The stories behind the stats
18.03.09 - Helen Symons
“I was once made redundant and I found it the most traumatic experience. The aim of a redundancy is that trade unions and government must work together to lessen the impact of any loss of work.”
That was one of the many messages that our supporters sent us last week, to back up our campaign for making redundancy pay fairer.
Just this morning, we heard the news we'd been expecting for a while - a rise in unemployment to over 2million.
It's easy to get caught up in statistics though - and easy to forget that behind the figures there are real people whose lives are being turned upside down. And not just those who have lost their jobs - as Paul Kenny, the Vice-Chair of TULO and General Secretary of the GMB has said, “as well as the misery for the two million on the dole add the fear of millions of others who know that they too are at risk of redundancy.”
And the Labour government also understands the importance of remembering the stories behind the statistics. Just today, Tony McNulty, the employment minister has said: “these latest figures show the human impact of the global recession. No matter how hard times get, we will not give up on anyone who loses their job and will continue to provide real help to everyone who needs it.”
Unions have been campaigning hard over recent weeks for a fairer deal on redundancy pay, to make life that bit easier for those losing their jobs. Just last Friday, we saw dozens of Labour MPs turn out to support Lindsay Hoyle's bill in the House of Commons.
Thousands of people got in touch with their MPs, and hundreds got in touch with us to tell us their story about why redundancy pay should be fairer. The strength of feeling is clear - and now we hope the government listen and act in the coming weeks.
These are some more of your stories:
“It is important at any time but with the current recession it is vital that workers get a decent redundancy settlement.”
“I'm living in Oxford East and there have been a large amount of job losses announced. I only think it fair that they are given a decent redundancy package.”
“For a Labour government, fairness is everything.”
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