pay for basic food and accommodation. Any cut in the allowance would reduce the living standards of disabled people, and risk leaving them and their children in permanent poverty, says the TUC.
In addition, the TUC is concerned about changes to the mobility component of DLA, which could see older disabled people particularly hit by the loss of vital income, and left isolated in care homes and hospitals.
Many younger people who rely on this money to access the community and live a fulfilled life will also be adversely affected, says the TUC submission.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “These proposals clearly show that the government is targeting some of society’s most vulnerable people to pick up the cost of the recession.
“We are very definitely not all in this together – while the champagne corks pop in the City as yet another round of mega bonuses is announced, disabled people are facing harsh cuts to their already meagre support allowance.
“Taking away this vital financial aid will consign thousands of disabled people and their families to a life of poverty.
“As government slashes local authority budgets, councils will be forced to fall back to providing only the services they are bound to do by law, axing discretionary spending on support schemes and assistance for disabled people.”
The TUC is calling on the DWP to carry out an urgent investigation into the impact of the proposed reforms to the DLA on carers.
The submission says that not only will carers be affected by the whole family’s lower income if the person they care for loses entitlement to benefit, but these changes could also affect their eligibility for carer’s allowance, carer’s premium and other vital benefits.

Quango praised by David Cameron is scrapped along with 300 jobs

The Prime minister had praised ill-fated Advantage WM and other Midlands award winners as examples of 'big society' in action


A quango that David Cameron praised as one of the organisations that will "bring the wealth, the jobs and the opportunity our country needs so badly" is being scrapped with the loss of more than 300 jobs.

The prime minister sent a video message praising Advantage WM after it won a top prize at the Midlands Excellence awards earlier this month.
"These awards celebrate precisely the kinds of things that will get our economy back on its feet," Cameron told the audience on a video link. "You are the doers and the grafters who are going to bring the wealth, the jobs and opportunity our country needs so badly."
However, most of the 340 staff who worked for Advantage WM expect to be made redundant in September and the organisation, which has an annual investment budget of £300m, will be wound up in March next year.
"For once, I agree with the prime minister, or rather, he agrees with us," said Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union. "Like the other RDAs [regional development agencies], Advantage WM plays a vital role in the economy and this is exactly the sort of alternative to spending cuts that we've been talking about. Instead of arrogantly swinging the ideological axe, the government should be investing in the public sector to help our economy to grow."
Cameron was forced to relaunch his "big society" project this week after allegations the government's cuts were hitting public sector and voluntary groups that deliver local services.
During his address to the awards ceremony he appeared to acknowledge that organisations such as Advantage WM had a role to play in the "big society".
"Everyone in your room tonight has a huge impact on our society and our culture and it is great that those who take their responsibility seriously are really being recognised. That is one of the things the big society should be all about."
Advantage WM won the main public sector award at the Midlands Excellence ceremony at Birmingham ICC on 3 February.
Mick Laverty, chief executive of Advantage WM, said the award was testament to the professionalism and commitment of the agency's staff. "We have made a difference. Independent evaluation has shown that every £1 invested by the agency generates an average £8.14 return back into the region's economy - as public sector activity goes that's an outstanding return."
The government is scrapping RDAs and replacing them with local economic partnerships. In November Vince Cable, the business secretary, described the abolition of RDAs as "a little Maoist and chaotic".

Matthew Taylor

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 February 2011 15.21 GMT

This article is reprinted from The Guardian.

Giant Valentines cards love public services

Nottinghamshire trades council campaigners
with their Valentines Day cards

On Saturday 12 February trade unionists and service users brought giant valentines cards to Nottingham's Old Market Square to say 'We love our public Services and we'll never let them go'.

Lilian Greenwood joined members of the CWU, FBU, UNISON, PCS and student from Trent University who were campaigning for a Robin Hood Tax on the banks. Lilian said: “I am pleased to be joining with the Notts Trades Council to stand up for our public services. The Tory led Government’s cuts are disproportionate and unfairly target some of the most deprived communities.
"Their attack on our city, cutting spending too far and too fast, will result in devastating job losses across our public services and voluntary sector. George Osborne’s plans will wreck the services people value and rely upon and risk pushing the economy back into recession, or leaving us with years of low growth and high unemployment"

Barclays paying more in bonuses to staff than in dividends to shareholders

Commenting on Barclays’ 2010 pay and bonuses pool announced today (Tuesday), Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said: “Barclays have made a mockery of bonus restraint by giving staff a whopping 25 per cent increase in performance-related pay.
“With ordinary workers facing the toughest squeeze in living standards for 90 years, it takes a special kind of arrogance to consider a pay rise ten times the level of average settlements as ‘restrained’.
“With Project Merlin now a proven sham, new measures are needed to tackle boardroom excess.
“It’s time shareholders took some notice. Barclays is paying more in bonuses to its elite staff than they are paying in dividends to the bank’s owners.
“That’s one reason why we should count all pay and bonuses over £250,000 – around ten times the average wage – as profits so it is liable for corporation tax.
“That way not only do taxpayers get a proper share, but it brings home just how little control shareholders have exercised over banks.”

