‘For the first time I could talk about what had happened’

 

‘For the first time I could talk about what had happened’

BIG ISSUE NORTH 10 - 16 JANUARY

When Sasha’s ex-partner broke a formal agreement to stop stalking and harassing her and even travelled 900 miles to keep up his threats, she sought safety in a women’s refuge. Now living in another city free from the threat and able to live a fulfilling life, she describes the value of her eight months in the refuge. Interview: Mark Metcalf

 

In our last edition we reported on women’s refuges 50 years after campaigner Erin Pizzey set up the first one in Chiswick. Refuges provide a safe place to stay for women – and some men – who have been the victims of domestic violence. Those who run them have also, over the years, brought changes in the law to help women and helped train police and public bodies in how to understand domestic violence. According to the ONS, 1.6 million women aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse in 2019-20. But the 261 refuges in the country have to turn away people in need each day. There is a shortfall in their government funding of around £200 million, according to the charity Women’s Aid. Sasha*, a survivor of domestic violence, explains just how important women’s refuges are.

Why was it necessary for you to enter a refuge?

Sasha: Over many years I was harassed and stalked by my ex-partner. It became impossible to live in my hometown. He would show up at the homes of my friends and family demanding to know where I was, he made threats to harm me and himself if he wasn’t given information he wanted. One time he travelled almost 900 miles looking to find me. His friends and some family members would report my whereabouts to him and publicly harass me and so I would spend less time outside, becoming anxious and deeply depressed.

I kept all of my social media private, limited the friends I made to ensure no parts of my life would get back to him and avoided public events so I could reduce the risk of being seen.

Eventually my ex-partner escalated his threats from vague messages about how I needed to “watch out” to specific allusions that he would kill himself and that it would be my fault.

When I finally sought help for his many years of verbal, mental and emotional abuse he was told by police in no uncertain terms to stop harassing me. He signed an agreement stating he would stay away from me. He broke this at least four times over the following months, finally again showing up at my house.

 I was forced to leave the job I loved. I moved away from my friends, family and support network to live in a refuge in another city where I remained throughout legal proceedings.

It was devastating uprooting my life overnight but it was better for my wellbeing. For the first time I could talk about what had happened and the impact it had had on my mental health and sense of self.

For years I missed out on many things I wanted to do with my loved ones and found it hard to feel happy or look forward to anything. I constantly feared what my ex would say or do next, and what would happen if I ever reported it.

I thought I was better off saying nothing and keeping my head down. I now realise how much it took from me to keep everything to myself and how hard it was on my friends and family to see him break me knowing they couldn’t help.

What was it like living in a refuge?

At first it was a relief to be in a city where I knew no one and was unknown. But it was also tough to trust that I was able to relax and go for a walk or run errands in the city without having to factor in who might see me. I sought to make myself as inconspicuous as possible.

The isolation and solitude could be quite hard because I couldn’t hang out with my friends and I missed important moments in people’s lives. I couldn’t spend time with my family doing ordinary stuff like dog walks but they always made an effort to see me whenever possible and kept me in the loop – which I appreciated.

 I was always acutely aware that it’s not “normal” to have to hide your whereabouts from the people in your life to such an extent that they could only really know which city I lived in. When they visited I met them at a designated meeting place away from the refuge. But it keeps yourself and others safe, and though you may not know the stories of the other women and children in the refuge, you can relate to their need to have security and anonymity.

Despite its downsides the refuge was still a sanctuary. It was the one place where I wasn’t treated as a victim or like I was inherently delicate or broken. I still am a person who experienced horrible, scary things but there’s more to me than that. The refuge granted me the space to figure out who I was again, time to learn new skills like coding and peace of mind knowing I could live normally again.

The first refuge opened 50 years ago...

I dread to think how many women and children have needed to use refuge services in those 50 years, but I’m so grateful that that support system was there for them and hopefully it kept them safe and gave them a way to start fresh.

Refuges are incredibly important safety nets. Having lived in one for eight months I have seen how much goes into ensuring that women feel safe, empowered and advocated for.

Having all-women staff and support workers that listen to you, treat you with care and compassion and seek out the help and support you need without judgment is really validating. I can’t thank those women enough.

How is life since leaving the refuge?

 I was very fortunate to have been taken seriously by the police, to have had legal support throughout the court proceedings and to have successfully obtained a stalking protection order so my ex cannot come near me for the next five years. I’ve gained some of my life back.

It’s taken a lot of therapy and time for me to leave the constant state of survival mode I existed in for so long, but I finally feel like I can look forward to progressing in my life and career and to be able to focus on what I want rather than what will keep me safe.

