Quick Hustings Report

It were Braw!

The Candidates (L-R Edward Mountain, Robbie Rowantree, John Mackay and Rob Gibson) show their support for the campaign following a successful hustings.

The Hustings last night, chaired by PCS GEC member John Davidson, attracted an audience of 53, who put the four candidates for the Scottish Parliamentary constituency of Caithness, Sutherland & Ross on the spot over issues affecting members of the local community throughout their lives, from primary school classrooms to services for pensioners, along with a number of questions pertaining in particular to the jobs in HMRC Wick Office.

Regardless of party allegiance, each candidate pledged their support to the Wick Wants Work campaign in their introductory speech, and in the questioning that followed, each one was compelled by the audience to outline further what they would do for staff in the tax office, for Dounreay workers and for others in the constituency who face an uncertain future as a result of the coming blows to the local economy.

Despite some significant politcal differences, the hustings was good spirited, and the light, but strategically applied touch of the chair meant that in all eleven audience questions were put to the candidates, before audience members were invited to join  candidates and campaigners for a photo opportunity with the campaign banner.

The Wick Wants Work Campaign would like to extend grateful thanks to all who took part for making the event a success, and would be using this space to offer a major plug to the supplier of the PA system had your correspondent thought to ask!

STUC Congress 2011 report

Shortly before the 114th Annual Congress of the STUC was due to commence, the Wick Wants Work Campaign, which had planned to have a presence on the Fringe of the Conference, were contacted and invited to participate in the opening session of Congress as an "exemplary campaign uniting workers and communities", that dovetailed perfectly with the STUC's primary campaign of the moment, "There is a Better Way".


Greatly honoured by this invitation, the campaign gratefully accepted, and in a very well received contribution, your correspondent took advantage of the session to raise awareness amongst the 350+ key Trade Union Activists and Campaigners about the issues affecting Wick and Caithness.

As the week progressed, campaign volunteers Russell Sanderson and Ann Curran gave up their time to provide delegates with stickers and briefings, and an impromptu photo opportunity outside the Congress Hall saw next Year's President of the British TUC, Michael Leahy of Community, join Campaigners from across Scotland with the Wick Wants Work Banner (held proudly by Dave Alexander and John Deighan of Thurso & Wick Trades Council).

The third day of Congress saw an emergency motion on the Campaign, raised by the Public & Commercial Services Union, carried with the Unanimous support of Delegates, and givinga final boost to the campaign before Congress closed.

Throughout Congress, Campaigners in the Hall, and the volunteers staffing the Campaign stall, were constantly approached with messages of support from across Scotland, messages that mean a lot to those worried for their livelihoods in Wick and across Caithness, with Alex Salmond again voicing his support for the Campaign following his guest speech.

The STUC gave a shot in the arm to the campaign, and it is hoped that at the Scottish Parliamentary Hustings tomorrow night, the momentum gained can be used to exert pressure on candidates to commit to the Campaign!

Wick Wants Work Campaigners intend to Make Their Votes Count

Hot on the back of a very positive meeting with Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, Wick Wants Work Campaigners have made clear their intention to keep up the pressure on potential Scottish Parliamentarians, organising a Public Hustings for Candidates for the Scottish Parliamentary constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.

This "Question Time" style event, which will be held in Wick's Assembly Rooms,7-9pm on Tuesday 26th April, will allow Campaigners and community supporters the chance to put questions to candidates about what they will do to defend existing jobs in Caithness, and what they propose to bring further work to the area.

The event, which is open to all, will focus in particular on jobs and the future of the local economy, but questions on all topics are welcome, and can be notified in advance to Drummondpcs@aol.com

Questions on the night will also be accepted at the discretion of the Chair, and subject to timing constraints.

Commenting, local PCS Rep and Wick Wants Work Campaigner, Allan Tait, said "The Hustings on the 26th will give the people of Caithness the chance to grill candidates on what they will do to avoid further Highland Clearances.  The loss of work in Caithness is not just about a temporary drop in income, but about the loss of a future.  Action is required to turn things around, and on the 26th of April, candidates to represent us in the Scottish Parliament will be asked to commit to that action.  We extend an invitation to all concerned inhabitants of Caithness to get along and put the candidates on the spot."

Alex Salmond gets in on the act

Members of staff from the HMRC office in Wick which is scheduled to close within the next year took the opportunity to highlight their case to save the office with the visiting First Prime Minister Alex Salmond whilst he visited the town.

As part of the “Wick Wants Work” campaign, supported by their union the PCS, staff displayed their banner and handed out leaflets to members of the public in the town centre before discussing the campaign with Mr Salmond. PCS member Alison Swanson said “they were delighted that Mr Salmond took the time out of his busy schedule to speak with them. He was aware of the proposals to close the office and fully backed the efforts of the staff to persuade the Westminster Government to change this decision”. Mrs Swanson said that everyone in the office was extremely upset to hear just last week that HMRC were preparing to employ 1,000 new staff to cope with a backlog of work just days after they confirmed the decision to pull out of Wick.

