Congratulations to Steve Murphy, new UCATT General Secretary

Many congratulations to former Ucatt Midlands Regional Secretary Steve Murphy (above) on his election to the post of General Secretary of his union.

Steve is a  former member of the Midlands TUC Regional Council and Executive and we wish him every success in his new role.

Midlands TUC Poll on prospects for the economy

We are running a poll on what you think will happen to the Midlands economy in the coming year. Visit our blog to register your vote.

 

TUC dismisses Downing Street health and safety claims

Dismissing Downing Street claims today (Thursday) that UK businesses are in a "stranglehold" of health and safety 'red tape' and compensation claims, Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Rob Johnston said: "This shows just how out of touch with the reality of working life Number 10 is. Every government report on the UK's supposed compensation culture has shown it to be a myth, and in fact claims have been declining over the past decade. Despite this the government seems hell-bent on trying to stop workers injured by their employers' negligence being able to claim compensation.
"Workers will be astonished by the claim that there is an "excessive health and safety culture that has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses". The truth is that there are two million people in the UK who have an illness or injury caused by their work - the vast majority of which could have been prevented had their employer had taken the correct safety precautions.
"Nor do businesses "battle against a tide of risk assessment forms every year". The vast majority of employers never carry out any kind of written risk assessments, and for those that do, there is easy-to-understand advice available from the Health and Safety Executive on how to do them.
"It is clear that Downing Street does not have a clue about what life is like for the millions of ordinary people who work in shops, offices, schools, factories, call centres and other workplaces across the UK. Instead it is making policy in response to grumbles from elements of the small business lobby and the risible rantings of right-wing commentators."

Derby Peoples’ History Group Meeting

Derby Peoples’ History Group Meeting

Thursday 19th January 2012 at 7.30pm Friends Meeting House, Derby DE1 3GY

Alice Wheeldon and her family stood for women’s rights and workers’ rights and opposed the conscription of conscientious objectors in Derby. For this, they were falsely accused, tried and imprisoned during the First World War. Nick Hiley will be returning to Derby to discuss his research into the case of Alice Wheeldon.

Chair: Cheryl Pidgeon

All are welcome. For more information contact derbypeoplesh@yahoo.co.uk:

1 in 5 workers in West Mids work unpaid overtime

The two billion hours of unpaid overtime worked last year would be enough to create over a million extra full-time jobs, the TUC says today (Thursday) as it announces the date for Work Your Proper Hours Day 2012.


The total amount of unpaid overtime worked last year was 1,968 million hours – worth a record £29.2 billion to the UK economy – and roughly equivalent to a million extra full-time jobs.

- 406,000 people across the West Midlands did unpaid overtime last year, up 56,000 on the year before – the sharpest increase in the UK
- Around one in five workers in the West Midlands regularly work unpaid overtime
Last year, workers across the West Midlands put in 175 million hours of unpaid overtime, worth £5,800 a year per person, or £2.4bn to the regional economy
- The amount unpaid overtime worked by employees in the West Midlands is equivalent to 91,000 full-time jobs

If workers who regularly put in unpaid overtime worked all their hours from the start of the year, the first day they would get paid would be Friday 24 February. The TUC has named this Work Your Hour Proper Hours Day (WYPHD) in their honour.

Now in its eighth year, WYPHD is a light-hearted campaign that celebrates the unsung – and unpaid – extra hours that millions of workers put in to help their employers and which gives a huge boost to the UK economy.

In the run-up to WYPHD 2012 the TUC will publish information and advice for staff and their bosses to try and cut out these unpaid hours at work. The TUC will call on employers to mark Work Yours Proper Hours Day by thanking staff for the extra hours they’re putting in.

The TUC analysis of official figures shows that 5.3 million workers put in an average of 7.2 hours of unpaid overtime per week last year, worth around £5,300 a year per person.

