JLR jobs - another boost for midlands manufacturing

Great news today as JLR announces another 1100 jobs for the Castle Bromwich site. In total, over the last 2 years, some 8000 jobs have been created at JLR. A much needed boost to jobs in our region.

And, of course, the new jobs represent another boost to the union members at the site that worked hard to keep the company going through tough times.

Now union members can share in the welcome job security, success and growth of the company that recent developments have secured.

These latest jobs are great news for the midlands and is a show of commitment in the region.

The manufacturing supply chain in the midlands is robust and this news will serve to strengthen this further.

Expertise, solid supply chains and a great geographical location are all factors that make the midlands the place for manufacturing.

The region has a proud history and can look forward - with the appropriate support, investment and promotion - to a positive future as the region that drives a manufacturing renaissance within the UK.

London Midland Day of Action – Thursday 26th July

RMT member at Nuneaton station campaigning against reduced opening hours at stations

Action for Rail is organising protests against London Midland’s plans to shut down or reduce opening hours at over 80 of its stations.  Support the Action for Rail day of action, leafleting sessions at:

Birmingham New Street, 8am

Birmingham Snow Hill, 8am

Worcester Foregate Street, 8am

Stourbridge Junction, 8am

Look for the rail union members at these stations and show your support by taking branch banners and helping distribute campaign postcards. For further information contact Matt Dykes at mdykes@tuc.org.uk

Alarming IMF report shows austerity is failing and causing permanent economic damage

Commenting on the IMF country report on the UK published today (Thursday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

"Today's alarming health check on the UK economy from the Chancellor's favourite economic experts makes it clear that plan A is not working.

"The recovery has ground to a halt, the government is set to miss its deficit target and austerity has shrunk the size of the economy by £37.5bn over the last two years.

"Continuing along this path could cause permanent damage to the economy. Even the Prime Minister has hinted Britain could face perpetual cuts.

"The government must call time on self-defeating austerity and stimulate demand to get the economy growing again. Yesterday's plan to encourage investment in infrastructure may stem some of the damage caused by the government's strategy but it won't secure the recovery, especially as the government is slashing its own investment spending.

"The country needs a far more ambitious plan that invests in people and supports industries, rather than one that sucks the life out of the economy."

Remploy workers protest at factory closures

Remploy workers were out on strike across the midlands today in protest against the government proposals to close over 20 factories nationally. Included in those plans are Remploy factories at Chesterfield, Coventry and Birmingham. Pictured is a worker from the Birmingham plant in Kitts Green - making plain his feelings about the plant closure.

Remploy industrial action

Tremendous turn out and support from both members and local community at the Chesterfield Remploy site this morning.

Latest Disability Forum Focus newsletters

We have recently published two new newsletters from our Midlands Forum. These are hosted on the main TUC website and can be read or downloaded via the links: Number 2 and Conference special edition

Young people not sharing in the welcome jobs growth

Responding to the latest unemployment figures published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Rob Johnston (above) said:

“These figures are excellent news. People will be relieved to see unemployment falling sharply and redundancies decreasing.

“It is also encouraging to see full-time jobs making up three quarters of recent employment growth, and there has been a welcome increase in vacancies. The labour market is proving far more resilient than the rest of the economy.

“The only people not sharing in this good news are young people looking for work. Long-term youth joblessness is up by 18,000 on the quarter to reach 421,000.

“The government must prioritise tackling long-term youth unemployment before any more careers are wrecked before they barely get off the ground.

“And while more people are in work, they are still getting poorer in real terms in wages grow at less than half the rate of inflation.

“Jobs growth needs to be accompanied by stronger wage growth if consumer spending is to help drive our economic recovery.”

Growth of contract DC pensions over trust based schemes is extremely worrying, says TUC

The latest Pension Trends statistics, published today (Tuesday) by the Office for National Statistics, show that the number of people saving in a contract based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme through their workplace has overtaken the number saving in a trust based DC scheme this year.

The figures show that 8.8 per cent of the private sector workforce are now in a contract based DC pension - up from 8.6 per cent last year - while 8.7 per cent are now in a trust based scheme, a fall of 0.2 per cent in a year.

Commenting on the figures, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Rob Johnston said:

"Few will be surprised at the decline of defined benefit pensions, but the growth of contract DC at the expense of trust based DC should not be over-looked. 

"Of course some contract based schemes offer good value and some trust based schemes are not as well run as they should be, but this trend is extremely worrying.

"In a trust based scheme trustees have a single duty - to look after the interests of all scheme members both active and deferred. A contract based scheme in contrast is normally provided by a company seeking to make a return to its shareholders.

"While market forces can often be relied on to keep costs down, decades of experience show that markets don't function when it comes to pension provision - especially as it is not even the consumer that buys a workplace pension, but their employer.

"With the introduction of auto-enrolment bringing a huge increase in DC pension saving over the next few years, we need to ask hard questions about how we can deliver good governance, low charges and sophisticated investment strategies."

Falling inflation alone won't cure our living standards crisis, says TUC

Commenting on the latest inflation figures published today (Tuesday) by the Office for National Statistics - which show that CPI inflation fell to 2.4 per cent and RPI inflation fell to 2.8 per cent in June - TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

"While the sharp fall in inflation will bring welcome relief for many workers, millions are still facing real wage cuts as the longest squeeze in living standards for decades continues.

"Falling inflation alone won't tackle our living standards crisis. We also need to see stronger wage growth, and for the government to reverse damaging cuts to tax credits."

Is your workplace getting a visit from Beecroft Rights Removals?

It’s been an eventful month for our new campaign to protect employment rights from the government’s program to erode them.

Tory donor and venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft’s secret report on cutting rights was leaked to the press, and the government have been caught out by the breadth of opposition to it.

After a blustering start, where Beecroft even tried to claim Business Secretary Vince Cable was a socialist for his opposition, he’s now been forced into a humiliating admission that he didn’t actually do any research before writing his conclusions, and they don’t have a sound economic footing.

However, the government’s plans for ‘reforms’ such as halving paid maternity leave are still on the cards, and we need to keep up the pressure over this.

Their confidence has been given a knock, and we’ve seen the proposed reforms are more vulnerable when they’re tackled as the big picture they really are – a plan to reduce your rights at work across the board.

We’ve made this video which draws the links between the issues in a short and darkly humorous way. Please help us keep up the pressure by watching the video and sharing it with your friends and colleagues.

The more people who get the message that the government have a wider plan for our rights at work, the harder it will be for them when they try to introduce individual measures like the maternity rights cut.

Please watch and share our video now.

We have just published the second edition of our Midlands TUC Disability Forum Forum - this can be viewed online on the main TUC website here

Topics covered in this issue:

·    From the Regional Secretary

·    TUC Fundraiser World Aids Day 2011

·    Access for disabled members at marches and rallies

·    Government is 'fundamentally dishonest' on disabled people, says TUC leader

·    Dates for your diary

·    Disability Guides

·    And don’t forget the Blog……

·    Contact the Midlands TUC