A dumper truck drove over the right leg of Michael O’Donovan, 41, from Bromley, while he was kneeling to clean steel ‘shuttering’ used to form reinforced structures and pillars.

His injuries were so severe his leg required amputation above the knee. His pelvis was also fractured in the incident on 30 June 2005.

Principal contractor Sir Robert McAlpine Limited and sub-contractors McNicholas Plc (now Skanska Utilities Ltd) and Maylim Limited were all prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over the incident.

The City of London Magistrates’ Court heard the HSE investigation showed all three companies had failed to ensure vehicles and pedestrians were properly segregated on site.

It also found the cleaning of shuttering was neither properly planned nor carried out safely.

Following the hearing HSE inspector Loraine Charles said:

“Traffic needs to be managed effectively on all construction sites. Had proper controls been in place, this appalling incident would never have happened. As it is, Michael O’Donovan has suffered a severe injury and his life has been changed for ever.

“At construction sites, workers and vehicles need to be separated wherever reasonably practicable. There was no demarcation between the route the dumper took and areas where people could work or were working on this site.

“None of these three companies had carried out a meaningful assessment of the risk to workers of being struck by plant in general and the dumper in particular.”

Sir Robert McAlpine Limited, of Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974  and was fined £19,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

Sub-contractor Skanska Utilities Limited, of Denham Way, Maple Cross, Rickmansworth, admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £17,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

Maylim Limited, of Evans Avenue, Watford – sub-contracted by McNicholas Plc to undertake the work on the South Bridge area of the site – pleaded guilty to the same breach and was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

While the percentage of private sector workers in similar pension schemes to public servants has plummeted in recent years, the average for those still in ‘defined benefit’ schemes is almost the same as that in the public sector.

In 1997, 34% of private sector employees were in a defined benefit pension scheme – where pensions are linked to earnings; last year that figure was just 11%. For these, the average pension is GBP 5,860 a year, while the average public sector pension is GBP 5,600.

Over the same period, the proportion of private sector workers in any occupational scheme has fallen from 46% to 34%.

The figures are included in new research published today by unions that also shows that changing pension indexation from RPI to CPI in the private sector is estimated to save employers GBP 100 billion over the lifetime of existing schemes. This would be a direct transfer of wealth from employees to shareholders, the unions say.

Other facts in the new pamphlet, Fair Pensions for All – produced by the Public and Commercial Services union with the National Pensioners Convention, National Union of Teachers, University and College Union, and Unite – include:

• - It is only four years since public sector pensions were significantly renegotiated with the previous government in a deal that the National Audit Office reported in December 2010 was “on course to deliver savings and stabilise pension costs”, and will save GBP 67 billion for taxpayers.
• - Corporate profits have expanded from 13% of gross domestic product in the mid-1970s to 21% today. In the 1990s, corporate Britain saved itself GBP 18 billion through pension holidays, while employees continued to contribute. Private sector pension schemes received GBP 37.6 billion in tax reliefs in 2007/08 – that same year they paid out pensions worth only GBP 35 billion.
• - UK pensioner poverty is among the worst in Europe, with France spending over twice as much on pensions and Germany two-thirds more. In the last 30 years, our state pension has gone from being worth 25% of average male earnings to just 15%, now standing at GBP 102 a week, only 57% of the government’s official weekly pensioner poverty level of GBP 178. Meanwhile, the cost to taxpayers of means-tested pensioner benefits is estimated to be GBP 13 billion a year.

These figures completely undermine the government’s claim that cuts to public sector pensions are about ‘fairness’. While it’s true we all contribute towards public sector pensions, taxpayers are also subsidising private sector pensions twice: through tax relief; and in the over-reliance on means-tested benefits in retirement.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka (pictured) said: “This research blows a hole right through the government’s claim that its cuts are about fairness. Ministers used to talk about affordability, but we proved that wrong – now we’ve proved they’re wrong about what is fair.

“While ministers want to cut the pay and pensions of public servants, fewer and fewer companies are being fair to their staff. The truth is, we are the ones who are standing up for fair pensions for all.”

Kicking off the action, RMT London Taxi Branch will be holding a demonstration outside the headquarters of TFL Windsor house Victoria Street SW1 between 2-4pm on Wed 9 November to highlight complaints over the poor treatment, bad policies and contempt that the Taxi/private hire office have shown towards the RMT taxi branch and the trade in general.

Those complaints will be registered directly with the Mayor’s Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy.

Later in the day, RMT taxi members will be playing a leading role in a wider demonstration involving taxi drivers from other taxi organisations in Trafalgar Square at 4pm.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“From pedicabs to the abuse of ranks by minicabs and the whole fiasco of the Olympics lanes, the licensed taxi trade in London is under an unprecedented attack and that’s why RMT members in the industry are working for maximum unity to defend jobs, safety and the quality of service to the public.

