The stakes are high. No crocodile tears!

The stakes are very high. Climate change is accelerating, inequality is at historic levels, unemployment is rampant and many countries are bankrupt. The financial industry continues to teeter on the brink of collapse, threatening the entire global economy. And despite all this our political system has proved incapable of effecting the structural transformations necessary to bring about real change. The time is right for a new approach, a new progressive system and a new economy. Having more of the same failed medicine is clearly never going to work. We cannot simply shed crocodile tears.

The plan that I have consistently argued, begins with the recognition that a huge amount of people around the  country understand that the system is broken, and that we must work to replace it with something different. Many of these epeople are already campaigning through blogs and social networking and some are now beginning to work in their local communities to bring about change; whilst others campaign at meetings. Others are just waiting for an opportunity, which we must provide. My hope is to bring these people of all ages together with other progressive organisations to build a movement to propel us all towards a new economy. We can achieve a sustainable and fair economy and our blogs can act as a catalyst for change. We cannot continue in a state of denial- our future world and today’s environment is at stake.

Wage freeze for the rich!

Fightback on wages as the rich get richer. 

Result of years of below-inflation pay increases, a two-year pay freeze since 2010 and refusal by local government employers to pay the Chancellor’s promised £250 to the 69% earning less than £21,000 during the pay freeze, have recently emerged. For part time workers – more than half the workforce – purchasing power is now at 2002 levels and many are working in poverty. Near were I live in Birmingham, the Council prepare for even more cuts which should be resisted. Key findings from the report from Unison, titled Living on the Edge include:

1. 1.7 million people worked in local government in England and Wales in 2010 – around a quarter of the 6.9 million working in the public sector. Three quarters of the local government workforce are women. Well over half of the workforce works part time.

2. Local government (like the rest of the public sector) has a much higher proportion of women in its workforce than the private sector. Local government has a much higher proportion of part time jobs than the rest of the public sector.

3. Two thirds of the jobs in local government are manual or clerical jobs – almost exactly the same proportion as in the private sector. In the rest of the public sector, only one third of jobs are manual or clerical.

4. Eight per cent of full-time workers and 38% of part-time workers in local government earned less than the Living Wage of £7.20 an hour in 2011. This is a quarter of the workforce.

5. Both full time and part time hourly earnings in local government are well below those in the public sector as a whole. Part time hourly earnings in local government are above those in the private sector (where a quarter earned £6 an hour or less in 2010).

6. High inflation coupled with a pay freeze that began in April 2010 slashed the real value of earnings in local government by 13% between April 2009 and February 2012. A fall this big is unprecedented. Continuing high inflation means that earnings will fall further still.

7. Thanks to the pay freeze and inflation, typical fulltime hourly earnings in local government have sunk back to the levels of the early 1990s. Typical parttime hourly earnings have fallen back to 2002 levels.

8. Low paid local government employees usually need benefits and tax credits to keep their household out of poverty. The higher but still modest minimum income standard is rarely reached.

9. Low paid local government workers and their families are in a financially precarious position. A reduction in hours, a child leaving school or a partner whose eligibility for contribution based social security ceases can all take the household to the edge of poverty. This is despite the fact that the local government employee continues to work. Pay for these workers is poverty pay.

10. Quality of service considerations – and in the case of care workers and others in personal service occupations, considerations of the human rights of clients – are grounds for improving the pay and conditions as well as the training of local government employees. The pretence that jobs such as caring for elderly, frail or otherwise vulnerable people requires but little skill is a symptom of our society’s inability to recognise and value some of the things in life that matter most to most of us. 

Thanks to Unison and False Economy.