Call centre staff find management unwilling to listen

The unwillingness of management to implement a series of agreed changes, that will improve their treatment, means that call centre workers in the DWP could be reluctantly forced to take further strike action.

In January PCS members at seven telephony and process implementation project [TPIP] sites were on strike for two days in a dispute aimed at extending flexible working and ending a target-obsessed culture. When this failed to move management, staff at 37 call centres walked out in April, picketing taking place for the first time ever at every location.

All of which meant that on July 1^{st -} the day after workers had joined thousands of fellow trade unionists on strike in defence of public services - management were prepared to sit down and agree to over 40 changes in working practices demanded by PCS reps.

Now however with management dragging their feet over their implementation, and refusing to offer flexi-time, staff are discussing more action. 

1,206 dead and nothing said

January to May saw, at least, 1206 refugees and economic migrants die in trying to come Europe to escape persecution and poverty. The figure’s, collated using documented sources by the Amsterdam based United for Intercultural Action, push the overall total since 1993 through the 15,000 barrier.

With many dying when their boats capsized then only a handful of these latest victims of immigration laws designed to keep them out of Europe have been identified.

They include Aminullah Mohamadi, aged 17, and Kambiz Roustayi, aged 36, both of whom committed suicide rather than be deported back to Afghanistan and Iran respectively.

At least with their names known it might give their families a chance to mourn their passing, but with a continuous daily diet of migrant bashing in papers right across the continent then there’s little prospect at this time of putting an end to the carnage. More is the pity; we’re talking people here. 

Close to one million youngsters without work, education or training.

Hundred’s of thousands young people aged 16 to 24 years appear to have little to look forward to as there are now 979,000 of them not in education, employment and training [Neet’s].

That’s a leap of 107,000 on the second quarter of last year and yet when the figures were released last week all the skills minister John Hayes could say was about “doing more to get young people who lack basic skills up to speed.”

Vacuous nonsense and with jobs in many areas in very short supply, further education courses closing down, the educational maintenance allowance being removed for all but the very poorest, not forgetting a catastrophic cut back in youth facilities, then it’s a no substitute at all for a publicly funded, from higher taxes, plan designed to give young people work and prospects for the future.

Support Jarrow March for jobs in October 

Kicking off on Saturday October 1^st this follows the route taken by 200 marchers in 1936. It passes through County Durham, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Northants and Bedfordshire before ending up with a rally on November 5^th in Trafalgar Square, London. It’s organised by Youth Fight for Jobs and you can bet your bottom $ that when it gets to London the government will, like in 1936, do its best to ignore it. That’s because they are intent on using the current world economic crisis to decimate the social gains made after 1945. Unemployment is, for them, a price worth paying. 

Swansea City 0 Sunderland 0

There have been worse goalless draws but nevertheless it means these sides have scored just one goal between them in their three matches apiece. And whilst Swansea now have two points in their first Premier League season they surely must beat the likes of last weekends opponents Wigan or Sunderland at the noisy Liberty Stadium if they are to retain their status in the top flight.

It was the failure of each sides record signing’s in front of goal that kept the scoresheet blank. First £2.5 million man Danny Graham was too slow inside the box, allowing Wes Brown to block, and then just before half-time the former Watford man headed Kenny Agustien’s cross past the post when left unmarked six yards out. On the restart he did bring a flying save from Simon Mignolet but then after turning Anton Ferdinand a better striker would surely have netted from eight yards out.

Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan cost £13 million and in the first half when he timed his run to break clear with Stephane Sessegnon’s through ball at his feet he shot too close to the body of keeper Michel Vorm. In the second period he was too slow in shooting when left unmarked inside the box and then towards the end he hit a poor shot after Sessegnon had again sent the Ghanaian beyond the home defence.

All of which meant that the nearest either side came to scoring was when John O’Shea rose high to power Sebastian Larsson’s corner against the crossbar after just two minutes and when Scott Sinclair hit a 30 yard drive that beat Mignolet but crashed back off the crossbar. Had that gone in and Sunderland lost then the growing dissatisfaction with manager Steve Bruce amongst the Wearsiders follower's, over 2,500 of whom made the 700 mile round trip, would have increased and amidst rumours that Bruce and Gyan have fallen out it was interesting to see the striker stay longer than anyone else on the pitch at the end before throwing his shirt into the away section.

Standing up report

Home - many of the noisiest section in the stand next to the away fans stood for the entire match.

Away - a good number of the 2,500 plus away fans, who paid £35 each for a ticket, stood for the entire match.

A hollow victory as EDL banned by Home Secretary

It will undoubtedly have come as a relief to many Tower Hamlets residents that their neighbourhood isn’t going to have the English Defence League [EDL] attempting to walk through it on September 3^rd.

Yet it’s a hollow victory when it takes a ban from the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to do the damage and restrict the EDL - an organisation whose followers increasingly appear to be lads who can no longer afford to go the football - to a static demonstration. In October this year it will be the 75^th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when police attempts to batter demonstrators out of the way in order for the fascist Blackshirts of Oswald Moseley to march through an area with a significant Jewish, and communist and socialist presence, were rebuffed.