Allan Tait, the PCS rep in the office said “the meetings with Mr Salmond and his fellow MSP Rob Gibson had been an ideal opportunity to highlight the folly of centralisation of Government work. Both the Westminster Government and the Scottish Parliament had a policy of moving out work from the Cities but the reality as far as the people of Caithness was concerned seemed to be somewhat different”. Mr Tait said “a lot of effort would be required to support the Caithness economy as employment at the Dounreay nuclear power station falls from its current level of 3,000 to a skeleton staff over the next 5 - 10 years as the plant is decommissioned. The Government has to play its part by not only maintaining the public sector work already in the area but expanding by using the available pool of talented people in the County. If this does not happen there will be no future for the young people in Caithness and we will be looking at a modern day Highland Clearances”

Despite the experience of the 20 staff in Wick, HMRC no longer see a future for the Office as it does not fit into their location strategy. The nearest remaining HMRC office to Wick is situated in the Highland capital of Inverness a two and a half hours drive away.

Mr Tait said the “Wick Wants Work” campaign had received considerable support from local politicians, agencies and the general public who cannot understand that at a time the government are desperate for money they are closing a low cost office that is capable of bringing in tax proceeds many times what it costs to run”.

Mr Tait confirmed the campaign would go on until the government and HMRC see sense and the staff are planning a visit to Inverness to lobby Danny Alexander MP who as Chief Secretary to the Treasury has considerable influence concerning decisions affecting HMRC”. There is also a hustings being arranged for prospective Scottish Parliament candidates in the Assembly rooms in Wick on Tuesday the 26^th of April at 6pm.

The closure of the Wick office would result in no HMRC presence North of Inverness apart from an enquiry centre open in Wick for only a few hours, one day a week.

About to kick off

The room is set up for this evening's workshop on campaigning skills, and it doesn't look too shabby.

Local MP, John Thurso, has been active again, grilling HMRC boss Leslie Strathie, who has offered to meet with him to discuss the concerns he has raised, and the local coverage of the campaign has been excellent.

Tonight should lead to more energy and confidence in the local campaigning work, and thanks to the hard work of Neil Bell, PCS learning project officer for the Highlands and Islands, who will be speaking about Skills for Life and the European Social Fund, refreshments are being provided!

Letters of support

Two hugely appreciated letters of support have arrived, the first of which came from the PCS Branch in East Kilbride, the second from Dundee:

To: Marjory Shane, Branch Secretary, Mark Chapman Branch Chair, Hamish Drummond, GEC & all colleagues in Wick

From: Alex Wilson, Branch Secretary, & Bob Farmer, Branch Chair, East Kilbride Revenue & Customs Branch

Date: 17/3/11

Subject: Wick Wants Work campaign

Marjory, Mark, Hamish, all,

I’m writing to you formally to express our support for the campaign to retain an HMRC presence in Wick.

As fellow PCS members we are only too well aware of the threat of closure to many offices in the HMRC estate and the massive impact such closures have on the members affected & local community. We understand the particular impact the closure of Wick would have given the lack of any other Government office in the area.

We believe this cut is unnecessary and avoidable, in fact given the HMRC NPS system which can send work to any network computer anywhere in the country we believe those working for HMRC in the area could easily be increased. We believe that only through increases in staffing can the billions of uncollected, evaded and legally avoided be properly addressed and believe the people of Wick can play an intrinsic role in addressing this tax gap.

If there is anything we, our Branch Committee or our members can do to support the campaign further please don’t hesitate to contact us,

Alex Wilson

PCS Branch Secretary 

Bob Farmer

PCS Branch Chairperson

East Kilbride Revenue Branch

The second, equally appreciated, came from Dundee Branch:

PCS Revenue & Customs Dundee Branch

HMRC Sidlaw House

4 Explorer Road

Dundee

DD2 1DX

23 March 2011

Dear Allan,

Please pass on to members and campaigners in Wick a message of solidarity and support from Dundee Branch.

The fight you have put up in recent years has been inspirational, and we wholeheartedly endorse the campaigning objectives of the Wick Wants Work Campaign.

Rural Scotland has been hit hard by the recession, and the loss of jobs in the Private Sector must not be compounded by the withdrawal of Public Sector work also.

As you fight for your livelihoods, know that we stand alongside you, and please let us know if there are any actions that we as a Branch can take in support of your Campaign.

Yours Fraternally,

Kenny Watson

PCS Acting Branch Secretary

A few short updates

Just a few wee updates - apologies for the lack of a coherent narrative to them, but just wanted to flag up a few points in a hurry!

Letters have been set to both Danny Alexander, MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and Jamie Stone, MSP, highlighting the plight of Wick staff and seeking their action to secure continuing employment on the closure of the Tax Gap in Wick.  When we get their responses, a further update will be posted.

The agenda for a training workshop to be held in Wick on the evening of  the 31st of March has now been completed, and the venue booked.  Please contact Neil Bell if you are interested in taking part.

A branch briefing has been issued to PCS Branches in Revenue & Customs, and within 24 hours, orders for 1400 extra stickers had been received from around the country, which is outstanding!

Finally, the Wick Wants Work! banner was again unfolded on Friday at a meeting of the PCS Scotland Committee, at which support for the campaign was unanimous.