“RMT will ensure that the future of the taxi trade in London is a major political issue in the run up to next year’s Mayoral election and Wednesday’s action will kick start that political campaign.”

In a speech to members of London Young Labour – party activists aged 27 and under, from London constituencies – on Sunday, Ken spoke about the ‘housing horror stories’ he has been regularly hearing  and asked for their help in gathering evidence on the rental experiences of young Londoners. He has committed to taking action on the persistent problems tenants in the private rented sector face, if elected as Mayor next May.

Ken is inviting Londoners to share their experiences of renting a home or room in London via his website (kenlivingstone.com/housing-horrors), on facebook (facebook.com/ken4london) or on twitter (using #housinghorrors).

Ken Livingstone said:

"I am determined to stand up for the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Londoners living in the private rented sector. Too many people are being hit by  high and rapidly rising rents, unfair fees, or accommodation which simply isn’t up to scratch.

Housing has become too much of a problem for too many people in London- and it has been exacerbated by the financial crisis and the chronic undersupply of homes in London.

People I meet all over London have been telling me their housing horror stories of rogue landlords, rip-off agencies and unsafe buildings, and I know that they are not alone. 

In the coming months I want to set out a plan to improve the private rented sector which will be shaped by the experiences of Londoners.

I’m urging people to get in touch and tell me about their housing experiences so that if elected I can take action to improve housing for all.”

RENTING IN LONDON – THE FACTS:

• 697,000 London households currently rent in the private sector – 23% of all households in London. This is a much higher proportion than England as a whole, where only 15.6% of homes privately rent (English Housing Survey 2009/10).
• The average private rent for a two bedroom home in London is £1,360 per month – that’s £16,320 per year. The most expensive borough to rent in is Kensington and Chelsea, where the average rent is £2,714 – £32,568 per year (Shelter Private Rent Watch: Analysis of local rent levels and affordability, October 2011).
• 26 of the 30 most expensive boroughs for private rents in the country are in London (Shelter Private Rent Watch: Analysis of local rent levels and affordability, October 2011).
• In 22 (69% of) London boroughs, private rents for a 2 bedroom home are over 50% of average take home pay, and they’re over 40% in the rest. In Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Camden, Islington, Brent and Hackney the average private rent for a two bedroom home is over 70% of average take home pay (Shelter Private Rent Watch: Analysis of local rent levels and affordability, October 2011).
• Even a 1 bedroom flat is beyond the reach of people in many parts of London. In 23 London boroughs, the average private rent for a 1 bedroom flat is over 40% of average take home pay. In Brent, Camden, Westminster, Hackney, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea and Tower Hamlets – it costs more than 50% of average take home pay to rent a 1 bed flat. (Shelter Private Rent Watch: Analysis of local rent levels and affordability, October 2011).
• Home ownership is even less affordable. In the second quarter of 2011, the average cost of a first time buyer property in London was £302,933 and the average house price was £395, 548 (Regulated Mortgage Survey data as reported in DCLG Housing Live Table 504).
• Private rental sector is a growing sector – there are 252,000 more people renting privately in London than there were in 2000, up from 15.3% in 2000 to 23% in 2010.

With work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith set to address the Tory party conference on Monday, the union says it is a myth that small-scale charities and social enterprises will benefit from the government’s reforms.

In its submission to the government’s open public services white paper, the union identifies major problems with Mr Duncan Smith’s work programme, where 33 of the 34 contracts went to large private sector providers.

The submission says the government’s plans will crowd out local voluntary services because they do not have the financial means to bid for large contracts, especially with cuts to local authority budgets being passed on to them.

The submission also cites the example of Medical Imaging Australasia, set up in 2000 by a group of Australian radiologists to sell X-ray and scan services, previously delivered in-house.

After floating on the stock exchange, the outfit expanded and won contracts in the UK with the NHS, before being bought by one of Australia’s top 100 companies, then taken over by a private equity firm, ending up incorporated into a company owned by the Dubai royal family – bearing no relation to its initial purpose of being an ‘employee-led’ mutual to provide more personalised services.

The union believes the government’s plans outlined in the white paper are not being driven by economic necessity, but as part of a political project to reduce the welfare state to a patchwork of disconnected services.

With 2.5 million people out of work, including a record number of young people, instead of cutting jobs and privatising services, the government should invest to create jobs and help our economy to grow.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Camouflaged by the rhetoric of a ‘big society’ and ‘cooperation’, the government’s plans will simply mean big profits for big business.

