Friday, 2 July 2010



TPA Bulletin 2nd July 2010

Trade Union Rich List

The big public sector trade unions are gearing up for a big fight to try and block necessary cuts in spending. Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the PCSU, has called for a “massive campaign of resistance” and Dave Prentis, General Secretary of Unison, has pledged “stiff resistance”. Just this week Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT, has called for a “sustained campaign of generalised strikes” to fight what he calls “fiscal fascism”.

These unions get generous support with taxpayers’ money. That includes direct grants like those made under the Union Modernisation Fund and also tacit support like the paid time off workers are given to work for the union. TPA Campaign Manager Emma Boon went on Radio 4’s Today Programme to criticise the law that mandates paid time for union work as one of our suggestions for laws the Government could scrap, you can read more and get involved in helping scrap bad laws here.

With the unions receiving generous taxpayer support and threatening to fight reforms that could help deliver value for money, the TPA has looked into the generous compensation their staff are receiving. Using an official source based on returns from the unions themselves, we have revealed that 38 trade union General Secretaries and Chief Executives received total remuneration of over £100,000 in 2008-09. That includes the heads of prominent public sector unions like Unite, Unison, the RMT, the Fire Brigades Union, the PCSU and the RMT. You can read the full report here.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:

"It is hypocritical for firebrand trade union leaders to be calling for strikes and higher taxes while they themselves live a life of well-paid luxury. It is small wonder that they aren't worried about the tax burden or the national debt when they are so well-off, but it is ordinary, over-stretched taxpayers who will suffer if they get their way. Their bluster should be ignored, and the Government should stop pouring taxpayers' money into union coffers, as they clearly have more than enough cash already."

The report has received widespread media coverage:
Sky News: Mark Wallace was interviewed about the Trade Union Rich List and highly paid quango bosses
GMTV: GMTV featured a detailed package on the TPA's Trade Union Rich List and quango bosses' pay
Daily Mail: Six-figure hypocrisy of the 40 union fat cats who earn at least four times more than the average worker
The Sun: Rich picketings for Union barons
The Sun: Sun Says: Pig brothers
The Sun: News in Briefs
The Sun: Matthew Elliott: My view
Daily Star: RICH BROTHERS; 38 union fat cats get more than £100k
Western Mail: Taxpayers’ group attacks ‘rich’ union leaders
Daily Express: The union fat cats on bumper pay deals
The Times: Whitehall names the 322 public servants who earn more than the Prime Minister
Guido Fawkes: Union Fat Cats Go Into Hiding
ConservativeHome: The TaxPayers' Alliance unmasks the 38 trade union bosses taking home more than £100,000 a year
Belfast Telegraph: UK union leaders rich list revealed
Newcastle Journal: Union pay days
Liverpool Daily Post: Union chiefs' pay revealed in rich list
Coventry Evening Telegraph: Trade union bosses 'rich list' revealed
BBC One Breakfast News reported on the Trade Union Rich List
BBC News Channel featured the TPA's Trade Union Rich List
BBC Radio 5 Live, TPA Research Director Matthew Sinclair attacked the hypocrisy of high paid trade union bosses at taxpayer supported trade unions
BBC Radio 2's news bulletins reported on the TPA's Trade Union Rich List
LBC: The TPA's Trade Union Rich List featured in the LBC morning news
BBC Radio 1: Newsbeat reported on the release of the Trade Union Rich List

The Trade Union Rich list also featured on 35 BBC local radio stations across the UK.

Hull and East Riding Branch making waves

Andrew Allison, the TPA’s Co-Ordinator in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire, is continuing to make waves along with other local supporters in protest at excessive and unreasonable spending at the East Riding Council. Last week, the branch held a protest outside the council’s offices against costly public sector pensions and the huge payoffs recently given to senior staff. The protest was covered on the BBC Politics Show (pictured, right), which you can watch here until Sunday 4th July.

If you would like to hold a protest in your local area, or you have got into the media to put across the TPA’s arguments, get in touch! The more people there are keeping up the pressure for value for money and lower taxes right across the country, the sooner we are going to succeed in our campaign.

Which laws do you think should be repealed?

On Thursday Nick Clegg launched his Freedom Bill. TPA Campaign Manager Emma Boon was interviewed on Today on BBC Radio 4 about which laws the TPA would like to see repealed.

We are calling on all our supporters to get involved and use this chance to get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy and reduce state intrusion into everyday life. If you’re stuck for ideas then you might find some inspiration in this blog post.

The website you need to visit to register your ideas is www.hmg.gov.uk/yourfreedom

We suggest that you first have a look and see what’s been suggested already, you can rate or comment on ideas other people have made. When you’re ready you can suggest which regulation you’d like to see done away with. This is an invaluable opportunity to stand up for taxpayers and roll back costly and overbearing legislation, and get it taken off the statue book altogether in some cases. The alternative to this would be a debate where only politicians get a real say. Use your voice and make yourself heard by contributing your ideas.

Ideas submitted in the online consultation process will be taken into account in the drafting of a Freedom Bill to be published this autumn. We’ve heard that the website has had some technical problems since its launch, it was very busy with 2,205 ideas, 7,419 comments and 18,000 votes on the launch day. We urge you to keep trying if you have problems, as the initial surge of traffic is bound to die down. This chance to have a law, or part of it, repealed is too good to miss.

Donate to the TPA

As a reader of this bulletin you will be aware of how hard our relatively small team works, to highlight the waste in government and to campaign for lower taxes. The TPA is entirely dependent on private donations and we’d like to remind you of how you can donate, if you would like to. Every little helps and every penny of your money contributes to the strength of our campaign.

To make payments fast and secure, we use Paypal to accept money, simply visit the dedicated page on our website and click the button to make a donation.

We keep in touch closely with our donors, providing them with up-to-date information on our campaign and inviting them to events. If you want to discuss a larger donation or do not wish to make a donation by credit card, please contact us and we will discuss how you can help the TPA.

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Posted by Britannia Radio at 19:31