TUC on government public sector pensions consultations

Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary

Commenting on the announcement from the Treasury today (Thursday) concerning proposed increases in public sector pension contributions, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Today's consultation documents reveal exactly what kind of increases could soon be hitting millions of public sector workers, when they are already in the middle of a pay freeze and facing a huge squeeze on their living standards.
"The proposed increases, along with other changes the government wants to make to public sector pensions, present the individual schemes talks with a hugely difficult agenda to address over the summer.

"Only if the government demonstrates real flexibility in the coming talks and shows that it is genuinely listening and prepared to change course, will it avoid more unions deciding to enter into dispute and planning industrial action later this year."

Derby rallies for Bombardier

Thousands of people attended today's march and rally in support of the threatened Bombardier plant in Derby. Trade unionists and their families showed their support for the workers by marching through the centre of Derby to the applause of shoppers in the city.
The protesters heard from a range of speakers including Colin Walton, who heads up Bombardier, Tony Woodley and Bob Crow. Diana Holland spoke as did both local MP's, Chris Williamson and Margaret Beckett.
The fight to save Bombardier will continue over the summer to ensure that the proud tradition of building railway carriages continues - and that 170 years of railway manufacture does not come to a  premature end.

Derbyshire Unemployed Workers' Centres are now on Twitter!

Do you enjoy our quarterly newsletter but would like more frequent updates on our work? You can now follow us on Twitter @Derbyshireuwc
Hope to see you there soon.
Sarah Walters

DUWCs

Bombardier march and rally this Saturday

The campaign to keep rail jobs at Bombardier in Derby rises to a new level this Saturday as thousands of trade unionists and their families will march in support of the beleagured rail manufacturer and the trade unionists who work there. The march will be one of the biggest in Derby for many years.

More information is available at the Unite website: http://www.unitetheunion.org/news__events/events/support_the_march_and_rally_to.aspx

The march will take place from the Bass Recreation Ground, assemble from 10:00 a.m.

Rally at the Silk Mill Museum.

See you there!

TUC bring the Chainmakers’ home

The TUC is delighted to announce a new venue for the Women Chainmakers’ festival for 2011. The new venue, Bearmore Mound, is in the heart of the Cradley Heath community where the Chainmakers worked and lived - and fought their successful ten week dispute to secure a minimum wage for their sector. Festival organiser Alan Weaver said, “Bringing the Chainmakers’ festival back to the heart of the community where the women fought for their rights is a great achievement and we are indebted to Sandwell Council for their support in helping us do so. We are looking to make this festival an integral part of Cradley Heath for the foreseeable future and look forward to a long and successful partnership with the council to make this happen.”
Sandwell Council Leader Councillor Darren Cooper said: "Mary Macarthur is one of the giants of Sandwell's past.
"Her role as leader of the Cradley Heath chainmakers' strike last century has rightly earned her a place in the history of the borough and trade unionism.


"The TUC has asked us to help with this year's celebrations of her life and we are delighted to be able to bring them back home to Cradley Heath by making Bearmore Mound available.
"We very much hope this year's festival will continue the success of the past few years."
The festival celebrates the achievements of 800 or so women Chainmakers who fought to establish a minimum wage for their labour. The local employers sought to deny them their rights but were met with forceful opposition, led by Mary Macarthur, who founded the National Federation of Women Workers and later stood for Parliament as a Labour candidate.
The seventh Women Chainmakers festival takes place at Bearmore Mound on Saturday 17th September. Further details will be announced in the run up to the festival.

