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Strangling small businesses at birth - a handy guide from the TUC

Friday, March 12, 2010
And very simple it is too:

"The real pension problem in the UK is in the private sector where employers are no longer providing pensions to almost two thirds of their staff...That is why the pension reform we need is compulsory employer contributions to pensions for all staff, which will start with auto-enrolment in 2012 as the first step towards winning decent pensions for all".

Just what every business needs - even higher employment costs.  

Elsewhere,  Brendan Barber, for it is he, reckons that gold-plated public sector pensions are a myth, and points to 'just' 1.8% of civil service pensioners and 'just' 2.5% of NHS pensioners having pensions of £40,000 or more.  So one in 25 in the case of the latter are trousering / handbagging double the median wage. 

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posted by Croydonian

Fun with statistics, TUC dept

Thursday, March 11, 2010
Here are the unemployment figures by gender, region by region - as found at the TUC's site, so presumably derived from the usual Fantasy Island official figures:





Readers might cast an eye over the figures and conclude that it is we chaps who are hardest hit by job losses, and therefore consider that the TUC  - having seen these figures - would be worrying about male unemployment.  This is not what it has been doing, rather it is concerned that any early attempts to balance the books would result in female employment being disproportionately hit.

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posted by Croydonian

Post hoc ergo propter hoc o' the day

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
From, where else, the TUC:

Speaking up for Public Services finds that every three per cent rise in unemployment leads to a 2.7 per cent rise in heart attacks among men aged 30-44 and increases of 2.4 per cent in murders and suicides in people under the age of 64.

(Post hoc ergo propter hoc defined here. Or, roughly speaking, because one thing followed another it was caused by it).

This /interesting/ statistic comes from the soi disant Association of Public Service Excellence, which also claims that 'that 92 per cent of [public sector employees surveyed] have seen an increased demand for their services since the recession as families struggling to get by seek help with housing problems, debt advice, training and job hunting'.

Hmm, 92%?  Including teachers, bin men, parkies etc etc?  Given that neither the TUC nor APSE sees fit to give any detail on survey methodology, I smell a self-selecting poll, findings from which should at best be handled with a pair of tongs, and at worst be totally ignored.

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posted by Croydonian

TUC in 'saying something nice about its class enemies shocker'

Monday, November 09, 2009
Yes, really.

Not that the figures it is looking at exactly come as a surprise:

"Workers in well paid jobs such as managers and senior officials (68.6 minutes) and professionals (61.4 minutes) have the longest commute times while those in low paid occupations such as cleaners and labourers (40.4 minutes) and retail and customer services (41.4 minutes) have the shortest commutes.
Employees working part-time have shorter average commute times than full-time workers. Men working full-time spend 60.4 minutes commuting compared to 42 minutes for men working part-time. Women working full-time spend 52.8 minutes travelling to work compared to 38.6 minutes for women working part-time....Gender [men, is what he means], pay [high earners] and the amount of hours worked [by white collar workers] all affect average commute times. It seems the more you earn, the longer you have to travel to earn it"

Well knock me down with the proverbial.

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posted by Croydonian

A nice bit of TUC doublethink

Friday, November 06, 2009
The TUC is terming an event it is hosting today 'an alternative G20 conference', which is modest of them.  On the same basis, the drinks I had with friends last night must count as an alternative EU heads of government meeting, as one was French and the other Portuguese.  Anyway, Brendan Barber is going to say 'that regulation of the international finance system must lead to a new global economy that puts people and the planet first'.

I lack the energy to go bog snorkellling through all of its errors, but instead will offer up this nugget:

'All this activity now needs to be brought within the scope of mainstream regulation. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) represents an important first step but the TUC has grave reservations about its transparency and accountability - especially as some of the FSB's representatives were themselves recently leading players at the financial casino table'.


Or in other words, the TUC thinks it a really bad idea to have people who actually understand finance having anything to do with its regulation.  One can all too easily imagine what a TUC picked set of regulators would look like.....  

