Weekly Jottings from a Harlow Activist

(These are personal jottings of the Secretary and not necessarily the views of Harlow TUC)

Week-ending 11 February 2001

Harlow Council. Last week I stated the Labour Group had rejected the Advice Centre cuts. That decision appears to have been ignored by their leaders. Went to observe an Executive meeting of Harlow Council on Tuesday. I was amazed to hear Alan Jones referring to the budget as being from the senior managers, and was bemused by John Young who clarified this by saying that the Councillors determine strategic policy and the managers implement it.

Where does strategic policy end and implementation start? Was it a strategic policy to make the Advice Centre ineffective and a management implementation of this to cut its budget by £170,000, thereby putting at jeopardy a further £90,000 from the Legal Aid Board?

They intend to go through a 'Best Value' audit of the Advice Centre whilst at the same time including these cuts in their budget proposals? They have declared the verdict before the trial begins?

Harlow Advice Centre has an excellent reputation amongst the people of this town. It is also regarded nationally as one of the best (if not the best) in the country. In the past, the Council has accepted that the Advice Centre workers are there to help their clients. These workers have successfully taken up a large number of cases of tenants and residents who had been unfairly treated by the Council. Over half these workers now face losing their jobs. I wonder if all this connected?

When Doug Patterson (Chief Officer of the Council) was asked to explain why the Council had recently appointed several new Senior Officers, he referred to there previously being 'square pegs in round holes'. Do we now have 'round pegs in square holes', only at a cost to the Council (according to the budget proposals) of an extra £223,000 per year?

The Advice Centre cuts are not the only cuts proposed, but they typify the depths to which a once proud Labour authority has sunk. Instead of working with their employees to resolve their difficulties they attack the Council workers representatives by cutting their facilities by 70%. Yet they propose spending an extra £20,000 on 'Image Consultants', £30,000 on 'Master Plan consultants fees', £50,000 on 'Best Value consultant fees', £72,000 on Councillors 'allowances'and £143,000 on expanding the Economic Development Unit. They propose increasing Council rents and cutting back on repairs and maintenance, increasing Leisure facilities charges yet cutting back on Leisure service provision.

We now have a Tory run Council in all but name.

Week-ending 4 February 2001

Harlow Council. 'Best Value Inspection Service' reports that Harlow Council has not performed well. So what do the Council leaders propose. Yes, you guessed, cuts and redundancies. All areas will have to cut their budget by 5%. In particular they intended to cut the Advice Centre budget by an extra £150,000, thereby also losing another £90,000 from the Legal Aid Budget. This would in effect decimate the Advice Centre, which has an excellent reputation for top quality service to the public of Harlow. Fortunately, the Labour Group have rejected this last cut, but the general cuts go ahead. Strange though that the word 'cuts' has been replaced by 'efficiency savings'. Yet there is an increase in the budget for the senior managers. If they were consistent in their wording they would be calling this 'inefficiency extras'. This issue will run and run.

Nortel. Nortel is proposing to cut 220 jobs in Harlow. It states that it was reacting to the slow-down in the US economy. The comments I made only a month ago (see USA interest rates 7 January 2001) seem to be hitting Harlow already. Harlow TUC are organizing a meeting on 9 March "Vauxhall Luton and the Future of British Manufacturing". No doubt, Nortel will be an issue at this meeting.

Week-ending 28 January 2001

Mandelson. The master of spin has been spun. Finally an embarrassment to the Leadership, he has proved expendable. He typifies New Labour. Politics is seen as a game; our side against theirs; bit like football, only both sides are playing in different shades of blue. Trouble is, although it may not be important to them, it certainly is for the millions of people suffering from the effects of capitalism in this country.

Harlow Council Housing. I noticed Mavis Carter, Portfolioholder for Housing writes in a letter to the STAR "Next month councillors will be presented with future options for financing the housing service, including stock transfer, and I hope both councillors and tenants will engage in a vigorous and healthy debate about the best way forward for Harlow". What she doesn't say is that the Labour Government has left in place the Tory laws which give financial advantages to Councils transfering their housing stock to Housing Associations. The Labour Government has actually stated it wants this to happen. I find it very frustrating that so many Labour Councillors, who in the past have bought their Council Houses at knock down prices, now have the audacity to look to getting rid of the Council Housing stock in this town and in the process removing those of us who stayed loyal to the principles of community housing, from our Council houses.

Week-ending 21 January 2001

Fox-hunting. Commons has voted for its abolition. Bet Prince Charles is unhappy, but it might save him from falling off his horse again. No doubt the Lords will reject the decision though. Even in the unlikely event of them accepting it, Charles could still ask his mum not to give 'Royal' ascent. So much for 'democracy'.

Mandelson. Appears the master of spin has bloomered again. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of this particular case, it is so easy for people in power to misuse their position. Even if nepotism is not rife, the fact that there is so much secrecy in Government (both National and Local) leads to suspicion.

Harlow's EDU. Interesting report in the Harlow STAR stating that "The Economic Development Unit will be renamed the Regeneration Unit and will see the equivalent of six-and-a-half new jobs created." It went on to state "The changes will cost the council £22,000 to implement between now and March but councillors at last Tuesday's executive committee agreed they needed to speculate to accumulate. Council chief executive Doug Patterson said although the outlay might not show a result for the council, it would register on the town's balance sheet."

