PRIVATE EFFICIENCY?

The present government like others before them present a case for the privatisation of the public services, (usually implying that the private sector is more efficient). Another tactic is to tell workers they only need to get on their bikes and find an employer out there who can't find the local necessary labour.

This item from the Building Workers' summer magazine illustrates that the contractual nature of privately run capitalist society has its inefficiencies.

Privatisation gone mad in the Probation Service

Millions of pounds are being wasted by the National Probation Service (NPS) because of incompetent building maintenance contracts, says a report published in January by Napo, the probation officers' union.

Two years ago NPS's National Offender Management Service maintenance contracts were centralised and privatised. The union's report cites numerous examples of contractors travelling hundreds of miles to fulfil simple tasks where previously the job would have been done locally. Among the examples are:

·        A hostel in Norwich needed a toilet seat repairing and a plumber travelled from Birmingham to do the job. This was a round trip of 320 miles.

·        Staff in Winchester needed strip lighting changing. The electrician came from Wembley which was a round trip of over 15O miles.

·        A hostel needed an electrical switch mending and a new cover to an entrance light and an electrician travelled to the West Midlands from Newmarket, a two-and-a-half hour drive each way and a round trip of over 200 miles.

·        Workers travelled from London to Wrexham to fit a new bathroom in a hostel.

·        Electricians from Manchester travelled all the way to Aberystwyth to change light fittings.

·        Other staff report that the window cleaners in Leicester came from Preston and were involved in an overnight stay before going on to Lincoln for the next job. This involved over seven hours of travelling.

Harry Fletcher, Assistant General Secretary of Napo, said it was clear that millions were being wasted on incompetent maintenance contracts. "It is now costing four to five times more than it did when contractors were hired from round the corner. This is the price of centralisation and privatisation."

SOUTH OF THE BORDER

"Young children are supplying an increasing demand from foreign tourists who travel to Brazil for sex holidays, according to a BBC investigation. Chris Rogers reports on how the country is overtaking Thailand as a destination for sex tourism and on attempts to curb the problem. Her small bikini exposes her tiny frame. She looks no older than 13 - one of dozens of girls parading the street looking for clients in the blazing mid-afternoon sun. Most come from the surrounding favelas - or slums. As I park my car, the young girl dances provocatively to catch my attention. "Hello my name is Clemie - you want a programme?" she asks, programme being the code word they use for an hour of sex. Clemie asks for less than $5 for her services. An older woman standing nearby steps in and introduces herself as Clemie's mother. "You have the choice of another two girls, they are the same age as my daughter, the same price," she explains. "I can take you to a local motel where a room can be rented by the hour." (BBC News, 30 July) RD

THE MARCH OF CAPITALISM

"China, the world's most prodigious emitter of greenhouse gas, continues to suffer the downsides of unbridled economic growth despite a raft of new environmental initiatives. The quality of air in Chinese cities is increasingly tainted by coal-burning power plants, grit from construction sites and exhaust from millions of new cars squeezing onto crowded roads, according to a government study issued this week. Other newly released figures show a jump in industrial accidents and an epidemic of pollution in waterways. The report's most unexpected findings pointed to an increase in inhalable particulates in cities like Beijing, where officials have struggled to improve air quality by shutting down noxious factories and tightening auto emission standards. Despite such efforts, including an ambitious program aimed at reducing the use of coal for home heating, the average concentration of particulates in the capital's air violated the World Health Organization's standards more than 80 percent of the time during the last quarter of 2008."

 (New York Times, 28 July) RD

BARGAIN BASEMENT EXPLOITATION

"Indian workers are paid just 25p an hour and forced to work overtime in factories used by some of Britain's best-known high street stores. ... Some of the biggest names on the British high street are at the centre of a major sweatshop scandal. An Observer investigation has found staff at their Indian suppliers working up to 16 hours a day. Marks & Spencers, Gap and Next have launched their own inquiries into abuses and pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is a flagrant breach of the industry's ethical trading (ETI) and Indian labour laws." (Observer, 8 August) RD

HOW THE OTHER 5% LIVE

 "A flamboyant self-styled lord who entertained the rich and famous was yesterday banned from holding lavish parties at his £20million mansion. Monaco-based Edward Davenport, 44, regularly hosted raucous all-night events for A-list stars that were littered with celebrity guests including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Paris Hilton. The High Court heard that no expense was spared for the parties. At one event last December brandy maker Courvoisier turned the swimming pool into a gigantic punchbowl by filling it with 1,000 litres of cognac - at an estimated cost of more than £30,000." (Daily Mail, 31 July) RD