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posted by Croydonian

A new frontier in stupidity from, where else, a trade union

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The CFE-CGC is a French trade union confederation which ''only organizes unions for professional employees, with higher education and/or in management or executive positions". Source.

So, unlikely to be crimson in its politics, yes?  Further digging indicates that its head, Bernard Van Craeynest is linked to what was the Parti Republicain, which has since morphed into Démocratie libérale and thence into Sarko's Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle.  Let's say that places him somewhere between sensible Lib Dem and wet Tory.

Anyway, enough of the background, and onto the mind-boggling stupidity:

"The CFE-CGC wants a “very heavy tax” on those companies where suicides of employees are recorded , with these treated like industrial accidents.

At the moment France is agog at an apparent wave of suicides at France Télécom, although even the most half hearted data mining has shown that the rate of suicide among employees is entirely in line with the sad statistical norms for age cohorts and the like.

Having stared into the abyss on a  few occasions myself, I am not going to be making light of suicide.  However, I would think that were this tax to come to pass, the first consequence would be a great deal of intrusive questioning of the family and colleagues of the deceased, and secondly widows / widowers playing up the stresses of work and so on in pursuit of a pay out.  

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posted by Croydonian

The TUC strays a long way from its knitting

Monday, August 10, 2009
One might think that the economic downturn was enough to keep the TUC busy, but apparently not:

"As the world marks the 64th anniversary of the use of Atom Bombs on Japan..the TUC is today linking up with Japanese unions to ask UK workers to sign a global petition asking the UN to abolish nuclear weapons. The TUC is also calling on mayors across the UK to join Mayors for Peace..Conflicts often have their roots in poverty and inequality, and unions want social justice not weapons to be the solution. Next year nuclear weapons will be 65, it's time to retire them".

Hands up anyone who can name a C20th war in Europe which had its 'roots in poverty and inequality'?

Elsewhere, the release notes 'The petition is being run by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Mayors for Peace'. Can't say I had heard of the ITUC, but along with the European Trade Union Confederation, it is run by a Briton, so we are well on the way to having this global syndicalism business sewn up. Mayors for Peace was started by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - they do not like nuclear weapons, but presumably thought that the Tokyo firestorm was just dandy. My thoughts on the Dropping of the Bombs are in the archive here, and nothing in the last two years has caused me to change my mind.

Meanwhile, in an abrupt change of tempo, the ITUC's logo:


How does one untangle the semiotics of that? Suggestions please.

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posted by Croydonian

The dinosaur stirs...

Friday, August 07, 2009
Which in this case is the TUC.

Here are some motions tabled for its annual jamboree:

Trade union rights and freedom - taking back our rights

Congress registers its total disgust and disappointment at the continuation of the anti-trade union laws throughout the United Kingdom.

Congress recognises that all initiatives and campaigns up to this time have achieved little change to employment rights for working men and women in this country.

Therefore, Congress calls upon all affiliated trade unions and the General Council to organise a series of street demonstrations throughout the United Kingdom, and selective days on which trade unions will break the anti-trade union laws by taking a general strike.

Further, these activities should continue until such time as the Government changes this anti-trade union and anti-working class legislation.

Nothing quite like sticking to one's knitting:

Trade union membership

Congress notes with concern that in 2008 trade union membership levels and union density in the UK both declined. Private sector union density fell by 0.6 per cent to 15.5 per cent and public sector union density fell by more than three times this rate - declining by 1.9 per cent. Less than half of UK employees are in a workplace where a trade union is present, and unionisation of younger workers has fallen over the past decade....Congress is further concerned that the recession will continue to intensify pressures on current and future membership levels and calls on the General Council to [recruit, publicise etc etc] raise the profile of policy work that demonstrates the value of unions to civil society e.g. on climate change and quality public services.

Erm....

Thought crime:

Fighting the B*P and far right

Congress instructs the General Council to:

i) develop an economic and social programme that delivers for working class communities

vii) support measures that make B*P membership incompatible with regulated public service jobs such as police staff, teachers, doctors, nurses and others as appropriate.

