General Election 2017: The Voice Of The Postal Worker

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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‘I worry how my kids will afford a home’

“WORKING in Royal Mail, the biggest thing at stake in the election is Labour’s pledge to renationalise it. Privatisation might seem like an abstract term, but we’ve seen the reality of what it means over the past three years.

We’ve had delivery offices closing, meaning customers have to go further afield to collect their parcels if they’re not in. We saw prices rocket in the run-up to the sale to boost the returns for shareholders.

We’ve seen our workload increasing beyond what many people can bear as cost cutting begins to bite. And, most obviously, Royal Mail is now telling staff it’s going to close our pension scheme.

At the same time as telling us it can’t keep its promises for our retirement, it’s paying out hundreds of millions of pounds each year to shareholders. So we know too well what the Tories’ agenda leads to.

CWU members in the Post Office have also been hammered. Job losses, branch closures and pension cuts have all hit front-line staff who’ve borne the brunt of government austerity. Elsewhere in the parcels market we’ve seen an explosion of employers relying on zero hours, bogus self-employment and poverty pay.

The Tories have made a mess of this industry like they’ve done with so many before. So renationalising Royal Mail, setting up a post bank at the Post Office and overhauling employment rights, as Labour is pledging to do, are massive things.

When it comes to politics, I also look at my family. Two of my children have been to university but have been left with huge debts from tuition fees and all the other costs students have to face.

I worry about how they’ll ever be able to pay this off — and I don’t want to see my two youngest children, who might one day want to get a degree themselves, put off of university because of this. So Labour’s pledge to scrap tuition fees is important.

I also worry about how they’ll ever be able to afford a home. Saving for a deposit is now such a huge burden, never mind actually getting a mortgage — and rents are so high that it’s close to impossible.

Sometimes you read the papers and this is presented as a problem that’s limited to London — this is Rochdale I’m talking about. So this is a national crisis and it’s time we had a government that’s prepared to tackle it.

Finally, there’s the NHS. The staff are world class, but need the resources. In Rochdale we’ve lost our A&E and you can see the pressure services are under.

After seven years of cuts it’s clearer that ever that you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS. So for all these reasons, we need change in this country, and I’ll be voting Labour on June 8.

[Lincox]

Pity this guy was not in the audience last night. Amber Rudd the stooge for the inconspicuous Theresa May would not have been able to give him/her an answer. The only thing she was interested in was Brexit and we must live within our means. What she meant was we will force the lower to middle earners in to hardship by cutting or terminating pension benefits, sick pay, holiday rights etc etc, whilst business men and women are reaping the rewards of tax avoidance. She said that the poorer off had been helped since 2010 by the increase in the personal allowance. Over 7 Years the threshold has gone up by approx £6000 giving low paid workers on average another £700 a year of spendable income. This is approx £15 per week. At the same time high earners have benefited to the tune of approx £2000 per year from the same scheme which is approx £40 per week.

Then we see how these same business people can defray tax yet again. Lets take a company director of a relatively small business earning £80,000 per year. He can pay himself a wage up to the National Insurance Threshold, thus paying no NI and then pay the rest in dividends from company profits. The dividends do not attract National Insurance and therefore he has managed to cut his tax bill by another few thousand a year. He then employs his wife/family in jobs that they never have or wish to work in, and pays them a wage up to the National Insurance Threshold/Personal Allowance Threshold. This means he can reduce the profits of the company because these wages become part of company expenditure. Lower profits mean lower corporation tax bills.
These are just a few of the well known tax dodges and I guess there are many more as Theresa May's husband will well know being a tax avoidance specialist.
How she and Amber Rudd can even spit the words out, Live within our means' when they are doing nothing to narrow the gap between the Haves and Have Nots. and allowing the rich, famous and corporations to avoid paying their fair taxes in to the honey pot. If this tax was paid , the deficit could be wiped out in one year and the national debt reduced within one or two parliaments.

[k979aaa]

Am afraid it is endemic in the conservative party you watch your back as I watch mine all tax fiddlers under one roof the very thought of society is frowned upon as Margret Thatcher once said their is no such thing as society! But mark my words their is just look over a week ago with the Manchester bombing people from all parts of the country were affected and will unite in the adversity we all have faced and will continue to face in the years to come!