Whilst reducing the amount of unpaid overtime would not translate precisely into extra jobs – particularly as a lot of these hours are a result of a British work culture of pointless presenteeism – the TUC is concerned that persistent and excessive hours of unpaid overtime are holding back job creation.

Some employers are forcing staff to work extremely long hours that damage their health, when taking on extra employees would be far more productive and provide much needed jobs, says the TUC.

Workers in London (26.9 per cent) and the South East (25 per cent) are still the most likely to work unpaid overtime. Workers in the West Midlands (up 3 per cent) and the North East (up 2.2 per cent) have experienced the sharpest rise in the likelihood of working unpaid overtime over the last year, according to the TUC analysis.

The number of workers doing unpaid overtime has increased by more than a million since records began in 1992, when 4.2 million people regularly did unpaid overtime, to 5.3 million people in 2011. The proportion of workers doing unpaid overtime has also increased slightly, from 19.7 per cent in 1992 to 21.1 per cent in 2011.

Midlands TUC Regional Secretary Rob Johnston said: “The heroic amount of extra unpaid hours put in by millions of workers make a vital – but often unsung – contribution to the UK economy.

“While many politicians and financial institutions have spectacularly failed to do their bit to help the UK economy, millions of hard-working staff clearly have and we hope employers congratulate them for their efforts on Work Your Proper Hours Day this year.

“But while many of the extra unpaid hours worked could easily be reduced by changing work practices and ending the UK’s culture of pointless presenteeism, a small number of employers are exploiting staff by regularly forcing them to do excessive amounts of extra work for no extra pay.

“This attitude is not only bad for workers’ health, it’s bad for the economy too as it reduces productivity and holds back job creation.

“No-one wants to see us to become a nation of clock-watchers. But a more sensible and grown up attitude to working time could cut out needless unpaid hours and help more people into work.”

NOTES :
- The two billion hours of unpaid overtime is calculated by multiplying 5.2 million employees doing unpaid overtime x 7.2 hours per week x 52 weeks = 1,968 million hours of unpaid overtime per year. The equivalent figure of one million jobs is calculated by multiplying 1 million employees x 37 hours per week x 52 weeks = 1,924 million hours.
- Further information about Work Your Proper Hours Day is available at www.workyourproperhoursday.com

The Real "Iron Ladies"

At 12.30 pm on Friday 6^th January a banner will be unfurled outside the Cineworld Cinema in Chesterfield.  The banner reads ‘The Real Iron Ladies’ Women’s Action Group Miners Strike 1984/85.

Friday lunchtime marks the first showing in Chesterfield of the film about Margaret Thatcher ‘The Iron Lady’ starring Meryl Streep which premiered in London this week.

A group of veterans of the Women’s Action Groups and their supporters will make their protest against the Hollywood rewriting of history.

‘The film suggests that Thatcher stood up bravely against a male establishment and was a women’s champion’ said Toni Bennett who was an organiser with the Bolsover Women’s Action Group during the strike. ‘Nothing could be further from the truth.  Thatcher mobilised every arm of the state against striking miners and coalfield women who were defending their jobs, their children’s futures and their communities.’

The Women and their supporters contend that the real ‘Iron Ladies’ are the women of the coalfields who defied Thatcher’s Government for a whole year during the 84/85 strike.

‘If you look around you today with high fuel prices, the banking crisis and mass unemployment people need to remember it was the government serving under Prime Minister Thatcher who sold off our gas and electricity industries, deregulated the banks and destroyed our manufacturing base’ Toni Bennett went on to say.  ‘Anyone watching this film needs to be able to distinguish the facts from the fiction.  If your children cannot find work today, and there are 1 million out there, then remember what Margaret Thatcher did to smash our industries during the 1980’s. ‘

The real ‘iron ladies’ will be organising a meeting in Chesterfield later this month to bring together whose who were involved in the strike and the battles of the 80’s with a view to sharing their experience with those working to defend rights today.  

Contact:                  Colin Hampton

Contact Tel:             07870 387999

Contact email:         colin.hampton@duwc.org.uk