That's from Unison. The PCSU takes the same approach:

Congress believes that the B*P are a racist and fascist organisation with no place in a democratic, diverse society....ii) seek an urgent meeting with government representatives to raise the issue of a ban on the employment of members of fascist and racist organisations in the public services.

Unexpectedly, the Professional Footballers Association is TUC affiliated. Any motions critical of high pay would be rather amusing, knowing that.

What about this for proletaraian solidarity?:

The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union sez: "Congress notes the financial aid given to bail out the financial sector. Congress demands the Government provide the same level of support to manufacturing to save jobs, revitalise the economy, build affordable housing and assist workers struggling to pay mortgages".

I do hope that Unite will call on the government to encourage us to eat more food. After all, top breeders recommend it, as it's solid nourishment.

The GMB has found a big word, but doesn't know how to use it: "Millions of people are reliant on public sector pensions for their retirement income and now live in fear of their savings being decimated by a Tory government." Not as good as NASUWT's Nigel de Gruchy and his 'this so draconian it would shame Dracula' of some years back.

The RMT is quite ambitious:

Congress agrees to support the People's Charter, which sets out a programme for challenging the economic crisis and for a fairer society including:

i) a fair economy: taking leading banking, insurance and mortgage industries into public ownership; ending raids on pension funds, asset-stripping and corporate tax loopholes; restructuring tax so big business and the wealthy pay more.

...

iv) saving and improving our services: ensuring energy, transport, water, post and telecommunications are in public ownership; ending profiteering in public services; stopping EU privatisation directives

...

vi) a secure and sustainable future: ending the cost of war and nuclear weapons; bringing our troops home; getting rid of the debt economy and cancelling the debts of the poor of the planet.


See what I mean?

Equity says this: "Congress notes with concern the continuing reliance of television companies on reality formats to attract large TV audiences and in particular the increasing numbers of 'talent search' programmes such as Britain's Got Talent. The contestants in such programmes are often compelled to enter into restrictive contracts and because of a loophole in the National Minimum Wage Act for competitions they generally do not get paid....Congress resolves to campaign...for more variety and light entertainment, comedy and original drama to be commissioned and made in the UK, drawing on the talents of professional performers".

More later, maybe.

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posted by Croydonian

Hansard 1859 - featuring some unlikely claims about divorce and far fetched parallels involving the working day

Tuesday, August 04, 2009
The Divorce Court Bill:

"THE ATTORNEY GENERAL said that this measure, as originally brought in by the Government, was intended simply to improve the procedure and facilitate the transaction of business in the Divorce Court. The Act of Parliament provided that the power of dissolving marriages should not be exercised except by a full Court, composed of the Judge Ordinary and two of the Common Law Judges, taken from the Chief Justices and Chief Baron, or the three senior puisne Judges...the Bill therefore provided that all the Judges in Westminster Hall should be competent to preside as members of the full Court"

Which would not lend itself to either speed or economy.

However, John Hennessey (Con - the first Irish Catholic Tory MP, apparently)was not keen: "but believing also that the Act thus to be rendered more powerful is the worst Act of Parliament which Her Majesty has ever sanctioned—believing it to be an Act which, on political, social, moral, and religious grounds, should never have been passed, I cannot hesitate about moving that this supplementary Bill be read this day three months.... [Clause VII] is is an indirect and covert way of getting Ireland under the action of the Bill. I hope the Government will not venture to support this clause. Not a single petition was ever presented from Ireland praying for divorce. Not a single Irishman ever expressed any desire to have this Court exercise any jurisdiction at the other side of the Channel.

Other less than happy MPs:

MR. M'EVOY hoped that the Motion for the rejection of the Bill would be pressed, feeling, as he did, the strongest objection to a measure which he believed would be detrimental to the interests of morality.

MR. MALINS said, that he had anticipated that great public evils would arise from passing the Act constituting the Court, and experience justified his anticipations. When they saw, day after day, that marriages were dissolved quicker than they were solemnized, they might well look with alarm at the institution of the Court.

