The closure of the huge Bosch automotive parts factory at Miskin is yet another kick in the goolies to the Welsh economy and both the Senedd and Westminster seem powerless to prevent such tragedies or to alleviate suffering afterwards. Re-training schemes are all very well, but people have few alternatives in times of recession bordering on Depression.
When it was set up in 1991, the multi-national company Bosch was given a massive grant of £21 million by the Welsh Development Agency towards that plant. Like many private industries it was lured by public finance ( our money, in other words) to locate in an area of then cheap labour. Will Bosch now pay back every penny of that grant to the Welsh people or, at least, use all of it to compensate workers who've lost their livelihood? Like Hoover in Merthyr, Bosch will move elsewhere ( in their case, Hungary) where labour costs are 65% cheaper.
This is the harsh reality of capitalism and until we actually replace it with a completely different society based on equality, justice and full democracy, this scenario of boom and bust will continue. Already, it echoes the 1980's and the dark days of Thatcher when unemployment was used as a weapon to keep wages down and virtually destroy the Unions. After the election ,whichever party is elected , we will see an onslaught on public services which will make even Thatcher seem liberal-minded.
Merthyr Tudful has barely enjoyed the boomtime at all and here, as elsewhere, unemployment is inextricably connected to drug-taking, crime and prostitution. People of all ages are being seriously affected and Merthyr has one of the highest rates in the whole of the DK ( Disunited Kingdom ), especially with the 'hidden unemployment' of incapacity benefits taken into account.
Long-term solutions must be on many different levels. We need to create a society based on producing sustainable goods, not serving the greed of property ownership. Above all, we need a banking and industrial system based on co-operatives and nationalised utilities and transport links ( i.e. both rail and bus). The mistake in the past was to run nationalised industries like private enterprises : decisions should be made from below upwards, with managers elected from the shop floor in a true democracy.
The Senedd must devise a plan to alter the whole nature of our economy in the coming years, instead of tinkering with a system which is bound to fail. Credit Unions should be linked to a plethora of local co-ops ( industries, shops and pubs ), with the knowledge that all investments would go to help these, while any profits from them would be ploughed back into the Credit Unions to help those in financial difficulties. At the very least, the Senedd ( when it has power to do so) must declare a policy of nationalising water, energy and rail companies and running them to benefit the Welsh people . Only then, can we reap the rewards of water pumped to English cities, take control of alternative energy sources and ban opencast and plan a railway network which joins all parts of the country in a feasible and economic way.
Unemployment must be the number one priority of Senedd and Westminster . From Holyhead to Newport, Wales has suffered more than anywhere else in the DK. So many young people are leaving school with no hope of a job ; so many graduates are finding their qualifications do not guarantee employment and so many skilled workers are being flung onto the tip of redundancy and left to smoulder there.
A revolution is essential . A revolution of consciousness and awareness that capitalism cannot deliver and there are alternatives. It is not a matter of 'socialism in one country', but I do feel that Wales must find its own way, based on sharing and co-operation. We do not need models from the past, but we do need to draw on our history and the people of the 1831 Rising in Merthyr ,the Chartists and protesters of Rebecca , for inspiration for a future where ideals are the tracks and most people will get on as passengers.
EM'TIED LIVES
I done it all
f'r my famlee,
I worked all owers
an didn ardly see
my two little ones.
My missis workin on-a tills,
we paid f'r nursree.
It gutted me
t come ome late
an find em in bed orready.
I kissed theyer cheeks
an promised all-a olidays
we'd ave eventually.
It woz jest a letter,
I even joked t Debbie -
'If issa bill
put it where it b'longs.....
in-a bin!'
I couldn bleeve it,
on'y a coupla months
we adn paid up :
wha with the eatin,
food goin up ev'ry day,
scrimpin f'r value stuff ;
we don' even smoke,
go out on Sat'days down-a club.
All tha tv talk bout 'negative equity'
it me slap in-a face
like I'd bin mugged,
'repossession' a word
never thought I'd read
in a letter to us.
All-a thin's we'd done t the ouse
an I int even andy,
conservatory an a combi boiler.
Issa tidee area an all,
the kids cun play safely.
Don' know where we'll go.
My mam's is a small terrace.
She'd ave us tomorrow,
but Deb is so cut up
she stares inta distance
an lissens when I rant -
' Whassa fuckin point?
Why ave we bothered?
All ese yers working so ard?'
It's easy f them politicians
an them experts on-a telly,
sayin thin's ull turn agen,
sayin it's on'y tempree.
F'r us, it means ower lives
re em'tied, ower futures
stole like the bailiffs
come an took furniture away.
Wish now I adn toiled
my bollocks off doin overtime
an put the presen' first,
played with Shane an Faye,
read em stories till they slept.
