Academies Bill Campaign

The coalition government is rushing legislation through Parliament which removes the need for governing bodies to consult with parents, staff, the local authority or other local schools before applying to becoming an academy.

The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, has written to all schools about the bill and separately to all schools with an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted judgement, inviting them to register an interest, with a view to becoming an Academy by September 2010.

PCS is campaigning alongside the NUT and other school staff unions to urge MPs and peers to counter the worst aspects of the legislation and try to stop the bill.

Please email your MP and ask them to show their support for the campaign by signing the Early Day Motion on the Academies bill.

To keep in touch with campaign developments or, in particular, if you are a school governor or would like more information about the consequences of academy status please go to the NUT website.

Tory Review Wrong From The Start

The following has been supplied by the TUC.

The outcome of a government health and safety review, which seems to have been pre-ordained by the time David Cameron kicked off the process last week, has been strongly criticised by the TUC.

The prime minister announced on 14 June that Lord Young was to undertake the review. By 19 June, the former Tory employment and trade secretary was telling the Times 'People occasionally get killed, it's unfortunate but it's part of life' and declaring health and safety regulations protecting office workers were 'nonsense'. The Tory peer added that police and paramedics should be excluded from health and safety laws. He said the emergency services were 'paid for doing a job that involves risk.'

However, critics say Lord Young revealed an astonishing disregard for the facts in his error-strewn comments. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented:

'We would have hoped that, at the very least, any proposals for a review of health and safety would be based on the evidence rather than a selection of myths and distortions peddled by the media, more for their entertainment value than anything. Health and safety regulation is about saving lives and protecting workers from injury and illness and Lord Young needs to start listening to both workers and the families of those who have fallen victim to a lack of regulation and enforcement in the past.'

He added: 'There can be no justification whatsoever for giving those whose job is to protect us, such as firefighters and the police, less protection under the law. This is giving out a message that the lives and health of our emergency workers are of less value than those they are trying to help. We know only too well that these people already risk their lives every day to keep us safe. Is the government now going to remove the laws that say their employer has to give them the training, equipment and support they need to protect them as is suggested?'

Lord Young's review is expected to report in July.

Don't play politics with safety
David Cameron should not play politics with workplace health and safety, a union expert has warned. Roger Kline, from the children's services union Aspect, notes:

'In the year when the cost of cutting corners on health and safety killed oil rig workers, polluted an ocean and threatens the very existence of BP, our prime minister, (without a dissenting squeak from his coalition partners) claims we need to end the 'compensation culture' in health and safety.' He indicated it is not just industrial workers that have reason to be concerned with the prime minister's health and safety call for a 'sensible new approach'.

Writing online for Community Care magazine, he notes there is a 'direct threat' to the working conditions of social workers. 'What recent health and safety legislation has done is to force employers to work to prevent accidents and ill health rather than pay out compensation,' he added. 'They are now required to actively engage in risk management and are supposed to involve their workforce and safety representatives in doing so. Health and safety representatives have guaranteed rights to inspect and intervene.'

Mr Kline concludes: 'There is not much 'new politics' about this review, led as it is by Lady Thatcher's former favourite minister Lord Young. It is a return to very old politics where life was cheap and accidents were inevitable.'

Department For Work And Pensions Group Executive Committee Elections 2010

Election of Vice Presidents, Group Assistant Secretaries, Group Organiser, Group Journal Editor and Group Treasurer

Number of eligible voters: 86,574
Total number of votes cast: 8,285
Turnout: 9.6%

Election of Vice Presidents

Number of votes found to be invalid: 137
Total number of valid votes to be counted: 8,148

Result (5 to elect)

BROWN, Alan: 3,703 ELECTED
McINALLY, John: 3,509 ELECTED
CAVANAGH, Martin: 3,450 ELECTED
WILLIAMS, Katrine: 3,270 ELECTED
MARTIN, Laura: 3,212 ELECTED
BARROWCLOUGH, Rachel: 3,041
GALLIGAN, Christine: 3,002
CAMPBELL, Moira: 2,745
COX, Joe: 2,734
BRYSON, Rob: 2,121
BROWNE, Marjorie: 1,723
HULME, Christine: 1,693
McDONALD, Charlie: 1,616


Election of Group Assistant Secretaries

Number of votes found to be invalid: 284
Total number of valid votes to be counted: 8,001

Result (7 to elect)