Further thoughts on combinations, strikes and reduced working hours:

THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGH (Con) said, that as he understood it, the persons engaged in the strike wanted to have nine hours' work instead of ten, at the same wages as they received for the ten. He should not enter into the question what the effect of that would be on capital, and in diminishing the profit on capital; but what he would say was, that the effect of the movement, if it succeeded, would be to, at one blow, strike away one-tenth of the manufacturing power of the country. It would be just as reasonable to diminish that power by decreasing the population of the country to the amount of 2,800,000 persons.

Ellenborough, incidentally, divorced in 1830, and presided over one of our previous engagements in Afghanistan while Governor General of India.



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Hansard 1859 - Their Lordships debate strikes, and Hansard 1959 wherein MPs fret about both litter baskets and alsatians on trains

Saturday, August 01, 2009
Observations on the builders' strike:

LORD BROUGHAM wished to know whether the attention of the Government had been called to the combination of workmen in the building trade which had taken place? For his own part, he deeply deplored that proceeding, and highly disapproved of it. If, as seemed to be the case, the object of the movement was to obtain, by means of combination, ten hours' wages for nine hours' work, nothing could be more utterly absurd and more inconsistent with justice as well as common sense.

....

THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE said, he was afraid it was impossible to prevent these unfortunate strikes. Nothing but the increasing knowledge and experience of the men themselves would put an end to them. When the operatives were better instructed in the circumstances affecting the relation between employers and employed they would know that the whole question was involved in the larger question of supply and demand; and that for masters to endeavour to diminish wages, or for the men to endeavour to raise them, contrary to that law, must ever be futile.

....

LORD BROUGHAM said, that much would depend on care being taken to enlighten the workman, by giving him information that would be neither partial nor prejudiced. A great portion of the difficulties which had to be encountered under the existing state of things was owing to the ignorance of the working classes which left these unfortunate men in the hands, and he might say at the mercy, of a few leading agitators.
...

The Lord Chancellor - He would state to the House the opinion on this subject of one who was no enemy to the working classes—the late Daniel O'Connell. That gentleman told him confidentially, but in a melancholy tone, that strikes had been the ruin of Ireland; that in consequence of trade combinations manufactures could not flourish in that country; that manufactures had been going on prosperously till those trade combinations put them down, causing the ruin first of the employers and then of the people.
Now if only Bob Crow would listen to the wisdom of the ages....


Skipping forward a hundred years, the problem of RAF guard dogs on trains:

Mr. Stonehouse (Yes, him) asked the Secretary of State for Air why he arranges for Royal Air Force Alsatian guard-dogs to travel on passenger trains, which is greatly to the annoyance of the travelling public and railway staff; and whether he will now discontinue this practice.

Mr. Ward - I am afraid that we cannot provide motor transport every time dogs have to be sent to another station, nor could we very well send them as freight. The handlers accompanying the dogs observe the railway regulations and we do all we can to avoid annoyance to other passengers.
I would imagine that if someone asked a question framed thus these days, he or she could guarantee a lifetime of dog faeces being posted to them. Ho hum.

Mr. de Freitas (Lab) Surely these dogs are accompanied by an attendant when they travel? They are not sent alone, are they?

Mr. Ward They have handlers.

And how silly did you feel then, Mr de Freitas?


Here's someone with quite a track record of consistency:

Mr.[Tony] Benn asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many Africans, held in prison or detention camps in Kenya, died as a result of the use of illegal violence against them by members of the prison or camp staffs, in each of the years 1952–58.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd pursuant to his reply supplied the following additional information:Between 1952 and 1959 no Africans held in prisons or detention camps in Kenya died after, or as a result of, the use of illegal force by members of prison or camp staffs. The appeal by the officer convicted of assault on Kabugi Njuma in 1958 has now been dismissed.
Moving to somewhat less weighty matters:

Mr. Atkins (Con) asked the Minister of Works when he intends to install the new litter baskets on the north and south sides of the Mall as recommended by the Rodgers Committee.

