Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Action 4 Rail moves indoors!

As the snow falls in Derby, Action 4 Rail campaigners move indoors to discuss the next stages if the campaign. 

More interviews for Action 4 Rail

BBC Radio Derby have spent the morning st Derby railway station doing interviews with Action 4 Rail campaigners. Ken Usher, pictured, doing interview with the local radio reporter.

BBC Radio Derby interview RMT's Ken Usher

BBC Radio Derby have spent the morning at Derby railway station interviewing campaigners from Action 4 Rail. Ken Usher, Regional secretary for the RMT pictured, being interviewed by a reporter.

Action 4 Rail - again!

TUC regional secretary Rob Johnston being interviewed by BBC Radio Derby outside the mainline railway station.

Action for Rail at Derby station

Leafletting started early at Derby station as we explain the issues around government proposals to cut services to the rail services.

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Pics from PCS picket line


John Foster and Rob Austin (PCS DWP Derbyshire branch secretary) on the picket line in Chesterfield outside the Job Centre


Meanwhile, over the road, Sheila Allen, Howard Rigby and Nick Dawson brave the cold at Chesterfield HMRC.

Osborne's budget will not build a future that works



Today George Osborne stood up in the House of Commons and unveiled his latest budget. Unfortunately, all he had to say was that the pain for ordinary working people will be continued. So, austerity for the majority will continue at a time when tax cuts for the wealthiest will soon kick in. Combined with the pernicious bedroom tax, this budget is the final nail in the coffin of the Government's ludicrous claim that 'we are all in this together.'  

And of course, there is great concern amongst Midlands public service workers, their families and local communities at the prospect of promised further cuts to public services. Indeed, there is a danger that further cuts will do irrevocable damage to the economic and social fabric of our communities.  It becomes clearer month by month that government spending cuts have choked off economic growth, making it much harder to deliver the economic growth needed to get our economy moving.

Cutting public services has led, and we fear will continue to lead, to a vicious downward spiral of high unemployment, lower tax receipts and years of economic under performance. Indeed, austerity has been shown to fail in it's own terms. The Chancellor has had to continually revise down his growth forecasts, admitting that austerity will continue well into the next Parliament and has overseen a 'double-dip' recession that the trade unions warned his austerity addiction would deliver.

Cuts are the wrong cure. They are making the sick Midlands regional economy worse. We need a change in direction. We need a future that works.

We want to see a rebalanced economy. A rebalanced economy away from the dominance of financial services, an unequal economy and chronic business short-termism. We need investment in skills, a boost to manufacturing and construction through increased infrastructure spending and a modern industrial strategy, the offer of job guarantees, apprenticeships and quality work experience to our young people to tackle the shocking crisis in youth unemployment.

In delivering a future that works, public bodies can and must play a pivotal role. The imaginative use of procurement offers one example where public bodies can take the lead. Procurement should be used to deliver, amongst other things, increased numbers of apprenticeships, support to local businesses and to support wage-led growth by promoting the payment of the living wage throughout local supply chains. What's more, public bodies could and should work with unions on the learning agenda to ensure that their workforce is properly skilled and to demonstrate best practice to the wider economy in delivering on the skills shortage that we all know exists.

What is clear however, is that growth, a new economy and sustainable communities will not be built on the back of diminished public services. Indeed, such a supposition is paradoxical. Strong, vibrant public services must go hand in hand with a vigorous private sector. The two cannot survive without the other. Therefore, not only is it morally wrong to make public servants, and the communities that rely upon those services, pay the price for the mistakes, greed and incompetence of the financiers and bankers who engineered this economic crisis in the first place, it is also economically unsound. We need to maintain and build quality public services, working to make our communities an attractive place to invest, to raise local skill levels and to ensure that the region gets ahead in the economic 'global race'. Quality public services are central to the economic and social development of our localities.

Therefore, despite the pressing challenges, public authorities do have the opportunity of rising to the challenge in rebooting our economy and re-engineering it in a sustainable fashion that delivers growth and opportunities for all of our citizens. The TUC and our affiliate unions are determined to play our part in working with all stakeholders to deliver this outcome. Indeed, it is incumbent upon us all to look at how we can provide hope and opportunity for all in our communities and to build a fairer, strong local and regional economy.

Let us leave outdated ill-conceived and self-defeating austerity behind and instead build a future that works for all.

Rob Johnston 
Midlands TUC
Regional Secretary

Budget is wrong answer to the wrong question, says TUC


Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget today (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“This budget is the wrong answer to the wrong question. We face a jobs, growth and living standards crisis, yet today’s proposals are small beer that do little more than tinker at the edges.
“The only long-term way to mend the public finances is to get a healthy growing economy where businesses and workers earn enough to spend confidently, and those who can afford it pay proper rates of tax.
“To boost growth the Chancellor should use current low interest rates to borrow for investment in infrastructure and a big programme of house-building. He should stop holding back the living standards of those most likely to spend, and stop cuts that suck growth out of the economy.
“And while moving pensions and benefits into annual managed expenditure is technical jargon, it raises the possibility of further significant cuts in payments if spending exceeds the limit set by the Chancellor in his spending review.
“No politician likes to be accused of a u-turn, but when your policies are making the problem worse then it is time to find reverse gear.”

Speaking at the Birmingham rally

Next up is Kit Armstrong, regional Secretary of the NUT in the west midlands. Kit says her members are facing very similar attacks to PCS members.