[Tman]

And as a powerful antidote to all that, consider Diane Abbott, easily the most inept and certainly one of the most hypocritically corrupt people even to hold government office, and think how she could be holding one of the most powerful positions in parliament this time next week.
I can see how the naïve would be taken in by the old Fraud Jezza and his empty promises, but who on God's Earth would want this person anywhere near government?

[k979aaa]

And as a powerful antidote to all that, consider Diane Abbott, easily the most inept and certainly one of the most hypocritically corrupt people even to hold government office, and think how she could be holding one of the most powerful positions in parliament this time next week.
I can see how the naïve would be taken in by the old Fraud Jezza and his empty promises, but who on God's Earth would want this person anywhere near government?

Everyone could say the same with Boris Johnson Liam Fox and David Davis. As May with political subterfuge never got elected by anyone even her own party never voted for her stabbing people in the back is First nature as Gove and Johnson in time will tell!

[Tman]

Everyone could say the same with Boris Johnson Liam Fox and David Davis.

They could, but other than Johnson they other two are run-of-the-mill Tory politicians while Johnson plays the tory buffoon for all he's worth.

Abbott meanwhile really is in a class of her own for sheer hypocrasy and general two-faced uselessness....

Would you really want someone like her as Home Secretary saying (for instance) who can stay and who's to be deported?

{Of course you're going to say "yes I would" as to say "No" rather defeats you're own stated support, but given her past level of performance I wouldn't trust her with anything let alone the nation's security.}

[k979aaa]

Everyone could say the same with Boris Johnson Liam Fox and David Davis.

They could, but other than Johnson they other two are run-of-the-mill Tory politicians while Johnson plays the tory buffoon for all he's worth.

Abbott meanwhile really is in a class of her own for sheer hypocrasy and general two-faced uselessness....

Would you really want someone like her as Home Secretary saying (for instance) who can stay and who's to be deported?

{Of course you're going to say "yes I would" as to say "No" rather defeats you're own stated support, but given her past level of performance I wouldn't trust her with anything let alone the nation's security.}

Who is to say who will be in any position in a future labour government reshuffles happen but the very fact you are talking about it says volumes!

[Tman]

Whereas you talking about Johnson and co means something different then?

[baldrick]

I heard Diane Abbott speak at an election meeting on Tuesday and she came over well and got a lot of applause. I think the media likes to make her out to be incompetent because of their prejudice, she was the first black woman MP to be elected to Parliament, not an easy achievement for anyone.
But she was not in Corbyn's original Shadow Cabinet, or if she was she had a minor role. Andy Burnham was the Shadow Home Secretary until he stepped down to run as Mayor of Manchester.
Corbyn had a limited pool of MPs to appoint to positions because of the opposition of the majority of the PLP. If Labour wins a majority next Thursday he will have a far bigger choice.

[Tman]

.

I think the media likes to make her out to be incompetent because of their prejudice,

Yeah, that must be it. I expect they overlook her hypocrisy in sending her kid to a school out of reach of the average voter, her pronouncements on everything from IRA "victories" to the "British invented racism" and her all-round patronising but inept performances and just see some one black and there to be demeaned.
That must be it, after all the media is all white prejudiced males laughing at the fat woman.
You diminish victims of racism and prejudice when you use it to callously and falsely defend the utterly inept.
Shameful.

[Chimps_tea_party]

How's the wonderful Health Secretary, or is it Minister Without Portfolio, Jeremy Hunt, nowadays?

[baldrick]

How's the wonderful Health Secretary, or is it Minister Without Portfolio, Jeremy Hunt, nowadays?

The Conservatives are keeping him hidden during the election campaign. Most of the Conservative leadership, including May. seem to be avoiding scrutiny by not doing debates or media interviews, unlike Labour who are putting their policies across, appearing on tv and radio.

[Lincox]

Tman, Diane Abbott may have a few foibles that may be distasteful to some, and without doubt you. On the other hand you do not seem to have any doubts about electing another Tory government for the next five years, or could it be one year, two years, three or even four.
Let us look at the Tory record since they took power in 2010.