THE LAW AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE

STRIKE BALLOT REFORMS

The recent High Court decisions preventing industrial action by amongst others, Unite and RMT members, have caused consternation in the trade union movement. Employers were easily able to exploit minor balloting irregularities to win injunctions. This has led to renewed calls for the reform of the law governing strikes. Although the last Labour government did introduce some amendments to the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992 (TULRCA) through the Employment Relations Act 1999, they were to little effect. In particular, the allowance given for small and accidental failures in the balloting process under section 232B has proved only to be of limited use as a defence against employers. In an attempt to stop bosses using technicalities to block action, John McDonnell, the Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, is sponsoring a bill designed to reinforce and extend the exemption for small and accidental failures. Under the Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill, which had its first reading on 30 June and will have its second on22 October, section 232B TULRCA is to be strengthened. However, agitation for change is not just in favour of liberalising the law. Anticipating popular resistance to their impending savage spending cuts, the coalition government is considering tightening the law, for example, by introducing a requirement for 4O% of eligible voters to participate in ballots.

AUGUST 2OlO LABOUR RESEARCH

The will to work

Following on from the previous post, the Prince's Trust has released a report that the vast majority of young people from jobless families have struggled to find work and many simply expect to live off state handouts. 73 per cent of youngsters with parents who do not have a job in Scotland have found getting work difficult, and one in five reported feeling anxious about their future prospects because of their parents' unemployment. According to official UK government statistics, 16 per cent of Scottish children live in a family in which nobody has a job and the new findings have led to calls for more to be done to end a "cycle of worklessness" among Scottish youngsters.

Geraldine Gammell, the director of The Prince's Trust Scotland, which works with young people to help them into work, said: "Too many young people in Scotland are facing a cycle of worklessness and can't see a way out. It is a tragedy to think that so many feel condemned to a life of unemployment when there is a real will to work."

DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

"The Prince of Wales says he believes he has been placed on Earth as future King "for a purpose" - to save the world. Giving a fascinating insight into his view of his inherited wealth and influence, he said: "I can only somehow imagine that I find myself being born into this position for a purpose. "I don't want my grandchildren or yours to come along and say to me, "Why the hell didn't you come and do something about this? You knew what the problem was. That is what motivates me. I wanted to express something in the outer world that I feel inside... We seem to have lost that understanding of the whole of nature and the universe as a living entity." (Daily Mail, 30 July) RD

"LAZY" WORKERS?

"Only two thirds of the world's workers take all their holidays - and the most likely to use them are the French with 89 per cent taking all their entitlement, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey of 12,5000 people in 24 countries. Second were Argentineans at 80 per cent, then Hungarians at 78 per cent, and the British and Spanish at 77 per cent. Those least likely to use all their holidays were the Japanese, with only 33 per cent taking all the time given. Australians and South Africans followed at 47 per cent, South Koreans at 53 per cent and those in the United States at 57 per cent."There are lots of reasons why people don't use up vacation days but most often it's because they feel obligated to their work and put it over other important things, including their own health and welfare," said John Wright, of Ipsos. "Workers should remember that there are graveyards full of indispensable people." (Times, 7 August) RD

THE GROWTH OF INEQUALITY

Many of the great fortunes of American history - those of the Rockellers, AndrewCarnegie and the Fords - are now mighty foundations that have long outlasted their founders. Recent years have seen the greatest disparity of wealth in America since the Golden Age of the 1920s. A recent study found that the top one per cent of Americans now receive 15 per cent of the country's total income - about double the rate of the 1960s and 1970s." (Times, 5 August) RD

Food for thought

A third independent inquiry into the stolen emails of climate scientists that were made to look as if data had been manipulated to emphasize climate change, concluded that the scientists acted with integrity and did not manipulate data. The climate skeptics were strongly critical of the skeptics' attacks. This appeared on page 13, whereas the leaked emails and the manipulation charges were all over the front pages of the media.

The queen's recent visit to Canada evoked this gem from the media,
"What is astounding about her is how that sense of humour, that sense of the absurd, that sense of comedy of life has survived sixty years of grueling public life." I wonder how the writer would describe forty years in a factory or down the mines!

We know that FIFA (the soccer body) sells sponsorships to the big companies for billions of dollars and protects their rights by banning other advertising, especially `ambush advertising', not just from the stadiums, but for miles around each one and thus throttling the small cottage industries that make a few dollars. All, it may be said with the compliance of the African government that is supposed to look after its people. Well, the dispossessed are fighting back. The most popular T-shirt going around is FICK FUFA. Another says, WELCOME TO THE FEEFA 2.010 WHIRLD CUP. Yes, there is a dot between 2 and 0 as FIFA has got the rights FIFA World Cup 2010.

