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date: 15 May 2009

embargo: 00.01hrs 16 May 2009

Tackling unemployment must be Government's number one priority, says TUC

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber will say today (Saturday) that the Unite March for Jobs sends a powerful message to Government that tackling unemployment must be its number one priority.

Addressing the march, Brendan Barber will warn that rising unemployment is a national emergency and that failure to stem the tide of job losses will cause misery to millions of people, prolong the recession and cause possible social unrest.

People will judge the Government on how it tackles unemployment, and although initiatives announced in the Budget were encouraging the Government needs to step up its efforts, Brendan Barber will say.

The March for Jobs follows another grim week for job losses, with BT and Legal and General announcing mass redundancies. Statistics showed that unemployment increased by 244,000 in the first three months of 2009 to reach 2.22 million - the fastest increase since 1981.

Manufacturing has been one of the worst affected sectors, with redundancies more than doubling in the first three months of 2009 to 67,000 (up from 29,000 in January-March 2008).

The West Midlands is the worst affected region in the UK, with unemployment rising twice as fast as the UK average. The region now has the highest unemployment rate in the UK at 9.3 per cent.

Addressing the March for Jobs Brendan Barber will say: 'Unemployment is rising relentlessly. It will pass the 2.5 million mark next month and could hit three million by the end of the year.

'Behind these statistics are millions of people struggling to pay their mortgages and support their families.

'Local people here today will know more than most the price of unemployment. The West Midlands - the manufacturing heartland of the UK - has been hit harder than anywhere else with nearly one in ten people without a job.

'Manufacturing, once the lifeblood of our economy, continues to suffer. Successive governments have hung it out to dry in favour of an unregulated financial services sector - and look what good that's done to our economy.

'What grates most is that ordinary working people are paying the price for the mistakes of an elite few - who have laid the system to waste and still walked away with their millions.

'Even as unemployment rises at its fastest rate for 30 years, some city players are already talking about recovery in the financial sector, as if the spectre of three million unemployed doesn't matter.

'My message today is clear. There is only one indicator of economic recovery that matters to you, me and the vast majority of people in this country, and that's when unemployment starts to fall and people can get back to work.

'Of course public finances need to be sound and we need to get our banking system back on track - although not back to the way things were.

'But let us be clear, no recovery will be possible while there are millions of people out of work. We saw the price of unemployment in the 1980s - communities devastated, industries destroyed and widespread social unrest. We cannot afford to go back to those days.

'The Government must do all it can stop the rising tide of job losses and get our economy back on track.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Unite the union is to bring thousands of people from across the country to Birmingham on Saturday 16 May to march in defence of their jobs. The march starts at 11am and will go from Highfield road to Centenary Square in the city centre.

- The March for Jobs will see workers from every sector of the economy stand together to send a message to the Government that protecting jobs must be the number one priority. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber will address the march. Visit http://action.unitetheunion.com

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (800 words) issued 16 May 2009