Over-50s and retired faring better than young people in jobs market

The last 20 years have seen a significant increase in the proportion of over-50s and people over retirement age in employment, the TUC reveals today (Wednesday).
A new TUC analysis - published to coincide with the latest unemployment figures, which will be issued later this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - finds that the jobs market has changed significantly since 1992.
Age and Gender: What has changed in the labour market in recent years finds that 56.5 per cent of people aged between 50 and 64 were in work in April 1992. This rose to 64.9 per cent by December 2010.
Over the same period, the proportion of those aged over 64 in work rose from 5.5 to 9 per cent. This is a significant increase for retirement age workers, who now make up a bigger share of the total working population.
The report also reveals that young people have become less likely to be in employment over the same period - mainly because of the expansion of education, but also as young people have been hit hard by the recession.
In April 1992 48.8 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds were in employment, but that figure had dropped to around 23.6 per cent by December 2010. Around two in three (65.8 per cent) of 18 to 24-year-olds were working in April 1992, but this fell to around 58 per cent by the end of 2010.
The proportion of 'prime age' workers (those aged 25 to 49) has remained steady, despite the recession, according to the TUC analysis.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "Older people bring a wealth of skills and experience to the workplace. The increasing number of over 65s in work shows that older workers are highly valued and that the government is absolutely right to scrap the default retirement age.
"But there is a darker side to people to working beyond their retirement. Low wages and poor pension provision, particularly in the private sector, mean that many people simply cannot afford to retire at 65. The failure of far too many employers to help staff save for their retirement is forcing these people into pensioner poverty and placing a huge cost burden on the state.
"It is a mistake to blame older workers for youth unemployment - they tend not to be doing the jobs young unemployed people might expect to get. The main reason for young people's jobs crisis is that there just aren't enough new jobs that are appropriate for young people to do being created. And of course the more people we have in work overall, the more the economy grows and the more jobs are created.
"We've seen record youth unemployment figures this year, and the government's decision to scrap the Future Jobs Fund, months before its poorly-funded replacement was due to start, has helped drive the rise in the number of young people out of work.
"Scrapping Education Maintenance Allowance and hiking university tuition fees will only further reduce the chances of young people - and with inflation rising at over twice the level of earnings, those in work are also finding it hard to make ends meet."
Further information
Age and Gender: What has changed in the labour market in recent years is available at www.tuc.org.uk/tucfiles/43/Whathaschangedinthelabourmarketinrecentyears.pdf
For reaction to today's (Wednesday) unemployment figures and further economic analysis please visit www.touchstoneblog.org.uk
For more information about the ONS please visit www.statistics.gov.uk/default.asp

High inflation is creating a toxic mix for families' living standards, says TUC

Brendan Barber

Commenting on the latest inflation figures published today (Tuesday) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which show that RPI inflation fell to 5 per cent and CPI fell to 4.2 per cent in June, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:"The small drop in overall inflation will be of little comfort to families facing soaring food and transport bills.
"The cost of living is still rising twice as fast as wages, so our income squeeze is getting tighter every month and will continue for some time.
"With a weak labour market, growth at a standstill, and both business and consumer confidence down, inflation is the only measure that's bounced back since the recession, creating a toxic mix for families' living standards."
For informationThe latest inflation figures are available at www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/cpi0711.pdf
RPI inflation - the measure most commonly used in wage settlements - fell from 5.2 to 5 per cent in June while CPI inflation fell from 4.5 per cent to 4.2 per cent.
The latest available earnings figures show that total pay (including bonuses) increased by 1.8 between February and April 2011.

White Paper is a manifesto to break up our public services, says TUC

Commenting ahead of the Open Public Services White Paper published later today (Monday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

"This is nothing less than a manifesto to break up our public services, smuggled out while all attention is focussed on the misdeeds of News International.
"Yet on the day Southern Cross' failure underlines just how dangerous introducing the profit motive into public service can be, people should be very afraid at what these proposals could mean.
"Of course they are skilfully wrapped up in warm words, but when the Prime Minister talks of charities and voluntary groups, he means parcelling up public services for private companies; when he talks of ending top-down control, he really means introducing a postcode lottery with few winning tickets; and when he talks of fairness he means new opportunities for the sharp-elbowed middle classes to push others aside."

Lee Baron, Chair, Midlands TUC

Following the decision to axe 1,400 jobs at Bombardier following the loss of the Thameslink contract to Siemens, Lee Baron, Midlands TUC Chair, has written to Adrian Axtell of Unite offering support. The letter is reprinted below.

Dear Adrian,
As the current chair of the Midlands Region TUC I am writing on behalf of all affiliates to offer our support for colleagues at Bombardier following the devastating news that Siemens will be given preferred bidder status in the forthcoming Thameslink Contract.
This body blow and the subsequent shock to a workforce that has such a proud history has been felt across the entire movement and it is essential now that we do all we can to support your campaign and keep the work at Bombardier.