Since leaving the refuge I’ve moved to a new city and taken the leap to go self-employed. I’m doing work in my local area planning and delivering workshops around race and identity and encouraging schools and communities to implement programming that celebrates diversity and inclusion.

 I’d like to build my business to cover more of the city and offer arts-based initiatives to people in communities that need them most. I’ve always been passionate about grassroots initiatives and I’m really excited to be doing something I love and making a difference to the lives of others.

Thank you to everyone – friends, family and Refuge support workers – for helping me along the way. The growth had to come from me but it wouldn’t have been possible without you all.

*Name has been changed. You can read our original article in the News section of bigissuenorth.com

 

 

WOMEN’S REFUGES, FIFTY YEARS ON

 

WOMEN’S REFUGES, FIFTY YEARS ON

Big Issue North magazine

Nationwide network aids victims of violence

Campaigners have also brought changes to law

The heroic women who opened the first refuge for domestic violence victims 50 years ago could never have envisaged it would lead to a nationwide network of secret locations that annually help thousands of women seeking to rebuild their lives free of their abusers.

 It was on 3 November 1971 that the first refuge opened. Its spokeswoman was Erin Pizzey, who had opened a social centre near her home in Chiswick. This changed dramatically when a badly bruised woman arrived with her children saying no one could help her. Chiswick Women’s Aid, now known as Refuge, was born. Discreet notices were put in newspapers telling victims they and their children could receive help. Many did.

Eighteen women and 46 children began living in the house in Chiswick, sleeping on shared mattresses. The lack of personal space was overlooked because everyone felt safe. The premises though were too small.

Unused house

Pizzey unsuccessfully approached local councils for help so the group started squatting, taking over any unused house. These swiftly became full.

Interviewed by the BBC recently, Pizzey, now aged 82, said: “The police couldn’t do anything because it wasn’t illegal then – and no council would want to have to rehome 15 mothers and their children every time.

“We even squatted in the 47-suite Palm Court Hotel in Rochamond.

The refuges were run communally with important decisions made by vote. Everyone mucked in. Pizzey inspired other women. Other refuges – 40 alone in 1974 – were established. Providing safe and secure accommodation for women went alongside publicising the issue of domestic abuse for the first time.

The National Women’s Aid Federation was established in 1974. Refuge is a member and is the country’s largest provider of specialist domestic and gender-based violence services. Refuge supports at its public community projects and refuges over 6,000 women and children on any given day.

One of the early refuges in the North was in Warrington, where Betty Tebbs led a campaign by Warrington and District Battered Wives Association to open one. In her autobiography Tebbs, who died in 2017, wrote: “When I asked for assistance from local councillors, all male, they told me there was no need for such a place as no one had asked for one before.”

Violent episodes

This response prompted the campaigners to set up a women’s aid group in 1976, which raised enough money to buy a cheap three bedroom terraced house in 1978. It could house three women and up to four children.

According to Tebbs: “Volunteers were found to repair and decorate the property… donations helped purchase equipment and fittings.

“When social services contacted the home it was the responsibility for whichever volunteer was on call to pick up and maintain ongoing welfare support for the woman

 

and her children needing assistance.”

 So exhausting was the work that eventually only a handful of volunteers could maintain their involvement. The refuge could only keep going when social services agreed to run it at night.

This was still no easy task and Tebbs, a retired printworker, faced a number of tricky, potentially violent episodes when aggressive partners objected to women leaving the family home. She occasionally needed the police to collect a woman’s belongings from the home she had just quit.

“Women suffered for many years before they took the decision to leave the home they helped build,” she wrote. Warrington Women’s Aid exists today. It can house 13 women and 19 children.

‘Huge upheaval’

As refuges grew, they increasingly needed paid staff and sought new funding streams. Where funds permitted, they provided training for police officers and those working in the criminal justice system about how domestic violence affects women. They started a national abuse helpline, and specialist projects for black and ethnic minority women, some of whom had no recourse to public funds.

The centres mounted campaigns to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence and to improve legislation and various criminal justice procedures. Sometimes workers had to physically defend the centres and residents when perpetrators discovered their locations. After a long campaign, in 1991, rape in marriage in England and Wales became illegal. Previously it was argued that what happened behind closed doors stayed there.

 According to ONS data for the year 2019/2020, 1.6 million women aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse. Over 100 women and three men are killed annually by their partners or ex-partners. One in three women aged 16-59 will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime.

There were 261 refuges in England in 2020, down from 294 in 2010, with bed space for 3,578 people. Refuges have to turn away around 90 people and their children each day because of lack of space.

