Delegates at June’s Trades Council meeting heard of potential losses of local service in the fields of education and health.
Staff and students at the Witton campus of Myerscough College had been shocked and distressed to be told that the College had taken the decision to close the successful animal studies and horticulture specialism programmes delivered there for the past 20 years. The provision at Witton is highly valued by students and their families, and numerous people had come forward to sign a petition and provide testimonials to the fact that this loss would be particularly felt by those who have benefited from its special value in providing a safe and accessible environment for those with disabilities and mental health issues – enabling a level of engagement with work, education and training that they would not easily find elsewhere. The alternative offered – of travelling to a larger and busier campus at Garstang – would, for many, simply not work. Myerscough had not attempted any public consultation on this issue. Delegates wanted to urge the College and the Borough Council to work together to save the site, and it was agreed to support the staff Union UCU in its campaign to keep the campus open and, as a first step, to make representations to both College and Council on the matter.
It was also reported that steps were being taken to move a whole in-patient vascular services ward from RBH to Preston, with the aim being to start the transfer process in August. Apart from potentially breaking up an effective ward team, this would clearly also have an impact on the service provided, with patients being directed to Preston rather than having treatment in the local Hospital. We had raise the question of there being a public consultation with the Lancashire and Cumbria ICB, but had received something of a brush-off, with our letter being treated as a “complaint” and the Board giving itself until 25th July to come up with a response. Given that activity on the matter was already evident, this was seen a wholly inadequate and it was agreed to write to our MPs and others to try and secure a public consultation and due process.
Is it any wonder that people increasingly feel that those in authority do not care when we can loose services like these in such an apparently casual fashion?
UNISON members working as Domestics and Domestic Supervisors in health centres in East Lancashire are also fed up with being treated in an offhand and dismissive fashion. Handed over like chattels to the cleaning company MITIE, they now find themselves frequently at the wrong end of payroll errors that leave them short on levels of pay already such as to leave them struggling to make ends meet. They are also still awaiting the £1,655 COVID recovery payment, awarded to other health workers in 2023.
Yahoo Finance carried a report on 29th May from “Simply Wall Street” that said: “the Mitie Group plc (LON:MTO) share price has flown 183% in the last three years. How nice for those who held the stock! On top of that, the share price is up 36% in about a quarter”. This follows a report on “Investing.com” on 16th April that the company had posted “a strong fourth-quarter performance that exceeded revenue expectations, an upgrade to its fiscal 2025 EBITA guidance, and the announcement of a £125 million share buyback program”.
Share buy-backs are a form of shareholder payment, functionally identical to dividends but qualifying for more generous tax treatment as a capital transfer. By reducing the number of shares in circulation they can also drive up the price of the remaining shares. Win-Win!
According to “Simply Wall Street” “Mitie Group’s CEO Phil Bentley, appointed in Dec 2016, has a tenure of 8.42 years. total yearly compensation is £14.72M, comprised of 6.1% salary and 93.9% bonuses, including company stock and options. Directly owns 0.81% of the company’s shares, worth £15.52M”.
All this dosh swilling around yet when it comes to the nitty-gritty they can’t even deliver the basics. The UNISON members voted 95% in favour of Industrial Action with a 84% Turnout, and have resorted to a programme of strike action to try and secure redress.
Our June meeting finalised arrangements for our next “Film Night” event, a screening of the Platform Films documentary “Censoring Palestine” in the Hornby Lecture Theatre, Blackburn Library, at 7pm on Thursday 26th June – where we will also have a discussion with guest speaker Granville Williams, from the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (North). We decided also to invite Neelam Hussain from Blackburn4Palestine.
 | A Platform Films documentary: “Censoring Palestine” Eventbrite – Blackburn and District Trades Union Council presents A Platform Films documentary: “Censoring Palestine” – Thursday, June 26, 2025 at Blackburn with Darwen Central Library, Blackburn, England. Find event and ticket information. |
We also discussed running a local “Young Workers Survey” this Autumn.
There is a feeling that young workers are more likely to be in insecure work and low paid jobs. A TUC analysis is 2023 found:
The unemployment rate for under 25s was nearly three times higher than for all workers (12.3 per cent compared to 4.2 per cent), meaning that one in eight young people were without a job despite actively seeking work and being available to start work.
13 per cent of workers aged 16-24 were employed on a 0-hours contract, compared to 2.4 per cent of workers aged 25 and over. Despite only being 11 per cent of the total workforce, young workers made up 40 per cent of the 1.18 million workers employed on 0-hours.
Median hourly pay for 16 to 17-year-old employees was £8 per hour and £10.90 for 18 to 21-year-olds compared to £15.83 for all employees. Whilst lower hourly pay amongst young workers as they first enter the labour market might be expected, too many young people still earned below a living wage and were overrepresented in low paid occupations
In a 2024 cost-of-living survey by the USDAW retail union, members aged under 27 were more likely to have been late on rent or mortgage payments (30% compared with 21% among all ages); struggled to pay energy bills (65% as against 60%) and were more likely to want more hours of work (36% as against 21%)
Young workers clearly need to be in a union. But union membership in 2023 was just 5.2% in the 16-19 age range, 11.5% at 20-24, and 16% at 25-29.
We feel we need to try and find out why, and understand better how young workers locally feel about work and Trade Unions. A survey will be a bit of an experiment for us – but we won’t know if it will produce anything positive unless we try it.