Press release: Press release: Press release: Immediate:
Forward by Jerry Hicks Grass Roots Left chair: Please find a press release from my good friend and great socialist Ged Dempsey.
Sir/Madam,
With
the Paralympics upon us.....
I
agreed with much of Denis McShane MP statement regarding the Government
stripping away sickness and disability benefits. He was absolutely spot on.
Now
after, the Con Dem coalition government announced callous plans to close 36 of
the 54 remaining Remploy sites with compulsory redundancies for 1,752 people.
This
decision came just days after the government passed the welfare bill, which is
supposed to be to help people in to work?
Instead
of a commitment to help the most vulnerable people in society, the government
is hell-bent on making life much worse for them.
Remploy
provides real jobs for many hundreds of disabled workers, giving them the
confidence and dignity to be active and contributing citizens. Closing the
factories will cause real hardship and push many to the back of the dole queue
despite the hollow and weasel words of DWP Minister, Duncan Smith and his rich
cronies in the Tory Cabinet of millionaires.
Now
they are threatening the pensions of the Remploy workers.
The
vile treatment of Remploy workers has been a disgrace and the politicians
should hang their heads in shame.
Successive
Governments have attacked these vulnerable workers whittling the plants down
over the years - but too many politicians sat on their hands and were silent. Failing
to stand up for those with little or no voice!
We
also demanded an end to the grubby, incompetent and self interest of the
directors/management; and a drive for real commitment to getting more public
procurement contracts from Government and local authorities.
All
to no avail.
This is at a time, when seriously injured service men and women continue to flood back to the UK from their time in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Only
to find these fine establishments shut.
The
solidarity and comradeship of Remploy workers has been a lesson and inspiration
for all, in standing up and fighting for their basic rights.
However,
the Government and Media friends will attempt to airbrush the Dispute from
their story.
The next step, should now be for our Remploy Workers to use the Paralympic Games as a further way to build their public profile and focus public attention on their plight, stepping up their just fight and to name and shame those responsible for the decision to deny them employment.
We
judge Governments and society by how well it treats its weak & vulnerable.
Ends:
Ged
Dempsey, Printworker, Rotherham; Unite the Union member.
London Fashion Week is subsidised by the Greater London Assembly and Department for Business, continues to promote clothes made in the far east as "British Fashion", even in the "Esthetica" section which promotes iteslf as about ethically better fashon.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, government has not used its access to data to provide a decent directory of clothing manufactures. Trade directories are no longer as economic to publish on paper, while the UK Fashion & Textile Association's effort http://www.ukft.org/letsmakeithere/ leaves Remploy off the list entirely. I've told UKFT by email. No change, dispite the Remploy site plain to see at http://frontline.remploy.co.uk/productsandservice/frontofhousecompanyclothing.ashx
I think there are some things that government can be lobbied to do in order to make UK manufacturing more appreciated. It can help anyone who wants to publish trade directories. It can deny any subsidy to trade associations who publish member-only directories. And it can insist that UK factories choose the fashionistas who get subsidised public relations at London Fashion Week, rather than the current system which is like the X-Factor and tends to discover recent fashion college graduates. The UK Fashion & Textile Association already has a similar idea on their web site. Maybe with a bit more lobbying from trades unions and constituents, those who publicise fashion labels could begin to publicise fashion jobs as well, at least if they are paid to do it from taxpayer's money.