Maria Edwards, operations manager at Refuge, believes the need for refuges is the same as in 1971.

“Women and children need an emergency place to flee domestic abuse, which is the biggest societal abuse impacting on women,” she said.

“It is a huge upheaval to leave your home and support network, including removing children from school, and be plonked miles away. Specialist staff in refuges help women settle in comfortably and provide one-to-one emotional and practical support whilst constantly thinking ‘safety, safety.’

“Services are signposted from local and senior government, police, doctor surgeries, the NHS, housing departments and other statutory places.”

 What has changed since 1971 are the methods by which domestic abusers stalk and monitor their victims. They can access emails and send abusive messages, while “stalkerware” lets them spy on women. Refuge is using the 50th anniversary of the opening in Chiswick to explain to women that tech abuse is growing and how it can be combated.

Despite the vital work of Refuge and other women’s domestic abuse services the sector is struggling to obtain the £393 million funds that Women’s Aid calculates is needed annually. Some £184 million was allocated by the government this year.

Sasha* was harassed, stalked and threatened by an ex-partner and was forced to leave her hometown and job, anxious and deeply depressed. She lived in a refuge in another city for eight months.

“I dread to think how many women and children have needed to use refuge services in those 50 years, but I’m so grateful that that support system was there for them and hopefully it kept them safe and gave them a way to start afresh,” she said.

“Refuges are incredibly important safety nets. I have seen how much goes into ensuring that women feel safe, empowered and advocated for.

“It’s taken a lot of therapy and time for me to leave the constant state of survival mode I existed in for so long, but I finally feel like I can look forward to progressing in my life and career and to be able to focus on what I want rather than what will keep me safe.”

MARK METCALF *Not her real name. You can read a longer interview with Sasha in next week’s

Big Issue North

 

Watford's Luther BLISSETT was the top scorer in Division 1 (now Premier League) in 1982/83

 BLISSETT, LUTHER (WATFORD) was the top scorer in Division 1 (now Premier League) in 1982/83

Season: 1982/83

Goals scored: 27 (out of 74); 21 home, 6 away

Percentage: 36.4 per cent

Runner-up: Ian Rush (Liverpool), 24 goals

Watford finished second

Luther Blissett established himself in Watford’s first team under manager Graham Taylor during the 1977/78 season, when his six goals in thirty-three games helped the Hornets gain promotion to the old Third Division. Another twenty-one goals followed in 1978/79, when the Vicarage Road club won a place in Division Two.

Among Watford’s top marksmen over the next three seasons, he bagged nineteen more League goals in 1981/82, when the Hornets clinched a place in the top flight for the first time in the club’s history.

Blissett and his team-mates then made the headlines in 1982/83 by surprising many of their rivals in the First Division and, in fact, briefly topped the League in the autumn before finishing runners-up to Liverpool, as well as qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

In Watford’s first ever season of top flight football, Blissett finished as the First Division’s top goalscorer, with twenty-seven goals. And not too many players have achieved that feat!

 In the opening three games of the 1982/83 season Blissett wore the number 4 shirt, playing just behind strikers Gerry Armstrong and Ross Jenkins, with Nigel Callaghan and John Barnes the two wide men.

Watford won their opening two games (at home to Everton and away at Southampton), but lost the third at Manchester City. Blissett, who failed to score in those fixtures, got off the mark with a first-half penalty in a 2-1 victory over Swansea in game four before following up with a brace in a 3- win over West Brom four days later. And the three points gained took the Hornets to the top of the table.

Two weeks later, Watford went goal-crazy against Sunderland, whipping the Wearsiders 8-0 at Vicarage Road. Blissett was outstanding, scoring four times and having a hand in another. The Hornets were leading through two Nigel Callaghan goals before Blissett scored his first – slipping the ball right-footed past Chris Turner from a long forward pass.

 It was 4-0 at the break (after Ross Jenkins had tapped in) and early in the second-half Blissett, unmarked, rose to make it 5-0 with a towering header from Nigel Callaghan’s inviting right-wing cross. Jenkins comfortably added a sixth before ‘Man of the Match’ King Luther bounded in at the far post to bury Steve Terry’s high cross for goal number seven, and following a throw-in near the right-hand corner flag, he rounded off a superb display by nipping between two static defenders to roll in goal number eight. It was great stuff ... but only 16,744 fans were inside Vicarage Road to see the goal-spree.

In the next game, his first-half goal earned a point at Birmingham (1-1), but he failed to hit the target against Norwich City (2-2), Aston Villa (lost 3-0) and Coventry City (0-0) before scoring in a 3-2 defeat at Notts County.