“Ministers do not appear to be interested in making our public services better, they are pursuing a political agenda to undermine them and sell them off.”

This is a major deal for these private sector workers ~ Serwotka

A major pay deal which means an 11% increase for the lowest paid has been agreed for private sector IT staff on government contracts after the threat of strike action by the Public and Commercial Services union.

This rise, more than twice the rate of inflation, is part of a deal agreed by the union after Fujitsu doubled the amount of money in the pot with an extra £500,000 (GBP).

It will mean some workers who were paid just £13,500 (GBP) two years ago will now not be paid less than £15,500  (GBP), an increase of almost 15%.

The union’s 720 members working on contracts across the UK for DVLA, HM Revenue and Customs, Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Office of National Statistics, were planning a co-ordinated strike with colleagues from the Unite union on Monday 19 September.

The Unite action, over separate issues, will go ahead and PCS members have pledged their support by: writing to Fujitsu calling on them to resolve the dispute; sending a message of support to Unite; sending a PCS delegation to Unite picket lines on the day; and doing workplace collections for Unite’s hardship fund.

Prior to the strike vote, Fujitsu was refusing to increase a pay offer that would have meant rises of between just 1.5% and 2.5%. The main points of the new deal are:

• The lowest paid will receive a basic 11% increase, and everyone on £20,000  (GBP) or less will receive more than 2.5%.
• Pay awards will be backdated, plus £500  (GBP) compensation for those whose pay date was before 1 August, including those without a contractual pay date. Pay dates will be standardised to 1 August for all.
• All staff below 85% of the median for their grade will be moved up to this level to help narrow the pay gap.
• A structured progression system for staff at the two sites where the majority of low paid staff are based.
• Further discussions scheduled for December about pay progression and transparency across the contracts.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka (pictured) said: “This is a major deal for these private sector workers, particularly the lowest paid, who do essential work supporting our public services.

“This shows clearly what can be achieved when working people stand together, and that the private sector is far from a no-go area for unions like ours.

“While we have called off our strike, we send solidarity and support to members in Unite and call on the company to sit down with their representatives to resolve the issues.”

The Union has produced a leaflet and petition against the cuts and will use its annual Respect for Shop-workers Week, which takes place between 7 – 11 November, to urge shoppers and members of the public to back the campaign and sign Usdaw’s petition.

Usdaw General Secretary John Hannett announced the campaign at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in Liverpool where he was proposing a motion from Usdaw condemning police and public service cuts. Speaking to a packed conference hall in the Crime, Justice and Citizenship Debate, John Hannett said: “Every minute of every day a shop-worker is assaulted, threatened or abused so during my speech to you today at least five shop-workers will have been on the wrong side of an angry customer, a shoplifter trying to get away with it or a youngster who has been refused a sale of alcohol.”

“That is why one of Usdaw’s major campaigns is called Freedom from Fear. Shop-workers should be free from the fear of violence, threats and verbal abuse and it should never be accepted as just a part of the job.”

“But it isn’t only shop-workers that face these problems. NHS staff, teachers, fire-fighters, the police and all public-facing workers have the same concerns.”

“While it is an employer’s first duty to keep their employees safe it is government’s first duty to keep all of us safe. That is where this Tory-led coalition will fail us, with a predicted loss of 16,000 frontline police officers, 1,800 PCSOs and over 16,000 policing staff who do vital work to keep police officers on the frontline.”

“This government’s unprecedented cuts in funding will affect frontline policing. Don’t just take my word for it – the Police Federation are saying today “20% cuts to policing are criminal”. “We know that Labour’s investment in police made a real difference. Crime fell by 43% because a Labour government put thousands of extra officers on the street, created PCSOs to give a higher profile to street policing, formed neighbourhood police teams and gave the public a greater say in how their communities were policed.”

“That reduction in crime was replicated for shop-workers and the British Retail Consortium’s Annual Retail Crime Survey shows that violent incidents against shop-workers have halved since 2004. That just goes to show what can be achieved when a Labour Government takes the lead, bringing together employers, police, local authorities and the staff through their trade union to work jointly against violence, threats and abuse.”

“Does anyone really believe that by cutting frontline policing crime will continue to fall – as it did with Labour? That is not the logical conclusion I draw. I fear that when these cuts bite we will be left with a much less effective police force that will be grossly under-staffed and terribly demoralised.”

“I fear that Britain will return to the dark days of Thatcher with high unemployment, high crime and little hope.”

“Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Labour MPs up and down the country have done a first rate job opposing the police cuts in Parliament and Labour’s next manifesto must have a commitment to ensuring there are sufficient numbers of police officers to keep crime falling once again.”

“This November, Usdaw members up and down the country will be campaigning and petitioning against police cuts and we look forward to working with Labour MPs and constituency parties to oppose them.”

