No Silver Bullet: Doing more to support our lower paid workers

 Cllr Karen Rowling, speech to Council, June 2015

"I am very pleased to see this report come to council and to see the work that is being carried out across the Leeds City region and here at Kirklees council to tackle the issue of low pay.

"This report lays out some very good recommendations on how to work with employers and drive up work and pay conditions. This work alone though is not enough, and we must push for more to be done at a government level to tackle this growing issue.

"Before the election, David Cameron told everyone he was on the side of working people and now, less than 2 months on, he is discussing cutting the in work benefits of our lowest earners. The same people he promised to protect.

"There is an argument that people shouldn’t be reliant on in work benefits such as child and working tax credits but the reality is that in this age of low pay and zero hour contracts, it’s these benefits that ensure families and children are not living in severe poverty. Cameron says it makes no sense to tax these people and give it back in tax credits. What he fails to realise is that the majority of people claiming tax credits don’t earn enough to pay tax. Tax credits are given to the lowest paid in society whereas even the richest millionaires benefit from a rising basic rate tax threshold, so the lowest paid are losing money and the richest gain once more.

"What we really need to see is a commitment from the government to drive private sector businesses to pay the living wage in a way that mirrors the good work being carried out across the Leeds City Region and here at Kirklees Council. Sadly, there is absolutely no commitment from the Tories to do so. As the Child Poverty Action Group points out, the governments child poverty strategy last year didn’t even mention the living wage – until campaigners intervened.

"It’s reported that the four biggest supermarkets in the UK, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons alone are costing just under 1 billion pounds a year in tax credits and extra benefit payments. We are all, in effect, paying a huge sum of money so that companies can continue to underpay 22% of workers who are earning below the living wage. The only possible beneficiaries are the business owners, and so we continue the spiral of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer with the divide growing year on year.

"This report also talks about guarding against inappropriate use of zero hours contracts. This is definitely something that needs to be tackled and I welcome the commitment to ensure our own workforces and also our commissioned services are not using these exploitative contracts. Contracts that leave people living in fear from day to day as to whether they can pay the bills and feed their children from one week to the next.

"It is our duty to do everything possible to ensure that the people of Kirklees and across the Leeds City Region are paid a wage that allows them to live with dignity but it is also the duty of the opposition councillors in this chamber to lobby their government to stop this rising tide of low pay, tax credit cuts and zero hour contracts that have and continue to, push so many people in our borough into poverty."

 

Annual Report 2013-2014: Cllr Karen Rowling

I have had a very rewarding and enjoyable second year as a councillor for the Dewsbury West Ward.  The knowledge and experience I gained in my first year has enabled me to deal with a far greater range of issues to help individuals and community groups in my ward.

I have supported many community groups in the past year including attending all the Tenants and Residents Associations as well as other groups such as Ravensthorpe Residents Action Group, Friends of Westtown, Friends of Crow Nest Park and Dewsbury Moor Big Local Lottery Group. 

I am the chair of the Dewsbury West Neighbourhood Management Group and also of Dewsbury West Children’s Centre Advisory Board.  The Neighbourhood Management Group is a multi-agency group involving Police, Fire Service, Young People’s Services, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing and Environment Services, and is designed to share information to ensure we are taking a joined up approach to tackling all the major issues in the ward.  The Children’s Centre offers a wide variety of services for young people and families in Dewsbury West from nursery and day care services to parental skills training.

I also spend a large amount of time out in the ward carrying out street surgeries and speaking to residents to ensure that I am always aware of all the big issues affecting the lives of my constituents.  We hold a monthly surgery at St Paulinus Parochial Hall on the last Thursday of every month and I am always contactable by phone or text on 07778 927660 or email at Karen.Rowling@Kirklees.gov.uk.

Participation at Council Meetings:

I have attended every full council meeting since my election and in addition to this I sit on the following bodies:

Heavy Woollen Planning Committee

Dewsbury Area Committee

Scrutiny Committee – Development and Environment

Dewsbury Regeneration Board

I am also a Director of Kirklees Schools Services Ltd alongside Cllr Viv Kendrick

Training and Development:

I regularly attend Labour Group meetings to keep up to date on ever changing policy and procedures and I have also attended the following training sessions:

Planning Committee update

Safeguarding Children and Young Adults

The Future:

The council faces a difficult future due to very significant budget cuts and I am committed to working alongside my colleagues as we look at the implementation of these cuts and how best to protect the most vulnerable within Kirklees, and to continue to provide the first class service that the council has become recognised for. 

I have been appointed as Chair of the Wellbeing & Communities Scrutiny Panel for the year 2014 / 2015 and I am looking forward to taking up this role and dealing with the challenges and rewards it will bring.

Hospital campaigner accuses local Tories of "cheap political trick"

Image via Dewsbury Reporter

Dewsbury councillor and hospital campaigner Karen Rowling, has accused Kirklees Conservative Group of playing a "cheap political trick" over the issue of Dewsbury & District Hospital.

At yesterday's Full Council, the last before the May elections, Cllrs Robert Light (Conservative, Birstall & Birkinshaw) and Cllr David Hall (Conservative, Liversedge & Gomersal) tried to pass a motion supposedly against the huge downgrade proposed for Dewsbury Hospital.

But when an amendment in the name of hospital campaigner Cllr Karen Rowling (Labour, Dewsbury West) was put forward, Conservative leader Cllr Light and his Deputy, Cllr Hall, instructed their councillors to vote against it. The amended motion passed, with the amendment supported by every other group in the council.

