Coastal View & Moor News Issue 29 November - December 2012 G
Redcar sends a big message to Osborne
get a surprise through the post - a giant postcard from Redcar. Ra che l Re eve s, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury joined Anna Turley, Labour and Co- operative parliamentary candidate for Redcar on Coatham High Street on Friday to invite people to co-sign a postcard against government moves to introduce regional rates of pay. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is currently consulting on proposals to end national pay rates for public sector workers. This would see the introduction of local pay rates, which could mean workers on Teesside being paid less than people doing an identical job in more affluent areas of the country. The postcard was organised by Anna Turley on behalf of the 8000 public sectors in Redcar who could be hit by the change and will be delivered to the Treasury. Weekly wages in the Redcar constituency are already on average £70 lower than the national average. Research by the New Economic Foundation calculates that regional and local pay could take out £761m from the region’s economy. Shadow Cabinet Minister Rachel Reeves and Anna Turley later visited Redcar Community College to talk to staff about their concerns about the introduction of local pay rates. Anna Turley said: “Proposals to introduce regional pay will hit people hard here in Redcar. The idea that reducing thousands of people’s pay on Teesside will somehow be good for the economy is ridiculous. Does George Osborne really believe that cutting the pay of teachers and teaching assistants at Redcar Community College or a nurse at James Cook will deliver the economic growth we need? “We already have some of the lowest average wages in the country. Labour believes in an approach where you get paid for your job, your skills and your experience - not your postcode. I want to send a big message to George Osborne that he should drop these proposals now and concentrate on getting our economy growing again, something he has failed to do for the past 2 years.” Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said: “We have consistently opposed the Government’s plans
eorge Osborne looks set to
15
Concern over Government classing unpaid workers as “employed”
M
Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury joined Anna Turley, Labour and Co-operative parliamentary candidate for Redcar with supporters
to undermine the pay review bodies by shifting wholesale to regional and local bargaining in the public sector. “The national pay review bodies have been
his ‘concern’ over the revelation that the Government and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) include people undertaking unpaid work experience as “employed” in its unemployment statistics. Tom asked the Minister for the Cabinet Office in a written Parliamentary question, answered yesterday, whether the ONS define people in “unpaid workfare- style programmes” as being “employed” in its Labour Market Statistics. A Government Minister, Nick Hurd, confirmed that the Government and ONS consider those in “government-supported employment and training programmes”, alongside “employees, the self-employed and unpaid family workers.” Tom said: “Although unemployment on Teesside
an effective way of keeping a tight control of costs while allowing for regional and local variation consistent with the need to recruit, retain and motivate staff in every part of the UK. “George Osborne has been very clear that he wants to move to localised pay bargaining - despite the evidence that it will prove costly to the public purse and exacerbate regional inequalities.” Ian Swales, who has already signed a motion in Parliament opposing regional pay, commented: “As MP for Redcar, I absolutely oppose any kind of variance in regional pay which would be detrimental to my constituency. “It’s extremely hypocritical of the Labour
Party to raise this issue since their Government began the process of introducing regional pay through the court service.” After the recent Labour motion Ian added:
“When the Labour Party made the arrangements for Foundation Trusts in the NHS, they took away the power of the Secretary of State to intervene on pay structures - effectively legislating for the introduction of regional pay.
“The recent motion they proposed in Parliament asked the Secretary of State to do something they had made impossible. “Although I continue to be a strong opponent
of regional pay, there was no way I could support this motion which was hypocritical and impractical.”
has increased, the Tories and Lib Dems have recently been celebrating ONS figures that show a drop in unemployment nationally. However, this revelation by the Cabinet Office shows that some of this decrease may well be down to unemployed people being forced into unpaid work, when there are in fact barely any paid jobs available. Their definition really risks artificially inflating the
iddlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop has expressed
ONS further breaks down employment statistics into those who are in paid employment and those who are in the Government’s unpaid work programmes. If they do not, there is a real need for them to do so, otherwise businesses, trades unions, and the Government itself will end up forming policies on what I, and most other decent people, would consider to be highly questionable statistics.” Ian Swales commented: “The Coalition Government hasn’t changed the definition of unemployment statistics from those used by the previous Labour administration. “I find these statistics encouraging, although there is
statistics of people who are employed, and risks the Government further losing sight of the jobs crisis that regions like the North East face. “Whilst the Government argues their definition complies with International Labour Organisation guidelines, as far as I’m concerned, someone who is not being paid is quite simply not in employment. “I will be asking the Cabinet Office whether the
still a very long way to go and I will continue to fight for jobs on Teesside - the £70million from this round of the Regional Growth Fund will certainly help.”
Subscription Service
Due to demand, for people living out of the area we have now introduced a subscription service, to enable you to receive Coastal View & Moor News each month.
All we require is to cover the costs of postage and packaging and the charges are £1.50 per month £9 - 6 months .£18. – 12 month UK only
In Redcar & East Cleveland you will continue to receive the paper through your letterbox
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56