Young people are bearing the brunt of our jobs crisis, says TUC


Commenting on the latest unemployment figures published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady, pictured above,  said:
“Today’s figures confirm our fears that economic stagnation has finally caught up with the jobs market.
“Young people are bearing the brunt of our jobs crisis, with the number of unemployed youngsters up 48,000 and approaching a million again.
“The news for those in work is not much better, with the gap between wages and the rising cost of living growing even wider.
“We won’t see a proper recovery in the jobs market until we get growth back into the economy. That’s why the Chancellor must change course and prioritise jobs, growth and living standards in his Budget today.”






PCS members on strike outside the Job Centre in Chesterfield. Looks like they have avoided the snow that pickets are having to endure just down the road in Nottingham!

Message of support from Midlands TUC to striking PCS members


"The Midlands TUC sends its support and solidarity to the thousands of PCS members taking industrial action today in defence of their terms and conditions
Today George Osborne will announce yet more pain for the most vulnerable in society, whilst the dedicated civil service workers who tirelessly work to support the vulnerable are forced into taking action.
This government is out of touch with the public and out of touch with its workforce. Their attempts to railroad changes to terms and conditions without talking to PCS is shameful.
Let this action be a notice to the Government to get back around the table and talk to PCS to resolve the dispute"

Best wishes

Rob Johnston

Regional Secretary
Midlands TUC

Saturday, 16 March 2013

Birmingham Netroots gets underway!


The Birmingham Netroots meeting has started with introductions from Katharine Segal and Ravi Subramanian. Ravi, pictured, has emphasised the need to up our game on online campaigning.

Loads of people have arrived from all sorts of different backgrounds and experience, looks like its going to be a great day!

Friday, 15 March 2013

Dwayne shines at pre budget rally


Dwayne Foster, above, a member of the Midlands TUC "Future that Works" campaign team spoke at the pre budget rally held in London earlier this week. Dwayne's speech says it all - and is reprinted below.
 
Good evening.

My name is Dwayne Foster.

I’m 21 and I am unemployed.

In Dudley where I live over one in ten young people are jobless.
I’ve been struggling to find quality work for 2 years now - even although I have qualifications.
Employers say I lack the experience but it is hard to get the experience when nobody will give you a chance.
It is hard to find work when local businesses are closing.
It is hard to find work when you are competing with graduates for basic, entry-level jobs.
Today I heard that 2,500 people have applied for 22 jobs near me at the DFS store in Merry Hill.
I want to go to university and study social science and psychology but with tuition fees going up I can’t see this happening.
Young people like me need the government to help, so we can move on with our lives.
We need quality work experience, where you learn skills that will benefit you in the workplace.
We need better apprenticeships that lead to jobs and that pay more than £2.65 an hour.
We need schemes like the Education Maintenance Allowance to be brought back.
It is not right that young people are now being discouraged from going to college because they are afraid they won’t have enough money for travel or even food.
The government needs to listen and understand the obstacles young people are facing.
If you receive the JSA like I do you have to be willing to travel 90 minutes to work or for an interview.
This means relying on public transport which is becoming more and more expensive. This means having less money to pay for other things.
Young people like me don’t want something for nothing. We are willing to work hard, to put the effort in.
I want to earn enough to build a future for myself, to support a family.
But how can I realistically achieve this when my options are being narrowed by the day?

Before you cut any more, Mr Osborne, think about this.

Thank you





PCS Industrial Action - 20 March, Budget Day.

 
PCS will take national strike action on Wednesday 20th March, to coincide with the Budget day.
 
This action is in response to the government's continued cuts to the public service, and in a more brutal way in the civil service. As well as the job cuts that the whole public sector is facing, along with the 1% pay restrictions, there are even more attacks taking place in the civil service, including the a complete re-drawing of every single term and condition that is currently in operation.
 
This will inevitably mean a reduction in holidays but an increase in absence trigger points leading to dismissal more quickly. These are just two significant changes there are many more. Departmental ministers, the Cabinet office, and the government are refusing to talk to the PCS in any meaningful way about these changes that will be imposed.
In response there will be a series of industrial action days, half days and stoppages. the first of these will be the 20th March.  Picket lines will be in operation from 7.30am and followed by rallies at:
 
- Birmingham, 12.30 Conservatoire by Chamberlain Square. Contact 0121 6434342
- Nottingham, 12,30 Market Square, Contact Pete Collier 07979700619
- Leicester, 11.30 Nottingham Oddfellows, Contact Martin Page, 07951638814
- Stoke, 11.00 Albion Square, Hanley, Contact Peter Rofe, 07740868319
- Lincoln, 12.00 Speakers Corner, Lincoln High Street, Contact Nick Parker, 07793682201
- Northampton, Contact Martyn Collins, 07963704540
 
People are invited to join PCS members on the picket lines and at the rallies
 
Messages of support would be apprecietd and will be read out at rallies. In addition, any  financial contributions would be warmly appreciated.
 
Messages of support and donations can be forwarded to Andrew Lloyd at the PCS Midlands office, 16 Waterloo street, Birmingham B2 5UG, any email messages and questions can be sent to chrisp@pcs.org.uk
Telephone contact - PCS office 0121, 6434342
See link and attached pages for further information. http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/national-campaigns/action-now/index.cfm