In November, Watford won all their four League games, beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 at White Hart Lane, Stoke City 1-0 and Brighton 4-1, both at home, and Arsenal by 4-2 in a thrilling contest at Highbury.

 Blissett fired in two penalties in the win over Brighton to bring his tally for the season to a healthy twelve. Unfortunately, the Jamaican-born forward then went through a tough period, failing to score in any of the next eight League games, four of which ended in defeats, although he did win his first full England cap, celebrating with a hat-trick in a 9-0 thumping of the hapless part-timers from Luxembourg at Wembley.

Thankfully, he bounced back with his first club goal for two months to seal a 2-0 home win over Southampton in late January, struck twice in a 3-1 win at Swansea and netted his fourth goal in three games as Aston Villa were beaten 2-1.

After another two blank outings, he whipped in his second top-flight hat-trick in a 5-3 home win over Notts County in mid-March, following up ten days later with two excellent finishes to see off Birmingham City 2-1.

At this juncture, Liverpool were pulling clear at the top of the table, but Watford were bang on course to take second spot, and from their last eight games Graham Taylor’s team accumulated thirteen points, ending with a 3-1 home victory over the champions from Anfield.

Blissett scored seven goals in those last eight matches – two in a 4-1 win over Luton, wellstruck penalties against Nottingham Forest (lost 3-1) and Arsenal (won 2-10, two more at Sunderland (2-2) and the winner against Liverpool, for whom it was manager Bob Paisley’s last match.

There is no doubt that Blissett – who also netted six ‘other’ goals to finish with an overall total of thirty-three – and Watford had an excellent season.

Having moved to the Italian giants AC Milan for £ million in the summer of 1983, Blissett missed the 1984 FA Cup final defeat by Everton, but he was back at Vicarage Road for the 184/85 season, re-signed for £550,000, only to leave the Hornets again a third of the way through the 1985/86 campaign for AFC Bournemouth in a £60,000 deal. He then returned to boost the Hornets once more in August 1991, recruited for £40,000. By now, though, he was slowly on the way down – his legs weren’t quite so active, but he still managed to pop in a few goals.

After a loan spell with West Bromwich Albion (October–November 1992), he moved to Bury on a free transfer in August 1993 and thereafter assisted Derry City in Ireland (on loan, September 1993), Mansfield Town (free, December 1993), Southport (on loan, March–May Wimbourne Town (briefly), Fakenham Town (as player-coach, August 1994, retiring as a player, May 1995); Watford (assistant-manager/coach, February 1996), York City (coach, May 2002–May 2003), Portsmouth (coach, seasons 2003/05) and finally Chesham United (manager, February–April 2006).

He quit football to concentrate on his involvement with the Windrush Motorsport project/Le Mans twenty-four-hour race, but surprisingly returned with Hemel Hempstead Town (as a coach, March 2010).

As mentioned earlier, Blissett’s England career started well, with three goals against Luxembourg in December 1982, becoming the first black player to net for England at senior level, and also this remains the highest score for a European Championship match. He went on to win fourteen caps, but only started five times for his country. He also gained one B and four U23 caps. Unfortunately, his move to AC Milan coincided with a total draining of confidence from the target-man and the tabloids nicknamed him ‘Luther Miss-it.’ But he put that behind him and went on playing – and scoring goals at top-class level – for another decade. At club level, he scored almost 300 goals in close on 700 appearances, 213 coming in 584 League games. He remains to this day Watford’s all-time record appearance-maker and goalscorer.

Blissett was born in Falmouth, Jamaica on  February 1958 and initially joined Watford as an apprentice in the summer of 1973, turning professional 

A lifelong football man and coach to the stars: Roy Massey

 

 This book will be released on 1 March 2023 

A lifelong football man and coach to the stars: Roy Massey

In 1998 the biggest change yet in the history of the development of young footballers transformed Roy Massey’s life. Inspired by Howard Wilkinson, one of Massey’s opponents as a player, the FA agreed to facilitate the creation of an Academy system that would allow clubs to attract and train children from eight years upwards.

Chosen to oversee this radical initiative at Highbury, club legend and Head of Youth Development, Liam Brady, was quick to choose Massey as his assistant academy manager.

In these pages we learn how the structure was designed from scratch and plans laid, and later refined, to discover and help develop a rich vein of young talent capable of making it to the first team at one of the world’s greatest clubs.

In a highly competitive field, Massey explains why certain young players such as Wilshere and Sako made it at and, why he, wrongly as it transpired on occasions, allowed others to leave. There are also heartbreaking stories of youngsters who had their careers snatched from them by career-ending injuries.