In April 2010 prior to the election, growth in the economy was in excess of 2%. Yes growth during a Labour government who had to endure a massive down turn following the 2008 crash. Within a few months, Cameron's government had turned that growth in to another recession which lasted several years before growth was seen again. Growth during the seven years has never been greater than the growth in the economy that was present when the Tory's took over.

National Health.
During the labour years, many hospitals and local health centres had to be modernised and new ones built due to the total lack of investment during the Thatcher years. Waiting lists brought down. The Tories in seven years have shut down whole A&E departments, thousands of wards and beds and the waiting lists have now gone back and beyond the Thatcher years. The threat of strike action by Junior Doctors, Nurses, Ancillary workers looms over this service because the Tories want this to be profit making. Another capitalist dream that means staff are forced to work harder whilst their pay and terms are downgraded, in order to boost the bank accounts of private business.

Education
The building of new schools and Academies in the latter years of the labour government and plans for the next few years had they been reelected were instantly thrown on the back burner by the incoming education secretary. Only those in actual build were allowed to be completed. We are now seeing thousands of school teachers leaving and classrooms sizes set to soar because teachers are not being allowed to teach and their wages have been frozen at a level below inflation.
Students saw their costs of education rise from £3000 per year to £9000 per year, leaving many with debts in excess of £30,000 after graduation. A great start for them as they start their working lives and support the economy.

Brexit (The main reason the Tories wrestled power in 2010)
You could say that for many people the result of Brexit is seen as a great success. But Theresa May a confirmed in Europe supporter is using the result of Brexit to gain support for her reelection, and she is passing over the 48% that voted to stay in, together with the countries of Scotland, Northern Island who overwhelmingly voted to stay in. How can a Theresa May a supporter of in Europe let all of these people down for her own position. Could power crazy be the answer.

Is she the best negotiator for Brexit.
In one year we have seen her turn decisions made by her government.
Tax on the self employed. Turned her Chancellors budget.
Her own manifesto in respect of Social Welfare funding
The calling of a general election, and overriding of the five year term parliament.
All this and more in less than a year of being Prime Minister.
She is weak, not strong and the EU will have seen this.

I could go on, but if this is what you want for the next five years, where she will decimate workers rights, pensions and benefits, then you deserve what you get.

[Tman]

I suppose we all "deserve what we get" with our politicians, but your long post somehow pre-supposes that an incoming Labour government (led by Corbyn) will be willing able and efficient enough to do the things you hope for, keep their election pledges. and achieve it's alleged socialist aims, but that's the whole point.....Corbyn, Abbott, etc are inept. Corbyn still uses the failed logic of a 1970s student Marxist yearbook as his guide but sadly for him the world has moved on.
Worse (for him) is that he doesn't carry any weight with the money, the big business or the movers and shakers.
Were he to be elected his votes would come from the young, the ever-decreasing union vote,the dreamers and those who believe someone when he says he can magic up a million new "worthwhile" jobs out of nothing, or a Shadow Home Sec to whom simple mental arithmetic is a foreign language.
When a poll gives an increase in Corbyn's share of the vote see the markets quiver at the thought. Business doesn't like incompetents (or the thought of incompetents) at the helm.
In this difficult era we're now entering (Brexit) the Tories will be the lesser of two evils.
You may like to believe life would be rosy under Corbyn but all I can see is years of turmoil; the idiot can't even co-operate with his own party members let alone all the organisations he'll need behind him etc.
He'll be the fall guy for each and every misfortune in the coming years, (even the ones he had no hand in).

[Lincox]

Good luck to another five years of austerity, five years of increasing national debt. Do not forget that much of the decrease in the annual deficit was paid for from the transfer of funds from the Royal Mail Pension Scheme after privatisation. That money is no longer available and one of the reasons why Tory borrowing has rapidly increased in the latter years of the Cameron/Osborne regime. You state that Corbyn has no support from the party members. I would remind you that an ever increasing membership of the labour party (now over 5000 members) have now voted Corbyn in twice. The people that have not supported him are a section of the Parliamentary Labour MPs. Similarly Cameron had the same duals with the far right anti europe members of the Tory Parliamentary Party.
I would rather vote for a man of conviction, who does not change his mind at the drop of a hat, and wants this rich country (5th richest in the world) to become a state that takes care of all of it's people rather than fill the pockets of those who have the wealth already to take care of themselves.