Labour employees on ‘furlough’ because of the coronavirus crisis have received shock news from their employer this week: the party is putting them out of work before it incurs even the first phase of costs when Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s changes to the scheme kick in from the beginning of August.
From 1 August, employers have to pay National Insurance and tax contributions for furloughed workers, rising to 10% of their salary from 1 September and 20% in October.
A letter to furloughed employees, signed by the party’s HR director Joseph Perry, tells them that they are off furlough and out of a job after 1 August, because the party wants to avoid even the NI/tax cost. The letter does not say – and the party has so far not confirmed to the SKWAWKBOX – how many people are affected, but the wording of the letter suggests it is many or even all of those on furlough:
The Labour Party has decided to end the scheme for employees at this point given the costs associated to the Party. This will mean that your furlough period and your employment with the Labour Party will come to an end on 31st July 2020.
When Sunak announced his changes to the scheme last month, the SKWAWKBOX warned that they would result in people losing their jobs – but did not envisage that the Labour Party would be among the first to cast workers aside.
The Labour Party has been contacted for comment, but did not appear to have primed its own press operation for the planned job losses and so far there has been no response.
SKWAWKBOX view:
The furlough scheme was a huge triumph for the Labour movement over Tories whose first and last instinct is always to protect bosses and screw the workers. But for the Labour party to act like this now is an utter disgrace.
Labour party leader Keir Starmer and his new general secretary David Evans need to remember why the party was created in the first place.
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Let’s try another headline :
“Laughable ‘left’ Skwawkbox endorses Tory measures that will lead to massive job losses and wage cuts”
“Most Obsessed Conspiracy Theorist Cup Changes Hands After Three Years”
“Laughable ‘left’ Skwawkbox endorses Tory measures that will lead to massive job losses and wage cuts”
Fuck me…And I thought that whately one was dim…
Clearly more and more workers will be required as things progress back to normality.
I wonder which workers on which side of the political divide will get to keep their jobs…
Covid/furlough etc may be providing convenient cover for a nose-dive in Labour Party funding as a result of the exodus of members and the possible setting aside of contingencies to defend legal action from betrayed members. Without access to the accounts, one can’t be sure of course – but transparency is unlikely to be the current regime’s strong suit.
The loss of 59 seats and the subsequent reduction in ‘Short Money’ meant that some job losses were inevitable. If you want to blame anyone then blame those who switched their votes from Labour to Tory or abstained..
That’s nonsense. You can never blame the voters, that way lies oblivion at best. If you think the voters are wrong, we might as well all pack up and go home now. One can however blame the people that pissed and shat in their own tent, the secret services and their smoke and mirrors, Thatcher/Blair’s destruction of the education system and the trade unions, Cumming’s gangs of “data scientists” and the plutocratic mass media etc. etc. Blaming the people is about as low as you can get.
One can blame the voters because they’ve got to be imbeciles to think voting Tory is in their best interests – one just mustn’t blame them publicly. Oops.
He’s right, labre. If it looks like an imbecile, quacks like an imbecile and votes like an imbecile, it’s an imbecile. No misty-eyed working class hero shite can change that.
If you want to blame anyone then blame those who switched their votes from Labour to Tory or abstained..
In other words: ‘Just don’t blame me, my precious 70% or my beloved knight for alienating the public and reverting to worn out, identical to the tories (but at least the tories are openly tory) politics.’
Fucking lowlife.
To think that members of staff are losing their jobs because of its cost to the Party. But the Party still finds the money to pay for Ian McNicol’s defence.
Maria – As McNicol is being sued as a named individual in an action against the Labour Party for things that took place whilst McNicol was in office as GenSec then you’ll probably find that the party has a contractual obligation to do so.
Steve H,the Party has the option of seeking damages against McNicol and others of similar ilk, in the same way that any company can sue for compensation a former employee that has acted against the best interest of the company in favour of a third party or for his own benefit.
Can you imagine an Investment Bank paying for the legal costs of an inside trader for example, on the basis that when he engaged in inside trading was employed by the bank?. Please don’t be ridiculous.
Maria – I have little doubt that sooner or later all this will be revealed. We all may have a much better idea of what has gone on once the enquiry panel reports sometime next month. When the report comes out if any of the various prosecuting authority decides to take action then things may change considerably. Be patient.
What an absolute fecking travesty.
Party coffers are at the best for decades thanks to the Left revival. Now the cardboard cut out is at the helm of mass redundancy.
What will Starmegeddon do next to drag the party into the gutter.
Imagine if Corbyn were still in charge and doing this. It would be front page news of every rag in in the western world.
MBO – Because we lost 59 seats we also lost c£1,000,000pa Job cuts were inevitable, whoever was in charge.
That figure is punitive compared to the balance sheet. As for the rest of your comment- that’s just pathetic. Please keep your comments to yourself and don’t reply to mine in future. Thanks.
MBO – punitive doesn’t appear to make sense in this context. How much money does the Labour Party have in the bank?
😘
And WHY did they lose those seats, bollocks?