Roy Massey's own story is that of a dedicated and lifelong football man whose 50 years in the professional game spanned the full gamut of the sport's dramatic and evolutionary change. Here is a man, unlucky with injuries as a player, but always respected enough for his knowledge and experience, that he was never short of an important role in the game he would always love.

Massey scored goals for his hometown club Rotherham United, followed by spells at Orient and Colchester United, before a serious injury brought his 15-year playing career to an early end at an age at which most players are nearing their peak.

He then combined working as a PE teacher and managing in non-League football with behind-the-scenes work to discover and nurture young talent at Colchester United.

Massey, who was brought up on tales of great games by his grandfather Jimmy, an FA Cup winner with Sheffield Wednesday in 1896, recalls what it was like playing football in the lower leagues just after the end of the maximum wage and in a decade when England won the World Cup.

He explains why he turned down the opportunity to sign a professional contract with, among others, Arsenal and Aston Villa, in the early '60s. He also recalls the inspiration he felt when Colchester United manager Dick Graham asked him to revive the Essex club’s youth system and how his eye for talent, organisation, training methods and motivational skills aided the development of many youngsters into successful players.

Little wonder then, in the wake of the launch of the Premier League in 1992, that Norwich City asked Roy Massey to join them as they moved to revolutionise their own youth programme.

His success at Carrow Road didn't go unnoticed and when Liam Brady asked Massey to join him at Arsenal it was the start of a flourishing 16-year partnership.

Even after leaving the Gunners in 2014, Massey remained in football well into his 70s, with spells scouting for three Premier League clubs.

Throughout the book, Massey’s love for football is never far from the surface as from an early age it was always, like most of us, what he dreamed he would do for a living.

Ipswich Town AFC statues at Portman Road

 

Sir Bobby Robson 

Sir Alf Ramsey 

Kevin Beattie 

Photographs taken prior to Ipswich Town v Sunderland game on 18 December 2021

Not to be used without permission 

Sean McGovern: A dedicated trade union champion for disabled people’s rights

 UNITE EDUCATION BOOKLET DUE OUT IN THE SPRING 

Sean McGovern 

A dedicated trade union champion for disabled people’s rights

As Sean McGovern (1957-2020) was a unique character it is entirely appropriate that what will be the  first ever booklet on a disabled trade unionist is about him.

This work follows a very simple format in that it consists of Sean’s own words accompanied by interviews with some of his family and great friends.

January 5th - the work has been sent for laying out. 

Unique book – ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL, John Goodall, 1898

 

Unique book – ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL, John Goodall, 1898

William Blackwood and Sons was a Scottish publishing house and printer found by William Blackwood in 1804. It published many important authors including John Buchan, George Eliot, Margaret Oliphant and Joseph Conrad. The company commissioned John Goodall, with the assistance of S. Archibald De Bear, to write an instructional book in 1898 for aspiring footballers in which the rules of the game are listed along with how to develop the skills needed to successfully play in various positions as part of a team.

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL by John Goodall, then of Derby County, cost 1 shilling/5p today. It is a unique publication.  It was dedicated to G.O. Smith who the author describes as ‘The Best Centre-Forward in my time.’

Goodall begins by stressing that whilst much can be gained ‘from observation and advice, patience, practice, and enthusiasm must do more… one cannot hope to become a good player without very hard work.’

Once the technicalities of the game are mastered, players should be guided by instinct, ‘which in this case means quickness of thought.’ Players must know each other’s play, as was the case at Preston where he played between 1885 and 1889.

Goodall had experienced the game when there were virtually no laws. In the years since then dribbling had been replaced by scientific football in which passing or combination play was king. Goodall noted that ‘in earlier days very little was known about training.’ He also offered advice about diet on match-days stating that ‘footballers should have a good square meal about three hours before the start of the match.’

Goodall, who during his career played in most positions, including goalkeeper, also uses the examples of great players in their respective roles to explain to readers who are keen to improve their own game what skills they need to work on.

Of those playing in the half back line up he states that ‘they have the most difficult position on the field. They have to join in both attack and in defence….’ According to Goodall, Ernest Needham was the best half back.

Whilst Goodall contends that football can be played by men of all sizes he believed that ‘a good big man is always preferable to a good little one.’ Up front he believed that ‘the collective style is preferable’ being superior to the employment of two wide men with three men inside waiting for centres or two pairs playing together with the centre forward waiting for the ball. In this ‘Sunderland in their prime came very near perfections. Their passing was admirable, and the players were well balanced.’

Goodall advises players to respect the referee, keep their temper under control and to not heed any advice from spectators. In his experience ‘it is matches away from home that the best mental qualities of the footballer are brought to play. He has few friends among the spectators….the footballer must be indifferent alike to jeers and cheers.’