There's always a way around. Let's hope they can also find a way around the root of the problem and circumvent capitalism altogether. John Ayers

Food for thought

There's a big bru ha ha in Canada over making the census long form mandatory instead of compulsory. The critics say we won't get vital information such as where the poverty is so we can give income support and other social programs.
We have had the census and the required information for over a hundred years but we still have poverty. Something doesn't add up here.
A couple of months ago it was reported here that Frank Stronach, head of Magna Auto Parts was getting out with $863 million. Make that $1 billion now. His utilities bills must have gone up last month.

The Toronto Star editorial of June 27 noted how the G8 countries have failed their own test, "The gap between the G8's compassionate rhetoric and its readiness to help was especially striking. 'Hundreds of thousands of women' and "nearly nine million children" die needlessly every year, said the G8 communiqué. "These deaths profoundly concern us and underscore the need for urgent collective action." Yet when called upon to deliver, the leaders' profound concern came up short. $50 billion in aid was promised in 2005 but eventually came up short by $20 billion. $30 billion may sound like a lot but this is the rich club that generates close to $40 trillion in wealth.
Once again, the oppressed class waits for crumbs that do not come from the rich class. (Last sentence not part of the editorial, in case you were wondering!).
Also, this is a group that spent $1 billion on security for their meeting – could have saved a lot of lives! John Ayers

Food for thought

A recent Toronto Star headline screamed, `Economy Booms in June'. The figures were unemployed rate went from 8.1% to7.9%; number unemployed went from 1 506 400 to 1 475 200; number working went from 17 096 600 to 17 189 800. Hardly a `boom', but if you say something often enough maybe people will believe you. Latest figures show stagnation. In any case, a government strapped for cash can go out and spend $16 Billion on 65 first strike short range fighter planes at $140 million apiece plus service contracts. Just what we need in the second largest country in the world with no other capabilities to strike a match. Said fighters would have to be refuelled in the air and wait hours for bombers to come with the fuel.

Oh well, health care and poverty can just wait!

REFORM UNDER ATTACK

The Building Worker's summer edition was illustrating this old cartoon to demonstrate that the Tories are a class apart while campaigning that thing can only be better under a Labour Govt.

"As our economy begins to strenghten, Government revenues pick up. We are able to pay off the deficit. Most sensible economic advisers will tell you that this would be the best way to deal with the problem........"

So there you have it. The problems is solved, you just have to run faster to stay right where you are, or maybe you could give the idea of common ownership of the means of production a thought or two.

drugs

A new study has revealed Scotland has some of the worst drug abuse rates in the world, and the situation is getting worse. The international survey by the UN includes results from 200 countries, and shows greater per-head use of heroin, ecstasy and cocaine in this country than almost any other.Figures show that almost 4%of the population is regularly using the class A drug cocaine – the highest rate recorded anywhere. Around 1.5% of Scots adults inject or smoke opiates – almost three times the world average. It is estimated that there are now around 50,000 heroin and 750,000 cocaine users across Scotland.Another international study by the UN published in February this year found there were 656 drug offences per 100,000 people in Scotland. Second-placed Iran recorded 619 per 100,000. The figures, which compared drug-related crime, possession and abuse across more than 70 states, put Scotland’s drug crime rate at more than double that of England and Wales, and six times the worldwide average.

Only five nations – including Afghanistan, where the majority of heroin is cultivated – recorded higher levels of abuse than here. The others were Iran, Costa Rica, Russia and Mauritius. Scotland’s ecstasy problem is a third higher than in England and Wales. The nation also tops the European table for the highest level of drug-related deaths. The British Medical Journal in 2008, estimated that around 32% of excess mortality in Scotland was due to drug abuse, with drug users 12 times more likely to die than those in the general population.

The escapism of drugs has become a feature of so many lives. Whether it’s a joint at home, or ecstasy in a nightclub, many of us use drugs to unwind or enhance our experiences. However, heroin addiction is causing countless damaged lives. There’s often a fine line between using drugs for enjoyment and using drugs to escape the pressures of society. When drugs to numb the pain of the daily rat race become the norm, then society is in serious trouble. The dispossessed youth of the inner cities and sink council housing estates are right to think there is no hope within the present system, but wrong to sit back and wallow in its excesses. Socialists say that society can be better than this.

Overworked, underpaid — and relieved?

The shoddy economy is leaving many workers feeling overworked, underpaid — and yet relieved to be employed at all.