Building a similar response is what was needed now. That’s because it’s clear that the EDL’s manicured profile of opposition to ‘radical Muslims’ - in itself no bad thing and sadly it’s a fact that many on the ‘left’ have shied away from opposing one or two who’d happily have them slaughtered if they ever had any power - is a front for an attack on the rights of all people of colour to live in this country. And if you don’t believe me take a look at the current ramblings on their site, where there’s a clear attempt to link criminal activities with being a Muslim as if the two are somehow genetically linked and therefore alien to the British way of life.

Relying on state bans will inevitably lead to bans being imposed on progressive organisations. And after all there was trouble associated with the massive TUC demonstration in London in March and so what’s now to stop the government imposing a ban on any future event?  

Repeal of Hunting Act must wait until social gains made in the 40s are killed off

Your average fundraising event tends to consist of supporters either being asked to sponsor someone or buying a couple of quid’s worth of tickets with a token prize. Not so the Countryside Alliance, who not happy with some of their members owning a good stack of the land are charging £25 a ticket for their raffle. The prize? A chance for nine daft sods to obliterate 400 birds on a day’s sport that’s valued at £19,500.

The Alliance is still intent on seeing the Hunting Act 2004, that came into force on February 17^th 2005, repealed and earlier this year Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that he still intends to bring legislation to that effect before Parliament during his term of office, set to end in 2015. This is in line with agreement that the Tories made with the Liberal Democrats when they entered government together. This stated: “We will bring forward a motion on a free vote enabling the House of Commons to express its view on the repeal of the Hunting Act."

Cameron however faces a problem in that a number of new Tory MPs are - perhaps surprisingly as they’re so right wing on most other things - opposed to fox-hunting and have even set up a well resourced and organised group that means there’s by no means the certainty that the House of Commons as a whole would vote for repeal.

As Cameron is also engaged, largely successfully at the moment it has to said, on bashing the working classes through policies designed, whatever the consequences to the economy, to decimate the social gains made at the end of the World War II, when workers returned determined to create a ‘land fit for heroes’, then the repeal of the Hunting Act must wait.  

THE ANATOMY OF ENGLAND: A History in Ten Matches Jonathan Wilson

Having invented and then dominated the early game of football England, with the notable exception of 1966, have regularly failed to conquer the world. Jonathan Wilson examines ten key fixtures to find out why. 

The fixtures – Spain 1929, Italy 1948, Hungary 1953, Argentina 1966, West Germany 1972, France 1982, West Germany 1990, Norway 1993, Netherlands 1996, Croatia 2007.

Have England learnt little since Hungary won 6-3 at Wembley in 1953?

Defeat against Spain showed England had plenty to learn. Hungary confirmed they were no longer the best as the match was played in conditions purists saw as ideal - namely a damp November afternoon. 

Some things did change but every footballing culture has a line it reverts to when under pressure. The Italians become negative whilst England hit it long to try and find the big man up front.

Why choose the 1966 Argentina match rather than the successful final?

To show manager Alf Ramsey’s pragmatism, a policy since maintained by those who’ve followed him. In 1964 England lost a game they dominated against Argentina. Ramsey thus considered playing without wingers and keeping it tight. The quarter-final was the first competitive match England played 4-4-2 and without a winger. Geoff Hurst came in for Jimmy Greaves. Ramsey also refused to compromise when Argentina had a man sent off. He didn’t surge forward but ensured his team kept the same shape and England won 1-0 with a header from Hurst.

It was also about class and English football has always had tension around class. The great Huddersfield and Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman ignored the establishment belief that the centre-half should be the focal point of a side’s attacking ambitions. It was a pragmatic decision leading to great success and putting food on the table. 

The Independent on Sunday said your book ‘should be required reading for all future England squads?’ Will it be?

The idea of modern footballers reading books is quite a distant thought.

What’s wrong with newspapers being “cheerleaders” for the England side?

Any newspaper has to have a level of objectivity and it means that when things go wrong the crash is much worse and the criticism of the players and manager goes over the top. That restricts genuine analysis in the future.

If they can find one or two great players then surely England will rule the world again?

It might be a circular thing, but there’s a problem as international football is clearly not as good as the Champions League. So, in general, the players aren’t as concerned about England. 

There’s a choice.  Either a good Premier League producing entertaining teams that are competitive in Europe or a good England team. It takes months of practice for club players to become familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses - what’s called ‘being on the same wavelength.’ To replicate this at the World Cup you’d close down the Premier League in February and take the best 40 players off into a training camp. South Korea did this in 2002 and they reached the last four. But no Premier League club would allow their players to be with England for months.

Prior to the 2007 Croatia match Frank Lampard said: “we’re always at our best when it matters.” You’re sceptical.   

First it’s an absurd link to Churchill’s statement after Dunkirk. But it also implies the earlier games didn’t need to be won and suggests players can just click their fingers and play well. True, some players respond well to pressure but others don’t so it’s not a given.

What might make England great?

Football culture has to alter radically with far less focus on individuals. We create great heroes and when they fail to meet the impossible standards we set they become great villains. The truth is eleven decent players playing coherently will be better than nine decent players and two great players playing incoherently. Jimmy Hogan was the English coach who turned the Hungarians into the best in the world and his theory was simple - choose the right pass, whether long or short. That’s something that has to be instilled very early and involves tactical intelligence and we struggle to produce players with that.