Inflation figures show how unfair Britain has become

Cheryl Pidgeon

Responding to inflation figures published today (Tuesday), which show that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) increased to 4 per cent and the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to 5.1 per cent in January, Midlands Region TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said: “The inflation figures show just how unfair Britain today has become. At the top bankers’ pay and bonuses continue to grow, while ordinary people see their living standards fall, their jobs under threat and vital services cut.
“The City sits pretty and calls for interest rate rises, while the rest of the country struggles to pay its bills.
“The last thing that should now happen is a rise in interest rates. Price pressures have nothing to do with wages and much to do with the government’s decision to increase VAT, the unfairest tax of all. Interest rate rises would be nothing more than economic self-harm.”

Big Society policies of slash, burn and sack will not improve our lives, says TUC

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary

Commenting ahead of the Prime Minister’s speech today (Monday) on his plans for the Big Society, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“The most worrying thing about the Big Society is that the Prime Minister truly believes that polices of slash, burn and sack will make all our lives better, and not just for those for whom he is planning tax cuts."
“The logic of this is that his ideal society is Somalia where the state barely exists, and his hell the Scandinavian societies that the rest of us admire for combining quality services, equality and dynamic economies.”

BBC Factual departments in Birmingham and Bristol face large-scale job cuts

Media and entertainment union, BECTU, has today charged BBC Vision with failing to manage its programme-making operation wisely as plans are announced to cut staff in Birmingham and Bristol. Birmingham Factual faces a dramatic cut in staff as 26 out of a total staff of 50 are put at risk. The plans affect producer/directors, assistant producers and researchers.

Meanwhile in Bristol, staff in the Factual department and in the Natural History Unit are learning today of plans to cut their numbers by 21 out of a total of 68 across the two teams. The grades affected include series producers and producers.
All of the affected staff are part of the BBC’s production arm, BBC Vision.
Commenting on today’s announcements, Anna Murray, national official said:
“BECTU is devastated to learn that such large numbers of talented staff are at risk of redundancy in Bristol and Birmingham.
“Today’s announcements contradict Mark Thompson’s statements only last month on Delivering Quality First. The union will challenge the fact that these announcements come before the promised BBC-wide consultations with staff. These staff in factual are the very people who can help the BBC to meet its objectives.
“These production teams reflect huge versatility and make everything from high-end specialist wildlife programmes to daytime output. Their work reaches right across the BBC audience and more so than other BBC content.
“We believe that those at the top of the BBC have failed to manage the programme-making operation wisely and that staff in Birmingham and Bristol have been denied the opportunity to make a fair share of output. Those who control the channels and commission programmes have been allowed to by-pass in-house expertise; the result is that the development of sites like Birmingham and Bristol has been stifled.”
BECTU representatives will test BBC management on their proposals as the consultations get underway and will do everything possible to retain employment for the maximum number of staff.
For more information contact Sharon Elliott, communications officer (selliott@bectu.org.uk) or Anna Murray, national official on 020 7346 0900.

Sign the Valentine card to save Public Services!

Deep down, we all know that our public services are an essential part of our civilised society. Our schools, libraries, postal and fire services are an important element of our lives. We would be - indeed are very likely to be - far poorer as a society when the axe falls this year and these services start to disappear or are spread thinner. There are many campaign groups and trade unions campaigning on a local level to save jobs and services and one of our trades councils has come up with an imaginative way of getting the message across. Nottinghamshire Trades Council will be inviting the public to sign a public services Valentine card this Saturday in Nottingham's Market Square. So, if you want to add your name to the campaign for jobs and services you can visit the Square and sign the card between 1.00 p.m. and 3.p.m. These are to be delivered to venues affected by cuts on Monday 14th February - to show services under threat that they are indeed, close to our hearts.

Pathetically small bankers’ levy barely covers their corporation tax cut, says TUC

Commenting on plans announced today (Tuesday) by the Chancellor to increase the bankers’ levy to £2.5 billion this year, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon said: “This levy is pathetically small compared to the amount UK taxpayers are owed for the financial crash and barely covers the cost of the corporation tax cut the Chancellor is giving the banks.
“Begging bankers to shell out small change from their bonus pool falls well short of the action needed to reform our finance sector so that it can start to serve the wider economy again, rather than the other way round.
“Rather than set alarm bells ringing in the City, this levy will be met with the sound of clinking champagne glasses.”

Northants Voluntary Sector at the sharp end

Debbie Goodfellow, Cheryl Pidgeon and Natalie Newby
 at Big About Music in Corby.

Midlands TUC Regional Secretary, Cheryl Pidgeon, heard today of the problems facing the voluntary sector in Northamptonshire. Ms Pidgeon was visiting Big About Music in Corby, an organisation that specialises in taking music to young people, where she met Natalie Newby from BAM and Debbie Goodfellow from Northamptonshire Clubs for Young People.
"It is clear that funding problems will hit organisations like Big About Music and Clubs for Young People as government cuts start to bite," said Ms Pidgeon. "Services to young people depend on well funded local authority and voluntary sector provision and the cuts facing these organisations will mean many will miss out altogether. Once gone these services, and the provider organisations, will be almost impossible to replace. Irreparable damage is being done to young people's services in the name of reducing the deficit - while bankers receive bonuses the size of which dwarf funds to the Voluntary Sector in the east midlands."

Student Outreach at Birmingham Jobs Fair



Chayoung and Michelle at the Birmingham Jobs Fair



Students attending the Jobs Fair

 This is my first blog in my newly appointed post with the TUC.  Today I am at the Jobs Fair at Birmingham University with Alan Weaver and Chayoung Jeong of the Midlands TUC, speaking to students about workers' rights and the role of trade unions.  So far, in the first 45 minutes, we have spoken to approximately 20 students and given them advice and information on their rights at work.