Is this the same Council that is going through an exercise of 'cost-cutting'? Watch this space.

Week-ending 14 January 2001

Money for 'some' Schools. Three Harlow Secondary schools (Brays Grove, Passmores and Stewards) have been given £70.000 each as part of a Government scheme to aid 'failing schools'. They interpret 'failing' as being schools which fail to reach 25% A*-C grades at GCSE. It is a pity this tag has been put on these schools, because a great deal more is done in our schools apart from 'academic' work, and the 'value added' (ie. the actual improvement that has been made) in these schools compares very favourably with others.

This money comes from the existing education budget, so presumably it is at the expense of something else. What? Also, why have the other schools in the town received nothing, when St John's in Epping has? Basing funding on academic achievement is very divisive and should be opposed in principle. If the aim was to skew money towards schools in need, there are better fairer ways of doing it, based on educational criteria.

Teacher shortage. The current teacher shortage is going to get worse if nothing is done. A very large proportion of current teachers are in their late forties and fifties. Even the recent changes in the teachers pension scheme (which gives a big financial disincentive to retire early) only creates discontent and will not prevent this happening. Teachers are leaving in droves and recruitment has continued to fall.

Gimmicks like the scheme mentioned above are no substitute for a general increase in teachers pay. In addition, Performance Related Pay (PRP), OFSTEDs, Performance Management, irrelevant paperwork, League Tables, overemphasis on assessment and all the other distractions from helping children learn only add to the stress and dissatisfaction that has become inherent with the job. As a practicing teacher, I should know.

All the years of blaming teachers for the ills of society, and denigrating the profession have come home to roost.

Council Housing under threat. Council tenants in Harlow's Great Parndon area will shortly be asked to vote on a scheme to remove the management and repairs of their houses from the council. This is complete folly. Harlow Council, under the rules set out by the previous Tory Government, has been forced to give £32,000 to the body wanting to implement this hair-brained scheme, so that they can 'persuade' tenants to vote for it. In addition, the Council and any body receiving public money, is not allowed to campaign against, even though tenants are being given misleading (if not false) information to convince them to vote for it. They are, for example, given the impression that they can revert back to the Council if (and when) things go pair-shaped, even though this is not true. I am pleased Harlow TUC (which receives no state funding whatsoever) has agreed to help campaign against this scheme.

Week-ending 7 January 2001

Labour Party Donations. So 3 multi-millionaires have donated £2 million each to the Labour Party. One of these gentlemen was once a backer of the Tory Party and another one (now a Government Minister in the Lords) was a backer of the SDP when it split away from the Labour Party and attempted to do so much damage to our support. We also find out that the person leading the Legacy company bidding for the Dome site (at cut price) is in the process of donating £100,000 to the Labour Party in 3 installments. I feel sure more is to come out about this, but isn't it hypocritical of the Tories (of all Parties) to complain about it, when they have a history riddled with suspicious donations.

Blair has said how proud he is that 'successful' entrepreneurs now see Labour as being for them. That says it all. It is about time Labour ceased to be 'safe' for the rich and instead did something to challenge the type of society where the wealthy few continue to accumulate vast sums at the expense of so many.

30 Year Rule. Some of the Government papers of 30 years ago have been made public. Even though most are still secret, the ones released are very revealing.

The Wilson Government gave support to the USA in Vietnam, and the reason for this support, it now revealed, was that it would enhance Britains relations with the USA. Phrases like Selling out the Vietnamese people, helping US Imperialism, Lack of Moral Backbone come readily to mind.

MI5, it appears, was in contact with a Dockers leader (Nicholson) during the strike and he gave information to them for the Heath Government. Whether he was a paid informer or not is immaterial. There must still be plenty around.

Trains. Prescott complains that Rail companies are putting up prices and 'demands' that a report be put on his table. I can save him time. The Rail Companies have been privatised. This means they are being run for profit. If you really want to do something about the state of the railways, John, re-nationalise them. Remember, you can't control what you don't own.

USA Interest rates. The USA is trying to head off its impending recession by reducing its interest rates. At best it might only delay it, but in the long run is likely to make it even worse. What happens to the American economy happens elsewhere, only more so. For Britain, the relative boom over recent years will be ending with real problems for the Government in power. Soon, a Labour Government will be faced with a recession. 'You ain't see nothing yet'. Watch this space.

Incidentally, Bush has been 'elected' President with the fiddled voting of Florida and half the electorate not voting. So much for the 'great democracy'.

Prince Charles. So he fell off his horse and damaged his shoulder whilst out fox-hunting. Some people might say 'poetic justice', but not me.

Bill Rammell (Labour MP for Harlow). I am please to see Bill supported the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Regulations which allows human embryos to be used for research into Parkinson's Disease and Diabetes. Well done Bill. This could lead to huge benefits for humankind, but will be greatly limited unless we do something about who owns the results of this research.

Top-100 singles. Interesting program on telly with viewers voting for their best singles record of all time. 'Imagine', by John Lennon won. Its lyrics include "They say I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one". All is not lost.