The following announcement in relation to the 1400 job losses whilst the rest of the Bombardier operation is reviewed demonstrates the lack of thought that has gone into this process. The jobs outside, dependant on orders from Bombardier, compound the job loss issue across the entire region.

In light of that we will be urging all affiliates to sign up to the campaign, the petition and join you at the demonstration being organised for July 23rd.

Please pass on our support, solidarity and fraternal best wishes to all at Bombardier and let them know we stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

Yours fraternally

Lee Barron

Chair, Midlands Region TUC

Do we need more inequality? Your chance to ask the experts

Our very first webinar is fast approaching. On Monday 18^th July from 10am you will be able to follow economist Howard Reed, Prof Richard Wilkinson (co-author of the Spirit Level) and Kate Green MP via live video on the Touchstone blog as they discuss whether or not there is a trade off between equality and efficiency. The speakers will then answer questions, which can be submitted via email and twitter. Make sure you're there as the TUC's economic and social affairs department makes technological history - register to participate in the event (at Congress House or online) here: http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19638-f0.cfm/formbuilder/128/p/1

Is Home Ownership a problem?

Few policy makers would consider home ownership to be a 'problem-tenure' - the 'problem' is often seen to be how to provide more of it. But as James Gregory from the Fabian Society sets out, the sharp distinctions that we draw between owners and renters may in fact make for bad policy.



To discuss these issues, as well as the wider relationship between housing and work, Caroline Flint MP, Brendan Barber and the Andrew Sissons of the Work Foundation will join James at a seminar in Congress House next Wednesday (13th July) from 9.30 - 11.30, which you can register to attend here: http://www.tuc.org.uk/social/tuc-19685-f0.cfm/formbuilder/130/p/1

Myths and realities on public sector pensions

As pensions have moved up the news agenda TUC staff have challenged the claims that public servants benefit from gold-plated, unreformed and unsustainable provision. Alice Hood makes the case against current public sector pensions myths and Nigel Stanley discusses the real pensions injustice: the £39 billion of tax relief which mainly goes to the better off. With the lowest paid public sector workers facing net pay cuts of up to 10 per cent over the year ahead the fairness of pension provision looks set to remain high on the agenda for some time to come.  

Unions announce demonstration in Derby over Bombardier job cuts

Unions announce demonstration in Derby over Bombardier job cuts and demand halt to tendering and publication of key facts.
Unions representing the Bombardier workforce in Derby confirmed today that they will be mobilising a mass demonstration on Saturday 23rd July in the city in protest at plans to axe over 1400 jobs as a result of the Governments’ refusal to award the company the Thameslink carriage contract.
Details of the timings and the route of the Derby protest are still being agreed with the police and the council and further details will be available shortly.
Meanwhile, rail union RMT demanded a halt to the tendering process after it emerged that Bombardier have been put on alert as “ reserve bidders” in the event of something going wrong with the Siemens bid, fuelling union suspicions that the final contract has not yet been signed off and opening up the possibility for the Government to reverse their decision.
RMT is also demanding publication of the tendering evaluation as part of the statutory consultation on redundancies required by another Government department. RMT is specifically seeking justification for the Government claim that the Siemens bid represents “value for money”for the British taxpayer in light of the destruction of 13,000 jobs in and around Derby as a direct result of the plans.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
“On the 23rd July we intend to bring the whole of Derby out onto the streets in protest at plans that would destroy core manufacturing industry and 13,000 jobs in and around the city. This act of political and industrial vandalism would impact on every single person in the area.
“We also want this process stopped and stopped now to allow us to look in detail at this wholly spurious claim that the Siemens bid represents “value for money”. As part of the redundancy consultation it has to be justified that this is a genuine and unavoidable redundancy situation - we do not believe that it is as the workforce are actually the victims of a political stitch up.

Tolpuddle festival - it's nearly here!

Still thinking of going to Tolpuddle but not quite got around to organising the trip? Click on the link for up to date information on what's happening and where to stay.
http://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/index.php?page=2010-festival

Unite launch Bombardier petition

Following the decision by the government to award the Thameslink contract to Siemens, and the subsequent decision by Bombardier to annuonce 1,400 redundancies, Unite have launched a petition to "Keep UK Rail Manufacturing on track". Please sign the petition and forward to everyone you know.
http://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/keep_uk_rail_manufacturing_on.aspx