Mr. H. Nicholls My right hon. Friend is not satisfied that this type of litter basket, which requires a permanent fixing, is as suitable for the conditions in the Mall as the conventional wire baskets. Permanently fixed baskets are more liable to suffer damage and to cause injury when crowds gather on ceremonial occasions. The wire baskets at present in use are safe and efficient, and their numbers can easily be varied to suit the demand.



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posted by Croydonian

Trade unions for higher prices

Monday, July 13, 2009
From the Unite site:

"Unite had been pressing Heathrow's management at the British Airport Authority (BAA) to withdraw their plans to introduce two private hire concessions in the terminal car parks. The union, which represents licensed black cab drivers operating at the airport, said that the proposed mini cab concessions would spring a war for passenger trade that would clog up the airport's roads causing tremendous disruption for passengers trying to get in and out of the airport".

And would that mean? Without doubt, lower prices.

Unite does not like that prospect at all:

"Peter Kavanagh, Unite senior regional organiser, who led the talks with BAA said: "This was a hare-brained scheme that should never have seen light of day. There is no way that passengers would benefit from a taxi bidding war which would have clogged up the airport's roads and just brought confusion to passengers who want an efficient, easy to access service they can trust".

After all, we have never benefited from price competition in good and services, have we?

I'll leave the last word to the Sage of Kirkcaldy:

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices".


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posted by Croydonian

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now...

Saturday, July 11, 2009
From the Unite website:

"Unite, the UK’s largest union, is preparing to ballot its members at the Guardian Print Centre (GPC) for industrial action over the company’s proposals to make a quarter of the staff redundant.

Industrial action at GPC, based in London's Docklands, would halt the printing of the Guardian newspaper in the south of England".


What will the latte left do if its house journal is printed by scabs?

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posted by Croydonian

Trade unionists for /inequity/

Thursday, July 09, 2009
Yes, really:

"Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT:

“The Audit Commission is simply joining the long list of those who use the recession as an excuse to promulgate an anti-public services agenda, to privatise public services and to attack public service workers’ jobs, pay and pensions on the grounds that there should be ‘equity of misery’.

So that's alright then.

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posted by Croydonian

'The horror, the horror'

Wednesday, July 01, 2009
The TUC has, very perceptively, noticed that it is quite hot at the moment, and therefore has decided to offer up some pearls of wisdom:

With a heatwave warning in place this week for parts of the UK, and temperatures predicted to soar as high as 32oC, the TUC is today (Wednesday) calling on employers to relax office dress codes and cool down their overheating offices and their wilting employees.

By allowing staff to loosen their ties and leave their jackets at home, the TUC is hoping most employers will adopt a more relaxed approach to office attire.

Reasonable enough, I suppose, although I expect even the dimmest managers have probably stumbled upon those notions. However, no pudding can be left under-egged when it comes to these people:

Bosses should only stop staff from wearing shorts to work if they have first carried out a proper risk assessment, and only people whose jobs could prove hazardous should still be made to work in long trousers.

Readers in offices or wherever are encouraged to look at their colleagues and imagine the unmitigated horror of some of them sporting shorts. Horrified yet?

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posted by Croydonian

Dodgy logic

Monday, June 15, 2009
This, from the TUC:

"TUC calls for a green economy to be built from the rubble of the greed economy"

(blah)

"And while of course statisticians must do their job, I see a hidden agenda in much talk of recovery. If the economy is on the mend they argue, then we can go back to business as usual. There is no need for further action on jobs, no need for proper regulation, no need to crack down on the tax havens. The neoliberal model is not bust, and we don't need to build another kind of economy".

Works for me....

Not for Brendan Barber, or more likely his speech writer:

"And unless we build a green economy out of the rubble of the greed economy, the next global crisis will surely be even worse.

