Greater Manchester Respect

Workers at Pilkington Ceramic Tiles in Swinton, Salford, have voted to hold a demonstration at the factory on Monday 28 June 2010 at 9am. The firm went into administration last week after existing since 1892 and announced new investment at the factory of £500,000 only last year. This was to develop new production lines and manufacturing equipment.

Instead, the directors have opted to throw the workforce to the lions. KPMG, the administrator, has decided to lay off 204 staff out of the 343 employed at the factory. It wants to sell the company to the highest bidder or let it be stripped of its profitable parts. Not one worker will receive redundancy payments even though families work at the plant and some have given forty years of service.
Salford is already under severe pressure with large scale job cuts threatened at the council. Labour’s thirteen years of government has not saved one of these jobs. Instead, Labour introduced the very loophole that allows the administrator to lay off staff without even a handshake. This is a disgrace and a shameful episode.

KPMG, the administrator, will demand fees and salaries for its staff that conduct the break-up of Pilkington Tiles. Last week, it was reported that KPMG had clocked up £8.6 million in fees when appointed to take over running Aero Inventory UK, an airline parts manufacturer. It became administrator in November 2009 and has offered those owed money 1.1p for every £1 owed while clocking up its own fees. In 2008, it was administrator of Courts furniture stores and was forced to defend its fees in court after charging over £23 million in three years. This included partners charging £600 per hour and even work experience staff at £17 per hour.

This is the world of the market economy magnified large for us, a world where the rich will walk away richer while discarding the poor without even a job to show for their commitment. The growing crisis of job losses and unemployment in Britain is mirrored by the growing wealth and profit at the top of society.

The Respect Party fully supports the Pilkington Ceramic Tiles workers who have voted to demonstrate. A minority are members of a trade union, UNITE, and we urge the rest to join the union immediately. We are faced with a situation in which there is no alternative but to campaign to save jobs. Resistance is all that we can do to hold our lives together and give our families and children a chance of some future. Respect offers its support, urges people to attend the demonstration and show support and will actively campaign with the workforce to build support for saving these jobs in every area.

The ConDem government claims to be ‘progressive’. It is nothing of the kind. Led by no less than three public school boys in Cameron, Clegg and Osborne, this is rule by bankers and the rich in the interests of bankers and the rich. Gideon Osborne, the 18th baronet of Ballentaylor (old Anglo-Irish aristocracy), has unveiled an ‘emergency budget’ that strangles the poor while delivering handouts to the rich.

Sympathetic
This budget is sprinkled with minor measures that seem to help the poorest. State pensions are to be linked to earnings or rise by 2.5%. This is welcome but goes nowhere near addressing the poverty that pensioners are in after more than 20 years of pensions getting smaller. Those earning under £7,475 per year will now be exempt from income tax.

The only way that these can be considered ‘progressive’ is by reference to the appalling record of New Labour in tackling poverty while in government.

"The massacre on the Mavi Marmara must be a turning point. Passengers from 32 countries were murderously attacked by the israeli forces.

"This is the Sharpeville and the Soweto of the movement for Palestinian solidarity.

"People of those countries around the world must now tell their governments that we are not prepared to continue to allow Israel to flout international law. The inhuman siege of Gaza must end now!

"The Israeli government has used terror for political ends. But we are not afraid.

"We who survived the Mavi Marmara massacre will redouble our efforts to bring humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine and end this siege!"

Kevin Ovenden was on board the Gaza flotilla ship Mavi Mamara during the Israeli assault. He has organised three aid convoys to Gaza with Viva Palestina and is  a member of the Respect Party's National Council. Kevin confirms that he, Nicola Enchmarch and Nader Daher are all safe and well.

The Respect Party is calling on the British government to act urgently to secure the release of 28 British nationals who are confirmed missing after the Israeli assault on the Gaza aid flotilla. These were members and supporters of Viva Palestina, the Free Gaza movement and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. So far, the Foreign Office has failed to reply to urgent requests for information regarding the fate of these heroic volunteers.

All were aboard ships taking 10,000 tonnes of construction materials and human assistance to Gaza in defiance of the illegal and inhumane Israeli blockade. The flotilla was attacked in international waters and so far 19 aid volunteers are known to have died. This was an act of piracy and murder.

All five ships were boarded, commandeered and towed to Ashdod port in Israel . The aid was confiscated and all the aid volunteers were arrested. The Israeli government has failed to release any information on their whereabouts or health so they are missing at this time. The full list of those who we know are missing is below.

Among them is Kevin Ovenden, the international coordinator and leading force in the creation and development of Viva Palestina. He has led three aid convoys to break the siege of Gaza since March 2009 and is the epitome of tireless heroism and sacrifice in support of Palestine .

Kevin is a hugely influential and cherished comrade in the Respect Party. He is a member of the Executive Committee, the National Council and a leading figure in Tower Hamlets Respect. He led the Viva Palestina group that joined the Gaza aid flotilla this week and carries the pride and passion of our entire party and movement with dignity and intelligence in this daring mission.