The art of passing, states Goodall ‘lies in the placing or rolling of the ball so that the player who is to have control of it shall lose no time in proceeding. In fact, there should be a continuity in the progress of the ball, even though several players are touching it.’ It was ‘the Scotch.. who originated short passing and collective attack, and showed how successful the game could be made.’

Goodall believed that ‘a good footballer ought to shine more or less in any position.’ Compared to books today aimed at young aspiring footballers seeking to improve their skills then Goodall’s book is very basic – as by way of example he proposes keeping the players away from the ball during training as this will make them more hungry for it during matches at the weekend - but it is a sign of how the ageing footballer was regarded at the time that he was chosen to write it.

Sadly, Goodall was never asked to write a book about his own football story. Some footballers from his era were interviewed by their local newspapers after their careers had ended. The articles were generally published in a series, some in the Saturday Football Specials, over a number of weeks. They included the remembrances of Archie Hunter, the famous Aston Villa captain who led his side to FA Cup glory in 1887, which were published in the Birmingham Weekly Mercury in 1890.  

Mark Metcalf is writing a biography of John Goodall.

 

 

 

 

Standing at Premier League matches - Fulham 2001-02 and Sunderland 1996/7

 Despite what Match-of-the-Day said the Chelsea v Liverpool on 2 January 2022 was not the first time there was official standing at Premier League match. 

In August 2001 I stood on the paddock terraces at Craven Cottage as newly promoted Fulham beat Sunderland 2-0.  

In 1996/7, Sunderland played at Roker Park in the Premier League and the ground capacity of around 21,000 was largely made up of terracing including both the Fulwell and Roker Ends. 

Clarks shoes staff strike a success Fire and hire practices enabled by government

 

Clarks shoes staff strike a success

Fire and hire practices enabled by government

Big Issue North magazine Christmas Issue 5

A ten-week all-out strike by 100 long-serving warehouse workers has forced their employer to abandon plans to use controversial “fire and rehire” practices to significantly reduce their pay and conditions.

Clarks employees in the village of Street, Somerset, reached an agreement with the footwear company following mediation but other groups of workers have been less fortunate when faced with similar situations. Just recently the government blocked attempts to outlaw some aspects of fire and rehire in Parliament.

 Once termed “dismissal and re-engagement”, fire and rehire is when an employer, that would generally seek to negotiate an agreement with trade unions or workers’ representatives dismisses employees but immediately re-offers them their old roles on much less favourable terms.

Cuts to pay and benefits

Clarks has been hit badly during the pandemic. The company suffered a 44 per cent sales drop and a £172 million loss last year. The Clark family, owners of the business for nearly 200 years, sold a majority stake in March to the Hong Kong private equity group Lion Rock Capital, which has cut hundreds of jobs and imposed poorer terms and conditions for new employees including at its distribution centre in Street.

Among planned reductions for established warehouse staff at Street was a 15 per cent drop in basic pay from £11.16 an hour to £9.50. Overtime rates, sick pay benefits accrued over many years, paid lunch and tea breaks, and redundancy terms were also set to be cut dramatically. A Clarks spokesperson said: “It is crucial that Clarks achieves sustainable employment cost.”

According to Trevor Stephens, a Clarks employee for 17 years and an elected Community union representative, the decision to move towards taking strike action was “the result of being told to sign a new contract or be fired. Everyone was given four weeks to sign and if not then an eight-week notice period was to be imposed before workers were to be shown the door.”

When Community then failed to get Clarks to agree to mediation with dispute resolution body Acas, there was a union members’ ballot and strike action began on 4 October. “

We had no option as they were taking so much away from us,” Stephens said. “In my case I was unsure if I would have been able to afford to rent my property. If not then I would have had no place for my children to stay with me when they visit. Other strikers also faced being unable to afford their mortgages and losing their family homes.”

Resolution reached

 Strikers mounted a daily picket line that was crossed by temporary workers desperate for permanent work. Stephens, the picket organiser, worked hard to ensure abuse was kept to a minimum and strikers rejected claims by the company that there were threats of violence towards strike breakers.

The Clarks strike, the first all-out strike in Somerset since a print workers dispute in 1986, was boosted by the largest trade union march this century in the county on 13 November in Street. Delegations came from across England and Wales.

Just before the event, Clarks gave strikers only a few hours to consider a new pay offer of £10.03 an hour, which was rejected.

Now, following Acas brokered negotiations, Clarks has adopted a change of approach and will maintain the £11.16 hourly rates. New contract staff have also had their pay rates increased by 5.4 per cent. The company has also accepted that it will be the norm in the future for it to engage in collective bargaining with the union on all terms and conditions.