PENN, Tom: 4,100 ELECTED
WILLIAMS, Rob: 4,078 ELECTED
BARTON, Paul: 3,958 ELECTED
HALL, Sam: 3,859 ELECTED
CUTHBERT, Christine: 3,786 ELECTED
BURKE, David: 3,672 ELECTED
RICHARDS, David: 3,378 ELECTED
McGOWAN, John: 2,937
LAIDLAW, Beverley: 2,714
FULLER, Howard: 2,525
BIRD, Nick: 2,263
REAY, Tony: 1,974
POWER, Declan: 1,962


Election of Group Organiser

Number of votes found to be invalid: 1,160
Total number of valid votes to be counted: 7,125

Result (1 to elect)

HEATHCOTE, Fran: 4,513 ELECTED
HOWS, Lynne: candidate withdrawn


Election of Group Journal Editor

Number of votes found to be invalid: 1,197
Total number of valid votes to be counted: 7,088

Result (1 to elect)

SMITH, Alan: 4,715 ELECTED
DIAMANTIS, Nick: 2,373


Election of Treasurer

Number of votes found to be invalid: 333
Total number of valid votes to be counted: 7,952

Result (1 to elect)

CHILWAN, Bashir: 3,331 ELECTED
WITHERS, Angela: 2,838
PRENDERGAST, Nigel: 1,783


Election of President and Group Executive Committee

Number of eligible voters: 87,429
Total number of votes cast: 6,987
Turnout: 8%


Election of President

Number of votes found to be invalid: 399
Total number of valid votes to be counted: 6,588


Result (1 to elect)

AITCHISON, Jane: 3,332 ELECTED
BREEN, Diane: 2,010
WRIGHT, Annette: 1,246


Election of Group Executive Committee

Number of votes found to be invalid: 164
Total number of valid votes to be counted: 6,823

Result (21 to elect)

KHALIF, Adam: 4,430 ELECTED
POPE, Ian SS: 3,627 ELECTED
GODRICH, Janice JCP: 3,143 ELECTED
GREEN, Sharon PDCS: 3,053 ELECTED
ROBINSON, Sarah PDCS: 2,995 ELECTED
ALSTON, Dave JCP: 2,965 ELECTED
FLANAGAN, Helen JCP: 2,963 ELECTED
REVELL, Carol CMEC: 2,937 ELECTED
JONES, Martin PDCS: 2,833 ELECTED
CARASS, Alison JCP: 2,812 ELECTED
OWENS, Dave JCP: 2,794 ELECTED
THOMSON, Derek JCP: 2,779 ELECTED
HARTLEY, Gavin PDCS: 2,761 ELECTED
SANDHU, Jagdeep JCP: 2,752: ELECTED
McDONOUGH, Marie JCP: 2,695 ELECTED
RUDDICK, Siân JCP: 2,657 ELECTED
SALT, Lesley JCP: 2,633 ELECTED
FERRABY, Jason JCP: 2,601 ELECTED
WEST, Steve JCP: 2,596 ELECTED
GILL, Jimmy JCP: 2,565 ELECTED
SAMUEL, Willie SS: 2,519 ELECTED
SHEAHAN, Nigel JCP: 2,418
CAMPBELL, Moira CMEC: 2,255
ANDERSON, Elaine CMEC: 2,171
COX, Joe CMEC: 2,102
BARROWCLOUGH, Rachel PDCS: 2,072
BRYSON, Rob JCP: 2,020
WITHERS, Angela CMEC: 2,011
HAWTING, Elaine CMEC: 1,983
BUCHANAN, Tony JCP: 1,976
GALLIGAN, Peter JCP: 1,974
WRIGHT, Annette PDCS: 1,912
KANG, Gurmit JCP: 1,910
MCBRIDE, David JCP: 1,896
JACKSON, Steven CMEC: 1,873
NIMMO, Alan CMEC: 1,827
HILL, Mark CMEC: 1,774
WELCH, David JCP: 1,772
DOUGHTY, Pete JCP: 1,746
MCGINLEY, Con JCP: 1,743
ANDERSON, Lee PDCS: 1,739
FULLER, Howard JCP: 1,680
BROWNE, Marjorie JCP: 1,532
ANDREWS, Trevor JCP: 1,475
HUZZARD, Rosie JCP: 1,460
PUTTOCK, John JCP: 1,348
BIRD, Nick JCP: 1,289
MCDONALD, Charlie JCP: 1,199
CATTEN, Sue JCP: 1,195
BISHELL, Tom JCP: 1,172
LAIDLAW, Bev JCP:1,159
HULME, Christine JCP: 1,144
DIAMANTIS, Nick JCP: 1,094
ELLIS, Mervyn JCP: 1,086
RAFTERY, Theresa JCP: 1,081
THOMPSON, George JCP: 1,080
LEDERER, Jackie JCP: 1,042
MAHONEY, John JCP: 1,041
HAWKINS, Martin JCP: 1,034
COCKROFT, Simon JCP: 1,022
RICHARDSON, Jenny JCP: 985
HOWS, Lynne JCP: candidate withdrawn

