Unite Viewpoint

Watching TV is difficult when you are on holiday! Last week in sunny Cyprus I could only snatch chances to watch the BBC world news or Sky News either in the morning or early evening to catch up with the unfolding global financial crisis as bank by bank went into freefall and had to be rescued. There have been countless pundits expressing their views on what it all means and where will it lead us – the best so far has been Paul Mason and Michael Crick on Newsnight notably last night. (Friday). Mason’s BBC blog is a mine of information and updated daily at present. Derek Simpson, joint GS of Unite, welcomed Gordon Brown’s intervention but warned that” "The union is demanding that this financial support is tied to clear commitments to secure vital jobs in the financial services sector. The Government finance must serve to make the industry more transparent and accountable." Derek went onto say it was not acceptable for the Government to continue to capitalise the rewards in the finance industry and said measures should be extended to include undertakings by the banks of no job losses, no repossessions of homes and no rewards for "failure". He added: "It is imperative that the financial measures announced today mark the turning point in the world of banking and finance. Workers in the financial services industry are not the culprits of the credit crunch and we are not prepared to allow them to become the victims." Dead right. I think Gordon Brown has done as much as possible to “steady the ship” but to little avail at present – and like many – I wonder when “the day of reckoning” will come (if at all!) for the people who got us here. I don’t think many people believe or are fooled either by the Cameron/Osbourne line of the “no big bonuses anymore” and “heads must roll” sound bites. Their mates in the City know that this is all bluster. Also Osbourne using the phrase ‘Casino Capitalism’ was interesting – it was a phrase used earlier this year in the Morning Star (and I think by myself in Print Week) when the debate was raging about Private Equity. Don’t recall him using the phrase back then or calling for an end to big bonuses! The big worry is the effect on jobs, on our members and their families. In manufacturing and in print and media there is no doubt that there will be an effect in investment and on companies seeking loans for new kit or to tide them over the current crisis. Pagination in magazines is already dropping as publishers cut back on adverts, direct mail and new launches. Some companies who have been in difficulty some time before the current crisis could possibly go under – it was sad for me to learn yesterday of the situation at a company I know well, Buckley & Blands in Stockport (now called TPS) – it has been there forever! Everyone seems to agree that much tighter regulation is essential and is going to happen – it can’t come quick enough for me. And yet the TV is still has pundits and City based Hooray Henry’s saying that the market cannot be regulated and what is needed is a “light touch”. Over the last few weeks we have all learned a lot about what has been going on and where a "light touch" has got us - short selling: toxic debt; self cert mortgages; buy to let mortgages: bets made on falling shares that have sunk decent companies, share swops and other get rich quick schemes which appear to be nothing but pyramid selling, run by people who have already costs thousands of working families their jobs through sheer greed and an unregulated market. Nye Bevan’s phrase of “organized spivery” springs to mind. Many of these schemes would not be out of place on BBC 3’s The Real Hustle! Roll on the day of reckoning in both the UK and the USA.