In a joint statement, Community and Clarks said: “We are pleased that a resolution has been reached that works in everybody’s interests, protects Community members’ livelihoods, and recognises their loyalty to Clarks”.

Normal working has resumed.

 The outcome at Clarks will be a boost to engineering members of the union Unite striking at Weetabix factories in Kettering and Corby. The union contends that the cereal producer’s cuts to pay terms and conditions are an example of fire and rehire. The company disputes this. Some 80 engineers originally took two days’ action each week but are now engaged in four-day walkouts.

Other attempts at strike action over fire and rehire have produced mixed results. The 44 days of strikes undertaken by 7,000 British Gas employees were unable to prevent job losses and severe cuts in pay and conditions. At Go North West in Manchester, bus workers in Unite took 85 days of action and forced the company to withdraw its fire and rehire tactic but did experience cuts to some terms and conditions.

Earlier this year transport union RMT carriage cleaner members at Stadler Rail UK on Merseyrail unanimously rejected the company’s plans to cut pay by 13 per cent, make large reductions in shift allowances and cut annual leave.

According to RMT regional officer John Tilley: “The company then went over the union’s heads and started individual consultations, and the contract that they sent to staff was worse than the one they had just rejected.”

The RMT wrote, without success, to metro mayor Steve Rotheram, who has partial control of Merseyrail, urging him to take its cleaners back in house to ensure their working conditions were protected. Staff were balloted for strike action.

Some 52 RMT members voted for action, with 21 against. However, under the Trade Union Act 2016, at least 50 per cent of all eligible members must vote and the Stadler ballot was three votes short. The RMT advised its members to sign the new contracts.

“It’s the latest Tory antitrade union laws that are proving to be a real obstacle in so many disputes now,” said Tilley. “We are not ‘building back better’ from Covid-19. The reality for many low paid, vulnerable workers is that we are going backwards. In the case of these Stadler train cleaners that means going back to 1981.”

 “Unacceptable”

The government does not collect statistics on fire and rehire but according to a poll of 2,000 employers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development more than 22 per cent have made changes to their employees’ contracts during the coronavirus crisis. Of those, one in seven companies – 3 per cent of all employers – have used fire and rehire tactics.

Those who back the process claim companies with genuine and pressing business needs that cannot reach agreements with employees must be able to act quickly. But the TUC, which represents the majority of unions in England and Wales, has calculated that 70 per cent of companies that have used fire and rehire are enjoying profits.

 The use of fire and rehire has been called “unacceptable” by Boris Johnson and the leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has said companies should know “better than to behave in this way”.

Prior to the 2019 general election the government promised it would bring forward a new employment bill to improve people’s workplace rights but there is currently no sign of the legislation.

On 22 October, the government also used parliamentary procedures to “talk out” Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s private member’s bill on fire and rehire. Had it been passed, the bill would not have prohibited the practice, but would have forced all except those companies facing collapse to fully consult with employees first, encouraging “both employers and workers to reach the best outcome and discourage bad employers from threatening fire and rehire, where there is not a legitimate threat to the business that demands it,” the MP for Brent North said.

Business minister Paul Scully, speaking for 40 minutes for the government, criticised fire and rehire but said: “I do not believe that this bill as it stands – even if it’s amended, as I do not believe we need that primary legislation to achieve its ends – will actually have the effect… What we need to do is make sure that we can address these situations. We’ll legislate if we need to, but we’ll do it as a last resort.”

The government has asked Acas to produce more detailed guidance on when fire and rehire can be used.

Recently Unite general secretary Sharon Graham criticised the government, saying: “They have colluded to stand on the side of bullying bosses and against the interests of workers.”

MARK METCALF

SEARCH FOR HALIFAX MAN GOES ON Martin Rhodes went missing while climbing

 

SEARCH FOR HALIFAX MAN GOES ON

Martin Rhodes went missing while climbing

25-31 October 2021 in the Big Issue North magazine

Search team vows to keep looking for him

Friends and family of an experienced walker who went missing in the Scottish Highlands over two years ago have praised the continuing efforts of the local mountain rescue team to find his body.

Early on a bright morning in May 2019, Martin Rhodes, 46, from Halifax, was seen walking near Kinlochewe. When he did not return to his hotel after a sudden change in the weather brought heavy snow, he was reported missing that evening.

Far-reaching search

Extensive searches over the following week by specialist police officers, mountain rescue volunteers, RAF teams, the Search Rescue Dogs Association and an HM Coastguard helicopter found no trace of Rhodes. Appeals to residents to check sheds or anywhere a person might have sought shelter also proved unproductive.