Government aims to remove safety rules

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:

The TUC has said a review of UK health and safety regulation announced this week by David Cameron will undermine the 'already limited' legal protection of UK workers. He said the prime minister was pandering to the businesses that are responsible for hundreds of thousands of workers falling sick each year. The review is to be headed by Lord Young and repackages an ongoing review by the former Tory employment and trade secretary initiated by David Cameron pre-election. The prime minister said: 'The rise of the compensation culture over the last ten years is a real concern, as is the way health and safety rules are sometimes applied. We need a sensible new approach that makes clear these laws are intended to protect people, not overwhelm businesses with red tape.' TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he was 'surprised the government is addressing the 'compensation culture' again as successive reports show there is no such thing and claims have been falling over the past ten years.' He added: 'This will not be an open and frank review aimed at achieving better regulation. Instead it is an attempt to undermine the already limited protection that workers have by focusing on the needs of business.' The TUC leader concluded: 'Businesses are responsible for a working culture that injures a quarter of a million workers every year and makes a further half a million employees ill. The review should by investigating this instead. Rather than focusing solely on the 'needs of business', the government should protect workers by increasing inspections and enforcement action against employers who put their staff at risk by ignoring existing laws, as well as introducing a legal duty on directors to protect their workers.' The review findings are due in July.

Review must debunk 'burdens' myth
Unions have warned that essential regulation and enforcement of health and safety must not be abandoned by the government. Prospect health and safety officer Sarah Page said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) union welcomed the review ordered by David Cameron, but said 'it must be clear that there is a world of difference between petty bureaucracy enacted under the label of health and safety and HSE regulation designed to prevent deaths and disease in the workplace.' She added that the review should 'debunk the myth of the 'burden' of health and safety that masks the wider picture; last year alone about 1,180 people were fatally injured at work or in work road incidents, and thousands made ill or diseased.' Chris Keates, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, said: 'The NASUWT believes that health and safety regulation needs to be strengthened, not weakened by attempts to chip away at the already inadequate health and safety inspection and enforcement regime by prioritising profit and cost over of the safety of teachers and pupils.' Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign was also critical. She said: 'There is a lack of evidence or fact to support the need or value of cutting regulation of health and safety, a lack of balance in failing to mention the burden on workers hurt or made ill, and on the families of those killed, and a failure to mention the massive cost of up to £30 billion per year of bad health and safety, the majority of which employers externalise onto all of us.'Judith Hackitt, the chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said in a letter to Lord Young that too many people use health and safety as an excuse. HSE says health and safety is often invoked to disguise someone's real motives - concerns over costs or complexity, or an unwillingness to honestly defend an unpopular decision.

Controversial MP is new safety minister
A member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party 'attack dog' and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister. Chris Grayling, who was shadow Home Secretary before the election, is now minister of state at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). He reports to DWP secretary of state Iain Duncan Smith. Mr Grayling, who has been MP for Epsom and Ewell since 2001, started his career as a BBC and Channel 4 journalist before moving into public relations. His website notes he became 'a director in the Employee Communication practice at international communications firm Burson-Marsteller. He ended his time there as the firm's European Marketing Director.' The company is well-known in trade union, health and safety and environmental activist circles. Burson-Marsteller is one of the more high profile 'union busting' firms and has acted on behalf of asbestos, tobacco, nuclear and chemical firms on regulatory and compensation issues. It is also regarded as a pioneer in the creation of 'astroturf' organisations, supposedly grassroots lobbying organisations that in fact support industry arguments. In the award-winning book 'Doubt is their product', academic David Michaels - who is now the head of the US government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - notes that among the company's creations is the cleverly named 'Foundation for Clean Air Progress.' He writes: 'The organisation is run by Burson-Marsteller, the PR firm, using funds provided by the petroleum, trucking and other polluting industries.'

Final Conference Update

Due to a small technical hitch, the final conference report was a little delayed.

It can now be found here.