YOU wanted stammer, so YOU pay for him, instead of bemoaning your own fuck-ups.
This is on YOUR toes, so shut up and do something that’s gonna deliver you your stammerite government that just about nobody but your 70% are interested in.
The Toffee (597) 25/06/2020 at 9:26 am
“And WHY did they lose those seats, bollocks?”
Maybe it had something to do with only 30.6% of ‘low income voters voting Labour compared to the 45.6% who voted Tory.
What’s the best estimate for those leaving the LP since Corbyn was betrayed by the admin staff and some in the PLP? I’ve seen estimates from 30k to 300k.
Precisely JT: a Democratic Party should be transparent on membership and support. Activists and members have the right to know and monitor this data real-time.
Importantly, a bureaucratic entity that does not make this information available is inherently ‘managerial’ and a top-down command and control entity. The Corbyn Project existed to transform those aspects of the party and make us a members-led Movement
Start with Quislings and their masters
More do as I say, not do as I do. The party more than ever represents a rotten borough that likes things as they were in the good old days. How can a Labour MP stand up in Parliament and talk about viscous employment practices that BA are using and then treat Labour Party employees this way? It goes to the heart of Labour members feeling disenfranchised with the party, maybe not 300K members leaving but it must be tens of thousands. It’ll be interesting to see how the ongoing court case pans out? Could we actually see prosecutions if the case goes against the party? I feel at this moment the party is in free fall and Starmer is part of the problem, he isn’t the solution the centrists thought he was.
Christpher – We’ll just have to wait and see whether the NEC’s report on the the leaked dossier leads to any of the various prosecuting authorities instituting criminal prosecutions.
If it ever gets published. I think that the party having legal action taken against them can only be good in the long run. It will show who malcontents are within the party, we must deal with them in an appropriate legal manner.
Steve H, we already have an internal report, what do we need a internal report into the report? Shouldn’t the Party have consider sending the initial report for its investigation to outside agencies?
The way that the selection for the panel was handle doesn’t inspire my confidence. No a single Labour Peer appointed to it has legal expertise. Plus, what many appear no to realise is that Martin Forde QC will direct the enquiry towards what the client represented by Lord and Ladies wishes to see as a result, Martin Forde QC would be instructed by them and no the other way around. Martin Forde QC can advice the panel, but ultimately the tone of the enquiry would be determined by the client that is the Labour Party.
If Starmer truly wanted an independent internal enquiry, it would have been better to have an openly factional panel with all the Lords and Baronesses appointed to it, having legal training.
I would have had far more confident if in the panel consisted of: Baroness Ann Mallalieu QC (no left winger by any standards) Baroness Helena Kennedy QC and Lord Paul Boateng a Barrister with experience in race relations, for example, instead of the three different degrees of anti-Corbyn that have been appointed; none of them with an iota of legal training between them.
I hope Steve, you appreciate the problem here. If these people are expelled from the Party it would be thanks to the actions of Mark Howell. I believe without Mark telling the Party to Court these individuals wouldn’t have been suspended at all. Have the Party suspended these individuals in good time, I believe it could have avoided paying for their cost. I agree with you that we will have to wait and see.
Noted Steve H. Paid propaganda artist for the establishment knight clocked on again.Dont feed the Troll. .thats the only type of employees that safe under the Labour party.. Shame on you troll.!
🥱
The stock answer of the shithouse.
Can’t even defend yourself, can you stevey? Your (repeatedly warned-against) fuck-ups are now reality, and your only course of action (that only you consider to be a viable one) is to blame everyone but yourself.
And all the while you see nothing loathesome about your course of action and insist on continuing with it.
Only toerags and nonces do that. Which one are you?
You can just imagine a centrist being shown the leaked document and putting their hands over their eyes. I don’t like reality! Think sunny uplands with unicorns prancing around in the fields, yes, all is calm now. Whilst BAME members and MP’s are suffering racism within their own party! A centrist’s idea of diversity is to have an all white diversity panel, looking through their rose tinted glasses thinking about how Tarquin has to have a holiday at their holiday home in Tuscany before going back to boarding school. They’re all for being green and environmentally friendly as they drive all the way to Tuscany in gas guzzling Range Rover, then objecting to someone down the street wanting to install solar panels. They’re really keen on diversity but are against people marching about Black Lives Matter. They really don’t understand the rage of the people they’ve left behind in the Red Wall. Surely we can win with policies just a bit less severe than the Tories? After all we’ve got to be tough on those claiming benefits but I’ve got to make sure I claim every penny of my MP’s allowance, because I deserve it! After a year or so they’ll have the party to themselves but we’ve all moved on and they will reap what they have sown!
Christopher, I agree that this is how most of the PLP sees the average labour voter. Only that I don’t believe is going to work this time. For once, labour isn’t going to win seats in Scotland and without Scottish seats, labour cannot get to power.
Also, I am not going to get surprised if we carry on losing seats in the once Red Wall. What would people bother to go to the ballot box and vote Labour? In return for what?