Before travelling north, Rhodes, who had delayed his journey until he was confident of better weather, had told his close friend Steve Brown that he had hoped to climb five Munros in a day, including the “Fisherfield three” of Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearachair, Sgurr Ban and Beinn Tarsuuin.

“Martin’s house was full of walking boots, magazines and maps. He talked continuously about the trip. He had already climbed 80 Munros,” said Brown, a musician. “He was really looking forward to the challenge. He texted me to tell me of his safe arrival later that day.”

The Munros are 282 Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet named after Sir Hugh T Munro, who surveyed them in 1891. The highest is Ben Nevis. Rhodes’s aim was to join over 6,000 people who have climbed them all.

 In mid-May 2019, 30 of Rhodes’s friends, including Halifax MP Holly Lynch, held a vigil at his home. A social event, at which Brown performed, was organised by Halifax Labour Party, of which Rhodes was a member, to raise funds for the Dundonell Mountain Rescue Team (DMRT). Around £500 was collected.

From the start, Police Scotland asked DMRT to search for Rhodes. The team attends around 40 rescues a year and thankfully, according to team leader Donald Macrae, “in many cases missing people are found. In Martin’s case, this is different.”

When Rhodes did not return to his accommodation, Macrae asked four mountain rescue teams – around 60 people plus four search dogs and two helicopters – to look for Rhodes. The search area in the remote north-west Highlands was massive, equivalent to 2,500 football pitches in an area of wild mountainous country with no houses or roads. The mountains they climbed exceeded 1,000 metres and snow still fell on the high tops.

Part of the search area 

Dedicated team

Searches took place every day for a week before the DRMT moved to weekend searching for a few months. When winter arrived, the searches had to end but in 2020 the rescuers again looked for Rhodes. There was still no luck. Last month, 12 volunteers were back out. They had to camp as it is a day’s walking to get to the locations where Rhodes’s body might be found.

According to Macrae the searches will continue. “People and families matter to us,” he said. “They are always on our minds and so for the foreseeable future we will devote time each year to search.”

DMRT, which has about 50 members, is a charity run by volunteers who are expected to be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Employers allow staff to leave work to attend rescues.

 Macrae himself is a deputy headteacher. Other members include engineers and self-employed joiners. Team members can often miss important birthdays or events. “Rescues can take up many hours of a person’s life,” said Macrae. “We also attend training sessions once or twice a month. We have a strong team ethic and through training together we know how each of us works, so we take care of each other. Keeping safe is vital to our success.”

Dundonell Mountain Rescue Team 

Fundraising effort

Brown and Rhodes’s mother, Kathleen, are full of praise for the DMRT and other organisations that have tried to find him. “Police Scotland and the Halifax police relayed important information when Martin was lost and both were very sympathetic and understanding,” said Brown. “DMRT are marvellous for still trying to find Martin. They are heroic volunteers who risk their lives to try and save others.”

“I miss Martin a lot and often wonder what happened,” said Kathleen. “He still had a lot of life in him, including walking on the Scottish mountains, which he loved. After being unemployed he had found work and his life was much better. It is very sad what has happened.

“If the DMRT, who, along with all the other organisations involved I would like to pay tribute to, can find Martin it would bring an end to some of the sorrow for myself, other family members and his many friends.”

At the vigil Brown sang Tom Paxton’s Rambling Boy. “I’ve never forgotten him. Keep rambling, Martin,” said a tearful Brown. The DRMT relies heavily on donations for its £40,000 annual costs. Police Scotland makes an annual grant payment of £13,000 but the rest must be fundraised. It is currently fundraising for a new team base.

 

The fee for this article was donated by myself to the DMRT. If you’d like to make a donation go to www.dmrt.org.uk

Just Giving: Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team - JustGiving

Also on Facebook and Twitter, just search Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team

Do waste incinerators kill infants? Podcast by Michael Ryan

 

Do waste incinerators kill infants?

Podcast by Michael Ryan

 

https://markwritecouk.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/waste-incinerators.mp3

Michael Ryan of Shrewsbury began examining the health record of incinerators after he considered that the loss of two of his children could have been the result of having lived downwind of an incinerator.

https://markwrite.co.uk/do-waste-incinerators-kill-infants/

 In this podcast he puts the case that after incinerators start operating that  infant death rates rise in locations exposed to emissions. He feels well-placed to do so due to personal circumstances and extensive research over the last two decades.

I have worked since 2009 with Michael on a series of Big Issue North articles and which can be read

https://markwrite.co.uk/incinerator-study/