Nicky has this morning written to Richard Blakeway, the Mayor’s housing adviser, to explain why he has apparently double counted around 16,000 affordable homes.

Blakeway said this week that “around 54,000 completions” are expected over the “next four years” (2011-15), apparently including 16,000 affordable homes that will already have been counted towards the Mayor’s target of 50,000 homes by 2012.

Nicky wrote, "I am extremely concerned at the way the mayor’s office has apparently double counted this information. At best it is a lazy, yet very important, error. At worst you have blatantly misled Londoners on your housing delivery."

She went on to say that the misuse of statistics, "undermines the challenges we face, and this apparent sleight of hand does nothing to reassure Londoners we are delivering what the city needs."

Commenting today, Nicky Gavron said: "The mayor needs to be beating targets, not cheating them. He’s already broken his election pledge to deliver 50,000 homes by 2011. It now looks like he’s trying to claim credit twice for thousands of extra homes."

For almost six years, the CWU has been at the forefront of the campaign to address the unfairness of a ‘two-tier workforce’ stemming from a resourcing model in which companies often supplement their directly employed workforce with agency workers on massively inferior terms and conditions. Despite their ‘temporary’ status, many of these agency employees are continuously employed for years on end – often working immediately alongside the hirer’s directly contracted employees and doing exactly the same work, but on significantly lower pay, less holiday entitlement and ‘statutory minimum’ terms.

Saturday’s implementation of the Agency Workers Regulations – legislation which stems from the EU’s Temporary Agency Workers Directive that was finally enacted in 2009 after years of foot dragging by the UK – goes some way to address this inequality.

CWU general secretary Billy Hayes (pictured) said: “It’s been a long time coming, but after years of campaigning by the CWU and other unions, hundreds of thousands of agency workers across the UK can now look forward to some basic employment fairness .

“After 12 weeks in a given job, people who previously could only dream of the superior terms and conditions of their directly employed counterparts will now be entitled to equal treatment as of right. For many, this will mean substantial pay rise and equalised terms and conditions as early as December 24.”

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool yesterday, Billy hit back at attempts by vested interests to rubbish the new Regulations and associated speculation that the Coalition Government is looking at ways to water down the Regulations.

“Although the Regulations were agreed between the CBI, the TUC and the last Labour Government, David Cameron clearly sees these vital protections for agency workers as a threat to his City chums. Speculation has been rife that new loopholes are being sought to avoid workers qualifying for equal treatment – and, if they emerge, these threats need to be challenged every inch of the way.”

Meanwhile, with the first agency workers now set to benefit from the terms of equal treatment on December 24, the CWU is keeping close tabs on how the Regulations are actually applied by agencies and hirers to ensure vulnerable agency workers actually receive their new employment rights.

CWU assistant secretary Sally Bridge explains: “As with any major new piece of employment legislation, the devil is in the detail – and the CWU is working closely with companies to ensure that our agency members receive their new entitlements in full.”

Popular website Teen Today (http://www.teentoday.co.uk/) have signed up to this year’s campaign asking young Londoners to come up with a road safety distraction slogan. The teen who comes up with the best slogan will win a ‘distraction date’ along with two friends with Rizzle Kicks, who recently dominated the charts with a number one and a number eight single in the same week. The band are kindly donating their time to support the campaign for free.

Teenagers are a vulnerable road user group. Last year the number of teenagers killed or seriously injured on London roads fell 14 per cent to 258 compared to 301 in 2009. Since 2000 the figure has fallen by 62 per cent. Despite this steady improvement, the Mayor and TfL are committed to raising awareness of the dangers when using the roads.

Last year stars including Wretch 32, Tinie Tempah and Eliza Doolittle recorded video clips free of charge which they then uploaded onto their social media sites. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBMf1-_yJ4&feature=relmfu

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “Every single death on London’s roads is a tragedy, and teenagers are less experienced and more at risk than any other age group in the capital. So while the number of deaths and injuries is falling, we are determined to drive it down further, and get the message out to our youngsters to take extra care.”

Rizzle Kicks said: “We can relate to the message of getting distracted on the roads, that’s why we’ve decided to support the campaign. The teen road safety campaign is important to us and we’re happy to support it through this competition.”

Lilli Matson, Head of Delivery Planning, in Better Routes and Places at TfL said: “The on-going fall in casualties shows that TfL’s teen road safety campaign has really been making a difference, however we know that our work is far from done. It is easy to become distracted on the road, but it is vital that teenagers pay careful attention when using them. With the start of the new academic year, we look forward to continuing our campaign, this time by emphasising the importance of avoiding distractions on the road to the capital’s young people.”