'So the choice we face is clear - to retreat into the global comfort zone of business as usual or to give globalisation a human face, and our planet a fighting chance of survival. Let's make sure we do the right thing".

It is enough to make Aristotle weep. Any submissions of Barberisms would be most welcome.





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posted by Croydonian

One of history's greatest villains makes a comeback.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
From London Student, via Labourstart.org:

"SOAS support staff are likely to strike after trade union activist Joseph Stalin lost an appeal against his sacking. Unison, the trade union for administrative staff at the college, is balloting its members for strike action over the dismissal. It says that Stalin’s role in the justice for cleaners campaign, seeking to raise cleaners wages to the London Living Wage standard, marked him as a target for school management".

A rather better use of his time than smashing the kulaks, I would think. Turns out that his full name is Joseph Stalin Bermudez. I suspect that his parents were not Christian Democrats, and that he may not be related to Enrique Bermúdez, a Contra commander.

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posted by Croydonian

A Monday Morning Miscellany

Monday, April 27, 2009
Firstly, the Dept of Work and Pensions has come up with a choice for the nation's hard drug users - being under the influence or getting a job. It is not really a choice, as 'The Welfare Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, includes provisions to pilot a new mandatory employment-support programme for problem drug users'. Reasonable enough, I suppose, as I am not mad keen on facilitating the habits of the nation's users. Here, lurking in the footnotes is the interesting bit - 'Evidence suggests that over three-quarters of the around 400,000 heroin and crack cocaine users in Britain are claiming welfare benefits'. Quite how loosely 'welfare benefits' are defined is not known, but I suppose credit is due to the 100,000 who combine the needle / pipe with at least relative economic success.

The TUC reckons that the worst recession since the 1930s is insufficient to keep it occupied and is fretting about climate change: "but few have considered what such a dramatic change in the UK's weather will mean for their staff and the jobs that they do"...The report's researchers asked both private and public sector organisations what they were doing to adapt to climate change. Many said they were beginning to think about what climate change meant for future business planning, markets, products and services...Of the 134 organisations interviewed, only one had given serious attention to how their staff might be affected".

Given that even the most melodramatic of the climate change Jeremiahs are not predicting the 10 plagues of Egypt within the next few years, it shows that business has a degree of common sense in that it is not measuring up key (nor, indeed, non-key workers) for NBC suits. What the TUC thinks is coming down the pike is something like this: "The report says that some people working in factories or on the transport network already have to work in hot and poorly ventilated conditions, while those who work outside run the risk of increased health risk caused by direct sunlight and searing summer heat. Employers will need to provide their staff with improved work clothing, headwear and sun creams, and uniforms will need to be adapted so that staff can work comfortably as our summers warm". Barber reckons that this will come to pass by the middle of the century, so let us say 30 years time, which does seem like ample time to sort out the air con and lay in with a few hats rather than take all the dire prognostications to heart and act now.



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Picking losers - a new economic strategy

Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Noticed how effective the create signs of economic life before the next election plan stimulus package has been so far? Especially the coup de theatre that was the cut in VAT to 15%.

Anyway, the TUC wants more, much more. £25 billion more, actually. Well, it is only money and it can be extorted from the remaining productive parts of the economy or the government could always borrow some more, could it not?

And the detail:

"The TUC budget submission calls for a £25 billion public investment programme, which would create and safeguard one million jobs. This would double the UK's fiscal stimulus package to 3.25 per cent, bringing it into line with the average stimulus for advanced economies recently examined by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)".

Planned recipients are predicatable enough (social housing etc), but here is the stand out:

"a £3 billion support package for renewable projects that have financial difficulties".

Erm, as indicators go, 'financial difficulties' is just about the most basic sign that one is being sold not just a pup, but a pup with mange, fleas and breath that kills plant life.

So, always supposing that Brown and the glove puppet decide that the TUC's ideas have legs, we will have the government engaged in picking losers, rather than those triumphs like Concorde, Eurotunnel etc etc.

