Showing posts with label workers health and safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workers health and safety. Show all posts

Friday, July 06, 2007

What a world this is

Nearly a third of newly qualified nurses had not found a job six months after qualifying, figures show. And over half of physiotherapist graduates were unemployed, along with one in five midwives, according to a government census in March 2007.

9,000 nurses qualified between May and September 2006, but only 69% were employed six months later, meaning nearly 3,000 were unemployed.

Dr Peter Carter of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "I am hearing worrying stories from recently qualified nurses who are unable to get jobs because trusts are freezing entry level posts to save money...it is a waste of new and much needed nursing talent."

Meanwhile,

A group of stressed-out people in Spain have been given a chance to let off steam by demolishing a hotel in Madrid. The 30 winners of a contest were given sledgehammers to smash up the bedrooms and bathrooms of the 146-room hotel in the capital. The participants were selected by psychologists from more than 200 stressed applicants.

And our Fly the Flag Prime Minister

Elsewhere

Under the five-year plan, initiated by EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, winemakers in EU countries will get cash rewards for producing less wine by abandoning some or all of their poorer quality vineyards.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

And not before time

A memorial to workers killed during the construction of the Forth Bridge is set to be officially unveiled. Work began on the one-and-a-half mile bridge in 1883 and at its peak 4,600 worked on it.

The memorial will honour the known 71 men and boys who died during the seven years it took to build the bridge. It is believed the actual figure is much higher. Research into the exact number who lost their lives is still being carried out. The Queensferry History Group has been working to uncover the true extent of the death toll.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Mental well-being and Capitalism

The BBC reports a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found an increasing amount of sickness leave is due to depression or stress. Analysis of the records of 30,000 people found only muscle-related problems such as bad backs were cited as a greater cause of sick days .

Staff with depression were said to take an average 30 days off annually.

Those with stress were reported to be away for 21 days.

This confirms an earlier finding by a survey of 250 doctors . The poll of GPs reveals most believe firms do not do enough to prevent workers falling ill, and blame companies for failing those who are ill, and not doing enough to help them back to work.

94% of the doctors quizzed blamed employers for failing to take responsibility for their workers' health and well-being.

Capitalism is actually literally a depressing system to work under.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Wealth Gap Widens


A previous blog revealed that under Tony Blair the gap between the richest and the poorest had widened . The Scotsman confirms that indeed this is the case .


The think-tank , Compass , has issued a report that finds that people living in the affluent London borough of Kensington and Chelsea now live, on average, 10.9 years longer than people from Glasgow. That inequalities in mortality rates for children born to working-class mothers compared with middle-class ones have also grown since 1998.


The publication said the share of national wealth owned by the richest 1 per cent in Britain had risen from 17 per cent in 1991 to 24 per cent in 2002, while the share of the country's riches held by the bottom 50 per cent of people had dropped from 8 percent to 6 per cent. It warned that massive house-price rises and huge pay hikes for executives in industry and commerce were fuelling the growing gap between rich and poor.


"The super-rich have, during Tony Blair's premiership, been accumulating wealth at close to four times the rate of the ordinary person." says the report


The poor , more probably than not , disillusioned by all the previous broken promises of the politicians are now deserting the democratic process. The difference between voter turnout between the highest and lowest social classes had reached 17 per cent - the gap in voting habits was "probably wider than at any point since the abolition of property requirements" in the early part of the 20th century .
Rather than political apathy , the Socialist Party entreats the working class to acknowledge the class war , to intensify the class struggle , but also to finally transcend Capitalism itself by building Socialism .

Friday, January 19, 2007

Mental health and redundancy

In a previous blog and in another Socialist Courier discussed redundancies and the inhumanity of employers and their business plans when it comes to discarding workers .

The psychological effects upon workers made redundant has been well documented but new research reveals that even amongst those workers who escape dismissal , the continual fear and threat of redundancy increases the stress and anxieties .

Researchers found that men made redundant during downsizing were 64% more likely than those in completely unaffected workplaces to receive prescriptions for drugs such as antidepressants and sleeping pills. However, their former colleagues still working were not far behind, with men having a 50% increased chance of being prescribed the such same drugs.

The researchers said that it was clear that downsizing could increase the workload and reduce job security of those who stay in their jobs and may pose mental health risks among employees.

"The trouble is that employees don't tend to believe their employer when they're told there is no risk of further redundancies ..." Professor Cary Cooper, who carries out research into organisational psychology at the University of Lancaster .

A frightened worker is a docile worker !!