"Fewer workers are doing more and more," said Brett Good, a district president with staffing firm Robert Half, which has surveyed workers on this topic. "You've got a lot of people that are working harder, making less money — and you're getting to a point of frustration."

Employers have cut millions of jobs since the recession began in December 2007, driven by a drop in business and a desire to shore up costs and boost profits. Although the cost-cutting has helped propel a spate of strong earnings in recent weeks, pleasing Wall Street, it has left those who are still employed struggling to pick up the slack.

Fifty-six percent of Americans have taken on extra duties at work over the past two years because of staff cuts, according to insurer MetLife's Study of the American Dream, which was conducted in April and released last week.

Employees also are cramming more work into each day. Labor productivity has moved steadily higher over the past two years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Vote: Taking on more work in weak economy?

While many employees have been happy to assume extra duties in exchange for having a job at all, there are signs of growing frustration, or weariness.

More than one-third of college-educated professionals surveyed by Robert Half do not believe they have been fairly compensated for the extra work they have had to take on because of the weak economy.

That may be one reason up to 50 percent of workers say they plan to look for a new job once the economy improves, up from 25 to 35 percent in more prosperous times, said Good.

"Look around your office," Good said. "About half of those people are passive jobseekers."

Of course, some people may be eager to switch jobs for other reasons, such as because they were forced to take a pay cut or a position beneath their qualifications because of the weak job market.

Still, the fact that people say they want to find a new job doesn't mean they will actually do it, Good said.

For one thing, with the unemployment rate at a high 9.5 percent, there still aren't that many jobs out there. As of May there were about 4.7 jobseekers for every job opening, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Also, with the economic situation still fairly uncertain, many people may feel it is too risky to move to another company, where the situation could be even worse or they could end up being first in line for a layoff, Good said.

Building skills, fearing change
Robert Burgett, 39, is one of those who has been working harder for less money during the recession. Over the past several years the San Francisco-based graphic designer has been asked to take on more responsibilities, including coming up with marketing ideas and writing copy. Meanwhile, he's had a 20 percent pay cut, seen his health care costs rise and watched as about half of his colleagues have been let go.

In better economic times, that might have prompted him to look around for other opportunities. But in this economy, he worries that a new job would end up being even less secure than the one he has now. And after watching his partner and roommates all go through job losses this year, he doesn't feel like it would be worth risking what he has now.

Instead, Burgett has tried to see the recession as an opportunity for reinvention. By taking on more responsibilities, he believes he has a much broader wealth of expertise, which could help  if he does get laid off.

FRIENDLESS FIRE

"More American soldiers are dying at their own hands than in combat, an army report has concluded, blaming official negligence for a surge in suicide and self-destructive behaviour. The 300 page report was released as the US Army recorded the highest number of suicides in one month for more than 30 years. Thirty two soldiers committed suicide in June, more than one a day, a rate only just matched during the Vietnam War. ... While 160 active-duty personnel and 79 reservists committed suicide during 2009, a further 146 soldiers died from high-risk behaviour associated with combat stress, including drink-driving and drug overdoses. The number of deaths is higher than the total combat toll for the same period." (Times, 31 July) RD

BEHIND THE FINE WORDS

Recently in a show of strength the USA and South Korea mounted an exercise in and around the Sea of Japan. It consisted of 20 ships, 200 aircraft and 8,000 military personnel and was supposedly a response to the sinking of a South Korean vessel by North Korea. Like all such military displays of power it was accompanied by fine words. They were "protecting the democratic South against the tyranny of the North". China, an ally of North Korea viewed it as "an intrusion into an area not far from Chinese territorial waters". It is much more likely that the correspondent Giles Whittell was much nearer the real economic truth behind the fine words when he reported

"The military display that may or may not have struck fear into the hermit dictatorship north of the 38th parallel has angered Beijing as it seeks to assert sovereignty over nearly 1.5 million square miles of the South China Sea, rich in oil and mineral deposits".

(Times, 28 July) RD

AN EXPENSIVE WANK

"Hugh Hefner's Playboy: 1953-1979 (Taschen), his 3,506-page, six-volume "illustrated autobiography", is distilled from this modest collection and mixes personal reflection with pictures of breasts culled from the magazine. It is printed in a limited edition of 1,500 copies, and is on sale for the princely sum of £900." (Guardian, 17 July) RD

HALF A MILLION HOMELESS

"More than 500,000 people will be added to social housing waiting lists and nearly 300,000 jobs will go under proposals to cut the housing budget by up to 40 per cent, say campaigners. The National Housing Federation says ministers risk "shutting the door on an entire generation of low-income families" by cutting cash for affordable homes." (Times, 26 July) RD