An when Deb sayz
we'll afto start agen
I glare at er like she's crazee,
like she've learnt nothin.
When it was set up in 1991, the multi-national company Bosch was given a massive grant of £21 million by the Welsh Development Agency towards that plant. Like many private industries it was lured by public finance ( our money, in other words) to locate in an area of then cheap labour. Will Bosch now pay back every penny of that grant to the Welsh people or, at least, use all of it to compensate workers who've lost their livelihood? Like Hoover in Merthyr, Bosch will move elsewhere ( in their case, Hungary) where labour costs are 65% cheaper.
This is the harsh reality of capitalism and until we actually replace it with a completely different society based on equality, justice and full democracy, this scenario of boom and bust will continue. Already, it echoes the 1980's and the dark days of Thatcher when unemployment was used as a weapon to keep wages down and virtually destroy the Unions. After the election ,whichever party is elected , we will see an onslaught on public services which will make even Thatcher seem liberal-minded.
Merthyr Tudful has barely enjoyed the boomtime at all and here, as elsewhere, unemployment is inextricably connected to drug-taking, crime and prostitution. People of all ages are being seriously affected and Merthyr has one of the highest rates in the whole of the DK ( Disunited Kingdom ), especially with the 'hidden unemployment' of incapacity benefits taken into account.
Long-term solutions must be on many different levels. We need to create a society based on producing sustainable goods, not serving the greed of property ownership. Above all, we need a banking and industrial system based on co-operatives and nationalised utilities and transport links ( i.e. both rail and bus). The mistake in the past was to run nationalised industries like private enterprises : decisions should be made from below upwards, with managers elected from the shop floor in a true democracy.
The Senedd must devise a plan to alter the whole nature of our economy in the coming years, instead of tinkering with a system which is bound to fail. Credit Unions should be linked to a plethora of local co-ops ( industries, shops and pubs ), with the knowledge that all investments would go to help these, while any profits from them would be ploughed back into the Credit Unions to help those in financial difficulties. At the very least, the Senedd ( when it has power to do so) must declare a policy of nationalising water, energy and rail companies and running them to benefit the Welsh people . Only then, can we reap the rewards of water pumped to English cities, take control of alternative energy sources and ban opencast and plan a railway network which joins all parts of the country in a feasible and economic way.
Unemployment must be the number one priority of Senedd and Westminster . From Holyhead to Newport, Wales has suffered more than anywhere else in the DK. So many young people are leaving school with no hope of a job ; so many graduates are finding their qualifications do not guarantee employment and so many skilled workers are being flung onto the tip of redundancy and left to smoulder there.
A revolution is essential . A revolution of consciousness and awareness that capitalism cannot deliver and there are alternatives. It is not a matter of 'socialism in one country', but I do feel that Wales must find its own way, based on sharing and co-operation. We do not need models from the past, but we do need to draw on our history and the people of the 1831 Rising in Merthyr ,the Chartists and protesters of Rebecca , for inspiration for a future where ideals are the tracks and most people will get on as passengers.
EM'TIED LIVES
I done it all
f'r my famlee,
I worked all owers
an didn ardly see
my two little ones.
My missis workin on-a tills,
we paid f'r nursree.
It gutted me
t come ome late
an find em in bed orready.
I kissed theyer cheeks
an promised all-a olidays
we'd ave eventually.
It woz jest a letter,
I even joked t Debbie -
'If issa bill
put it where it b'longs.....
in-a bin!'
I couldn bleeve it,
on'y a coupla months
we adn paid up :
wha with the eatin,
food goin up ev'ry day,
scrimpin f'r value stuff ;
we don' even smoke,
go out on Sat'days down-a club.
All tha tv talk bout 'negative equity'
it me slap in-a face
like I'd bin mugged,
'repossession' a word
never thought I'd read
in a letter to us.
All-a thin's we'd done t the ouse
an I int even andy,
conservatory an a combi boiler.
Issa tidee area an all,
the kids cun play safely.
Don' know where we'll go.
My mam's is a small terrace.
She'd ave us tomorrow,
but Deb is so cut up
she stares inta distance
an lissens when I rant -
' Whassa fuckin point?
Why ave we bothered?
All ese yers working so ard?'
It's easy f them politicians
an them experts on-a telly,
sayin thin's ull turn agen,
sayin it's on'y tempree.
F'r us, it means ower lives
re em'tied, ower futures
stole like the bailiffs
come an took furniture away.
Wish now I adn toiled
my bollocks off doin overtime
an put the presen' first,
played with Shane an Faye,
read em stories till they slept.
An when Deb sayz
we'll afto start agen
I glare at er like she's crazee,
like she've learnt nothin.
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