Grangemouth woes…

We may well be faced with the gravest fuel crisis since 2000. Not only petrol and diesel – road fuels are threatened, of course  but also the wider risk of Gas and crude oil generally are at risk in the short to medium term.

 To the credit of the workers they are not really striking for themselves…rather future employees whose rights to pensions have been curtailed.

I believe the current  pension scheme at Grangemouth was/is non-contributory. from the employees standpoint. 

Whether or not this is correct I’m afraid the luxuries enjoyed by some groups of workers down the  years…perks within the press (print) oil, and other spheres sooner or later have to follow the likes of the National Dock Labour scheme into the annals of history.  Filed under the heading ‘False Dawn’   Referring to the chapter of British socio-economic history when it appeared workers were making  real progress’ Common sense and pessimism should have told us to know better.

 

The closure of that chapter was kicked off by a weak and indecisive James Callaghan, and honed into a precision cutting instrument by Margaret Thatcher….two subsequent decades have seen  a steady erosion of terms and conditions for very many people in this country. The minimum wage, intended to help, has merely served as a stilleto to the heart of the low-paid, as it’s become an aspirational benchmark for foreign workers who view it as a lure beyond avarices wilder dreams.

 

Workers in the few remaining  cosseted pockets of industry must realise they’re on borrowed time. This is a much harsher world, and a much smaller world. Britain cannot compete with powerhouse economies like India and China if key industries are operating more like welfare societies.

 

I’m not proud to be writing such words…indeed there was a time I’d have railed against them. From railism to realism over half a painful lifetime. It’s just the way it is.

What needs to follow is a levelling of the playing field and a re-adjustment of the wealth gap in Britain. Boardroom deals rewarding failure, and huge bonuses , even in good years need to be seen to be fairer. I’m not holding my breath.

 Britain is in the middle of  a post industrial trough…battling to keep afloat with a huge expansion of service industries and financial firms as real manufacturing continues to decline in the face of cheap competition from abroad.

Everything is cyclical…even over centuries..I can foresee a time when this small island..teeming with people by the end of the 21st. century will be almost an irrelevance on the world stage…distant memories  from dusty books the only reminder of such luxuries as occupational pensions.

Viewing this glomy scenario from the lower section of the economic ladder I’m reminded of a 1940’s Labour electioneering poster.

The flat cap bedecked head just clear of the water…the bowler just above clinging on for his dear, comfortable life..and the fat bloated barrister/company director type at the top saying…’times are hard we’ll all have to step down one rung’…sums things up nicely for me.

Just where are the Labour party when you need them? Sucking up to the Chinese and the Indians…and feathering their own temporary nests.