The con-trick has been engineered by Recruitment Agencies, whereby the pay-rate they initially promised to their temp/contract worker is greatly reduced due to them using "Umbrella Pay Schemes" who are the middlemen, to pay their employees. Unfair pay Payslips are often confusing and the cost of employer's national insurance and processing of pay is then passed onto the temp/contractor by the "Umbrella Payment Scheme;" all because the Recruitment Agencies don't want to shoulder the burden of being the actual *'employer.' Many contractors/Temps are also being forced into becoming an unlimited company - this action isn't always practical for the temporary worker as many jobs may only be for few days. *THIS NEEDS TO STOP AS IT AFFECTS, NURSES, CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, TEMP OFFICE EMPLOYEES, THE LOW PAID and ALL OF THOSE WHO ARE JUST SURVIVING due to not enough permanent employment or the need to have flexible working hours Thank you kindly I hope to help not just myself, but others in a similar situation. I am employed by a Recruitment Agency and have been contracting via agencies for sometime; each week I am paid by an "Umbrella Pay Scheme" (Recruitment Agencies middleman). This scheme deducts their "margin" of £30.00 weekly from my pay along with *other deductions. Citation: - Under the umbrella company arrangement the burden of paying both workers’ and employers’ National Insurance contributions (NIC) reportedly fell on the workers, leaving some of them worse off by as much as £100 a week. - See more at: http://www.staffingindustry.com/eng/Research-Publications/Daily-News/Wales-Government-to-stop-use-of-umbrella-payroll-companies-on-all-future-construction-projects-32788#sthash.F7AMjyQs.dpuf

There's already a shortage of UK trained nurses and the withdrawal of bursaries and introduction of loans will be detrimental in recruiting people for training. It will lead to even greater crisis in health care provision.

It is important to the economy and confidence in Sierra Leone that British Airways reinstates flights to Sierra Leone. When the Ebola crisis hit Sierra Leone major airlines stopped flights. This led to the loss of thousands of jobs. It is now 10 days since Sierra Leone was declared Ebola free but British Airways have yet to re start flight http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/destinations/freetown/flights-to-freetown?clickpage=destinations-en--africa--index&kmtag=c&ban=||ACC|1|LNK15|||||CampID||||L2||||||| S/Leone in talks over London-Freetown flights Par KC/as/APACréé le 2015-11-23 16:22:17 The authorities in Sierra Leone are reportedly in talks for a new flight linking their capital Freetown and London as repeated requests for British Airways (BA) to resumes its services remain fruitless. BA first suspended its flights to Freetown on August 2014, claiming fears of a possible transmission of the Ebola virus. That followed reports of cases where the disease was reported in foreign countries through air travel. However, over two weeks after Sierra Leone was declared free of the virus, the airline is reluctant to resume flights to the country. The new flight in the pipeline, according to the pro-government Torchlight newspaper in Freetown, which on Monday criticized the British government over BA`s continued reluctance, will be provided by Kevin McPhilips Travels. About seven airlines subsequently suspended flights to Freetown during the peak of the epidemic, but almost all of them, with the exception of BA, have since resumed flying to Freetown. BA has been a major concern because it was the only one linking directly the two cities. “Sierra Leoneans felt abandoned by the former colonial masters when even an attempt by Gambia Bird Airlines to resume direct flights was met with stiff rejection from the British government,” the Torchlight said in its Monday editorial. The paper said if all goes as planned, the new airline is scheduled to commence flight between Lungi International Airport in Freetown and Gatwick in London in December. But, Tony Rogers, who in February 2015 worked at the British-built Kerry Town Ebola Treatment Center in Freetown, finds the suspension of the flights as an “unjust” attempt at isolating the country. Rogers therefore set up an online petition on the site 38 Degrees. “I understand that there has been an enormous economic impact of loss of tourism and commercial trade by the airlines such as British Airways. “I understand that some airlines have returned but British Airways remains sadly reticent regarding reinstating flights,” the UK nurse told APA in an emailed statement. KC/as/APA - APANEWS

On 12th November HMRC announced plans to close 160 offices across the UK and move to 13 regional centres which will put thousands of members jobs at risk. As part of that decision HMRC announced that Barbara Ritchie House in Livingston & Bathgate Contact Centre are to be closed by 2020 with staff wishing to remain in employment expected to travel to the Edinburgh regional centre. The Closure of Barbara Ritchie House and Bathgate Contact Centre by 2020 will result in approximately 1200 jobs being withdrawn from West Lothian which will have an impact on both the local economies and employment in the area. We believe HMRC's plans to close Barbara Ritchie House & Bathgate Contact Centre are completely unnecessary and based on a political agenda without giving consideration to staff or local communities.