Cllr Rowlng said: "It's a shame that these councillors convictions don't stretch far enough to criticise the disastrous polices that their own party are implementing nationally."

"In the wording of their motion Cllrs Light and Hall wanted to put all the blame on Trust management. It's true that the Trust has suffered from bad management, for a number of years. But to completely omit a mention of the disastrous affect that government policy is having on our NHS is disingenuous in the extreme. It's playing politics."

"My amendment made two modest changes; against mass privatisation of our NHS, and against Clause 119 of the Care Bill, which allows politicians in Westminster to shut hospitals without public consultation. Cllrs Light and Hall immediately instructed all of the Tory councillors to vote down the amendment."
"So can we conclude from this that every Tory councillor in Kirklees agrees with privatisation and is against public consultation?"

"Cllrs Light and Hall, and also Cllr Bolt, have all made noises in the last few weeks as though they are against the massive downgrade of our hospital. But yesterday we learnt that it's all talk. They have used the last Full Council before an election to cast themselves in a caring light, but the reality is there is no substance to what they say. It's a cheap political trick."

"I have been fighting these plans for over two years, alongside many colleagues on the council. I don't remember these three out on the campaign trail."

"The changes being proposed at Dewsbury put peoples lives at risk, and this is what the local Tory party are doing. Local people deserve much, much better."

 

Dewsbury Hospital - How can 33,000 local people be wrong?

Following the heavily flawed consultation process carried out by the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust last year the full picture relating to the downgrading of services at Dewsbury & District Hospital is now much clearer. The Trust has been tasked with presenting the horrific Tory cuts to our services with a positive spin. Here is their vision of a “vibrant” hospital at Dewsbury:

• Severely downgraded Accident & Emergency (40% less capacity) • Severely downgraded Maternity Unit (expectant mothers, if you need a Consultant then pack your bags and go to Pinderfields) • Complete closure of our Children’s Ward • Sell-off of numerous Hospital buildings • A 69% reduction in total beds

If the plans go ahead it will mean 250 out of 360 beds removed from our hospital by 2017, with Pinderfields’ bed numbers boosted by only 70 to cover the shortfall. This is a 69% cut in bed numbers at Dewsbury Hospital – these are the Trust’s figures, not ours.

Over the past two years your Labour team has been at the forefront of the battle to save our local services, with our Save Dewsbury Hospital campaign.

Kirklees Labour's Cllr Cathy Scott, a founder member of the campaign, said: “The true scale of the cuts has been hidden at every point in this shambolic consultation. Lengthy and expensive material was produced with no mention of this dramatic reduction to services. It’s quite clear the impact this will have on Dewsbury – it will cost lives.”

Last October, the Wakefield and Kirklees Joint Health Scrutiny Committee took the decision to refer the Trust’s plans to the Secretary of State, who will review the plans. The cross-party Committee said it was not convinced that the proposals were in the “best interests” of local people.

Remarkably, with almost 33,000 signatures on our petition to save services, Dewsbury’s part-time MP Simon Reevell openly supports the Trust’s plans. Sadly, Mr Reevell has put politics before people. He has even gone so far as to lobby the Health Secretary, asking him to impose the huge cuts to our hospital without hesitation.

Scrutiny Committee member Cllr Eric Firth said: “A judgement by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected in late March, we will keep local residents updated.”

Reports in the local media have revealed just a glimpse of the crisis that our local NHS services have been plunged into by the Tory government.

In December a local man asked a paramedic why an emergency ambulance had taken so long. The paramedic replied: “Why don’t you ask your MP?”

Cllr Karen Rowling said: “Our sources within the Trust and our Hospital all say the same thing; staff are being stretched to breaking point and morale is at rock bottom.”

In January a Freedom of Information request from your Labour team revealed that last year the Trust was forced to spend £2.3million on highly paid, temporary A&E locums, a 50% increase since 2010. This is symptomatic of a management crisis. This has been brought about by radical Tory re-organisations, arguably designed to lay the foundations for mass privatisation of our NHS.

Cathy said: “We all want to save money in public services, but this gross waste has been brought about by Tory cuts and bureaucratic meddling. The same work could be done by permanent staff at a fraction of the cost.”

The figures also show that our local A&E departments were the fifth busiest in the country in January. With waiting times rocketing up past FOUR HOURS David Cameron and his Dewsbury MP Simon Reevell still believe that Dewsbury Hospital should see a beds reduction of 69%.


Related Articles:
Cllr Simon Alvy: Campaigning to protect Dewsbury District Hospital
Dewsbury and District Hospital to lose 250 beds
Health bosses approve radical plans for Dewsbury and District Hospital



 

Yvette Cooper MP visits Dewsbury Moor

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP visited Dewsbury Moor last month to discuss crime and other local issues with Councillors Karen Rowling and Mumtaz Hussain and also Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate Paula Sherriff.

During the visit Yvette walked around the area with the Labour team, meeting with local residents and PCSOs to find out what the main concerns are in the area concerning crime and anti social behaviour.

Yvette and Paula also discussed what could be done to support victims of crime, an issue close to Paula’s heart given her experience in victim support. Yvette praised the work already been done to support victims in Dewsbury, but pledged much better support for victims of domestic abuse if Labour win the next General Election in 2015.