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Howling into a vacuum

Thursday, April 02, 2009
Over at the TUC's site, they have a message for the G20, which I do not doubt the Masters of the Universe have been waiting on with bated breath:

"Gordon Brown and his fellow G20 leaders must agree an overhaul of the global economy to promote jobs, justice and climate (sic) when they meet today (Thursday) in London, according to Put People First, an unprecedented alliance of more than 160 unions, development, environment and faith groups".

I rather like the idea of promoting climate. It is a bit like promoting gravity.

There's plenty of economically sub-literate bilge in the statement, and I would not want to waste pixels repeating it, but just take in this list of signatories:

"ActionAid, Action for Global Climate Community, ACTSA, Advocacy International, Akina Mama Wa Africa, AMREF UK, ATL, Avaaz, BECTU, BOND, Bretton Woods Project, CAFOD, Centre for Democracy and Development, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Change is Coming, Christian Aid, Compass, Concern Worldwide (UK), Co-operative News, Connect, Dalit Solidarity Network UK, Defend Council Housing, Engineers Against Poverty, Equity, Everychild, Fairtrade Foundation, Fatima Women's Network, Find Your Feet, Fire Brigades Union, Friends of the Earth, GardenAfrica, Global Call to Action Against Poverty, GMB, Green New Deal Group, Greenpeace, HelpAge International, Jubilee Debt Campaign, Lattitude, Merlin, Micah Challenge UK, MRDF, Musicians Union, Muslim Council of Britain, NASUWT, National Union of Journalists, National Union of Teachers, NEF, New Internationalist, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, One World Action, Oxfam, Pants to Poverty, PCS, People and Planet, Progressio, Prospect, Red Pepper, RMT, Salvation Army, Save the Children, Shelter, Stamp Out Poverty, STOP AIDS Campaign, Stop Climate Chaos, Synergy Centre, Tax Justice Network, Teach a Man to Fish, Tearfund, Thirty-eight degrees, Tourism Concern, Trade Justice Movement, Trades Union Congress, Trading Visions, Traidcraft, Transnational Institute, Transport Salaried Staffs' Association, UCU, UK Aid Network, UNISON, UNITE, Usdaw, VSO, War on Want, Womankind Worldwide, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, World Development Movement, World Vision, WWF".

Stopped sniggering yet?

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posted by Croydonian

Naked special pleading corner

Monday, March 30, 2009
Care of the Unite website, I discover a huge wrong that needs to be righted. Apparently.

"Proposals by the London Development Agency to spend £2m to lure tourists to such sites as the hotel room in which Oscar Wilde was arrested, have been welcomed by Unite, which embraces the Association of Professional Tourist Guides (APTG).

But Unite/APTG, whose members hold the top Blue Badge qualification, said that there should be a proper regulatory framework to stop tourists being ‘ripped off’ by people masquerading as professional tourist guides".

Hmm.

"Unite/APTG Joint Chair, Tony McDonnell said: ‘Greater regulation of the tourist guiding industry is very important. A professional tourist guide can enhance your enjoyment and experience of London; an untrained guide can ruin your day with their haphazard knowledge and make a serious dent in your wallet.’

‘Due to our training, the London Blue Badge tourist guides know so much more about the lesser known parts of London. Not just that Oscar Wilde was arrested on 5 April, 1895 at the Cadogan Hotel in Sloane Street, but which royal mistress also lived there.’"

Perhaps I am being naive, but surely the best qualification for being a tour guide is to be both knowledgeable and a skillful raconteur, rather than having a certificate from a self-serving restrictive guild. I do not think that regulating and restricting entry into this line of work is the most pressing issue of the day, and I am intrigued by the notion that one's day could be 'ruined' by haphazard knowledge, as presumably one would not be taking the tour if one already knew all the facts, and what one does not know is unlikely to cause the ruination of a day or, come to that, any other period of time.

For what it is worth, some time back I went on a guided tour of political London accompanied by someone of a non-British persuasion, and got to fill in a few gaps for the guide, who I suspect had one of the much vaunted blue badges.

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