We now know that all of the offices in Bootle and Netherton – The Triad, Litherland House, St John’s House and Comben House – are set to close by or before 2020. This means that around 3,000 staff face a move to Liverpool. This will result in job losses, as they are among around 6,000 staff facing the move to Liverpool in the North West while the new Regional Centre will only hold between 2,800 and 3,100 staff. It will also devastate the local economy, putting many businesses particularly along Stanley Road who rely on HMRC staff custom to survive at risk of closure. We believe the plans in their entirety represent the simplistic vision of a senior civil service who like the way things look on paper, and don’t care in the slightest how their organisational pipe dream impacts on people. The reality is these plans hurt, both members and the Bootle community as a whole.

We finally have the Firstsite we dreamed of, a jewel in our midst, a beating heart of creativity in Colchester. The Board of Trustees at Firstsite are largely an outsider group who are not in tune with the current feeling and support for the huge achievements of both Anthony Roberts and the staff in creating a jewel in Colchester's creative community. They are dismissive of the community in Colchester and are about to destroy all that has been created by Anthony and his team. Please don't let this happen.

In April of 2016 the government, on recommendation by The Centre for Research in Social Policy, intend to raise the National Living Wage to £7.20 p/h with the objective of increasing it to £9.00 p/h by 2020. As a worker earning a similar amount to the 2020 target I feel from both personal experience and by listening to the struggles faced by fellow workers that the term is a misnomer and would be much more accurately described as the 'Subsistence Wage'. Definition; The lowest wage a worker and their family can survive on.

A group of Firstsite staff are leading a campaign to change the proposed staff restructure at the gallery, to enable the continuation of the positive changes that have begun to take place. We are calling for this rethink so we can protect jobs for people, particularly local people, instead of relying on volunteers to make up the majority of the customer facing staff. The cutbacks to the current staff structure will adversely affect the visitor experience and have a negative impact on the diverse and interesting programme of events, particularly within the learning department and the engagement of children and young people, currently one of the strongest areas Firstsite has with engaging with the community. The restructure addresses necessary financial savings that need to be made, but the proposed changes will result in short term savings, rather than creating a sustainable organisation that can generate income going forward. This will also perpetuate an unequal working and earning structure within the organisation. These changes will increase pressure on the remaining staff, many of whom already work outside of their job requirements, whilst offering a more than generous wage for the Director of the gallery.

Without these safeguards and without a represented and respected workforce the NHS cannot give patients the care they deserve. Please sign this petition urging the Government to negotiate with the BMA and prevent a Junior Doctor strike.

Because all workers in the UK deserve the same workers rights! Prison Officers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland do no currently have the right to take strike action over legitimate disputes! The Scottish government have this week given back Scottish Prison Officers the right to take strike action, the same must be afforded to colleagues in the rest of the U.K.!

Having a job and earning a decent wage is a necessity if we as a society are going to address some of the biggest concerns facing our generation. Poverty has a devastating effect on families across Scotland and in-work poverty has no place in the 21st century. There is no excuse for low-pay, when time and time again it has been shown to be not only an ineffective means of employment, but also a hindrance on long-term sustainable economic growth. Low wages result in poorer services, higher staff turnover, increased absences from work and a lower quality of life for staff stuck in low pay. We have not only an opportunity, but a responsibility, to tackle poverty and eradicate the blight it puts on people’s lives once and for all. Addressing low pay will not put an end to hardship overnight, as it is only part of a much wider and more complex picture of social justice, but it is a start, and it should be our goal to achieve it.

Other countries are using this fund to support their steel industries. Here’s a giant pot of money into which Whitehall should dip its fingers. Please do. Jobs, communities and a vital industry should be supported.