UNISON’s reaction to the Prime Minister’s speech in Manchester

Commenting on David Cameron’s speech to the Conservative party conference today (Wednesday) in Manchester, UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis said:

 

"The Prime Minister talks of launching an ‘all-out assault on poverty’, but his government is soon to make almost three million working families and their five million children significantly poorer. Cuts to tax credits next April will hit the incomes of families already struggling to get by, forcing them deeper and deeper into debt.

 

David Cameron recognises the need to make the UK's inflated housing market more affordable, yet anyone wanting to buy one of the new 'affordable' starter homes needs to be earning at least £76,000 a year in London, or £50,000 elsewhere.

 

According to the Treasury, only 30 per cent of the population earn more than £50,000, pricing the starter homes way beyond the reach of most workers, including public servants like nurses, teaching assistants, PCSOs and school cleaners.

 

Developers given the option of providing 'affordable' housing are likely to opt for homes to sell rather than rent, leaving anyone who doesn't earn enough to get a mortgage high and dry.

 

This housing crisis is forcing public sector workers to live further and further from their places of work. Four more years of pay restraint and the cuts to tax credits will make it increasingly difficult for local hospitals and councils to recruit and retain staff.

 

The government must commit to a national public house building programme to deliver the low rent and affordable homes people need. This would lower housing costs, cut the housing benefit bill, and make it much easier for people to rent or own their own homes.”

Changes to Migrant Worker Rules

Commenting on the announcement Yesterday that the government plan to change migrant salary rules,

 

Ravi Subramanian, West Midlands Regional Secretary said:

 

"Five years ago the government took the short-sighted decision to cut the number of nursing training places, and the NHS is now paying the price.

 

So with too few nurses being trained in the UK, NHS trusts have been forced to recruit thousands of nurses from abroad. Quite apart from the devastating impact this has on health services around the world, recruiting staff from overseas hasn't come cheap for the NHS either. 

 

Now in a set of crazy new rules due to come into force next year anyone recruited from outside the EU since 2011 who isn't earning more than £35,000 within six years will have to go home. With demand on the NHS increasing all the time, the sudden departure of many highly-trained staff will mean certain chaos for the NHS. One in four nurses in London are from overseas.

 

And it's not just nurses who will be affected – many workers from overseas employed in care homes and in home care across the UK could also find themselves without a job with equally devastating consequences on the care of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

 

Strangely – despite the huge pressures on the NHS – the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) doesn't believe that the UK is suffering from a shortage of nurses. While ballet dancers, head chefs and nuclear waste managers might be on the official list of shortage occupations, nurses don't feature.

 

Aside from these proposals the MAC is also consulting on proposals to raise the salary threshold to £50,000 – if this happens, the NHS will never be able to recruit another nurse from outside the EU again.

 

Ministers must think again and put a stop to these rule changes before it is too late. Nurses and other health workers from overseas have made a vital and valuable contribution to the NHS over many years – without their hard work and dedication, the health service would have been unable to cope with increasing demand."

Proposed changes to strike laws

Following the comments from newly appointed Business Secretary, Sajid Javid regarding significant changes to strike laws,

 

Ravi Subramanian, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:

 

“This government has only been in power for a few days and already they are attacking workers,

 

Mr Javid, whose government was elected on just 36.9% of the vote is introducing second class democracy for workers.

 

At his first Cabinet meeting the prime minister said that they needed to focus on ‘bread and butter' ways of improving peoples lives’ but if restricting the rights of the average employee is a top priority then it is clear they are focusing on ‘Silver spoons and caviar’ for employers and private companies.”

Birmingham City Council Cuts

Following this morning’s announcement from Birmingham City Council, it is clear that they are being left with little option but to make drastic savings in order to balance the books.


The cuts to services are wide spread and will have a massive impact on the people of Birmingham.  These cuts will not only lead to job losses that will be devastating to the workers; but they will impact on the services that the public use daily, they will have a considerable impact on vulnerable people. The impact will be felt across the city and region as a whole as millions of pounds will be taken out of the local economy.


Just days before Christmas our members and their families are being left in the situation of not knowing if they will have a job next year.


Ravi Subramanian, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:


“UNISON are clear that these job losses are as a direct result of this Tory-led government. They are targeting councils in the North and the Midlands with massive cuts to government grants. Government cuts means Birmingham has a cut in spending power of over £145 per dwelling, whilst in the Tory run Buckinghamshire, Windsor, Hampshire and Wokingham they actually have an increase in spending power. How can that be fair?


With Christmas around the corner and just days after the autumn statement this festive gift from the government to Birmingham and our members lays out their priorities clearly, give money to the millionaires not the millions.


The people of Birmingham deserve better than these spiteful and politically motivated cuts, and they need to make their views known through the ballot box at the General Election”

Public Service Workers paying the Price of Austerity

Commenting on the Chancellor's Autumn Statement,  Ravi Subramanian, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:

"It is sickening that Osborne is once again expecting public service workers to work more for less and pay the price of his failed plan to revive the economy. Austerity has not worked and despite this the Government is going ahead with more cuts which will inevitably mean more pay freezes.

There is nothing in his statement that will support workers and the lowest-paid.Nothing to help the million of public sector workers who have seen the value of their pay fall by at least 10% since this coalition came to power.

Workers are paying the price of austerity while the rich and privileged share the benefits. The Government has nothing but contempt for the hardworking people in this country. The truth is four years of austerity has caused untold damage to the economy, to the public services families rely on and to the daily lives of millions of people. 

An increasing number of full time public sector workers have to borrow money every months and rely on second jobs to survive.And the rise of precarious jobs is hardly something to be proud of. More people work part-time because they can't find full-time jobs, more people are on precarious zero-hour contracts.

The recovery the Government has been boasting about is still not being felt by workers. A recovery that only benefits the few privileged in this country is no good for the economy and for workers. The economy is not safe and nor are workers whose jobs are increasingly insecure.

The hardest-hit are communities and the most vulnerable, This was the Government's last chance to reverse the cuts. They will now pay the price at the next election.

West Midlands holds it breath for autumn statement

The West Midlands region has been badly affected by this government’s failure to deal with the economy and they repeatedly try to tell us that things are getting better and we are all in this together, but where is the evidence for this?


As the country holds it breathe in anticipation for today's autumn statement UNISON members are wondering if finally they will benefit from the so called recovery.


Ravi Subramanian, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:


“UNISON members and the public as a whole across the west midlands are fed up of this government’s failure to deal with the economy and support hard working families. This will be the chancellors forth attempt at reviving the economy and his last chance to ditch austerity and stand up for hard working people.


All they've announced so far is recycled money. Existing money which was already allocated and budgeted for, not additional funding. Instead of investing and improving the NHS, this Government opted for a damaging £3bn top down reorganisation that the public did not vote for.


Their approach to public spending has been a disaster. The plan did nothing to reduce the deficit and left our public services in dire straits. Hundreds of thousands of public-service workers lost their jobs and the promise to cut the deficit not the NHS was just empty words.


But in a desperate attempt to avoid negative headlines months before the general election, the Government will try to use the same tricks again.


Everything UNISON Said in 2010 has been proved right. It is obvious the government's plans on the economy did not work: it did not reward workers, it penalised them; it did not protect the most vulnerable, it put them and more rise - and it certainly was not fair"