{"id":6378,"date":"2015-10-21T12:40:59","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T11:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=6378"},"modified":"2015-10-21T16:10:33","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T15:10:33","slug":"your-excuses-are-wearing-thin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=6378","title":{"rendered":"Your excuses are wearing thin"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Charlotte Upton, Unite member and electrician at Tata steel in Scunthorpe, has written an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to stop sitting on his hands and to step in and save our steel.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Over 5,000 steel jobs have gone in the last two weeks and the entire industry is at risk unless the government acts now. Charlotte writes: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Mr Cameron,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My name is Charlotte Upton and I am an electrician at the platemill in Scunthorpe, one of the mills affected by Tata\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposal today.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Steel is in my blood Mr Cameron, my great grandfather worked there and both my Grandma and Grandpa have worked there too.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is not a person in Scunthorpe that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know someone that is directly affected by the recent announcement of job losses. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to tell you what the steelworks means to me, my colleagues, and my family and more importantly why your government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inaction is killing this proud history.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the age of 16 I was trying to decide what to do with my future, I come from a typical working class family and although I succeeded academically at school, university was never going to be an affordable option for my family.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I had to look at how I could help support my family, while gaining decent qualifications.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My uncle John showed me an advert in the local paper for an apprenticeship on the steelworks and it seemed like the perfect solution.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My family were so proud when I got an interview, my Grandma telling me about her experience on the works, my uncle even attended my interview with me as I was so nervous!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My apprenticeship gave me confidence, it gave me a career, and it gave me a future.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am a proud steelworker and I am proud that I can provide a good life for myself and my family.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Scunthorpe is a steel town, everyone told me when I got my job that the steelworks was a job for life and a job that has provided a good life for many people in the town.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I have colleagues that have worked at the site since they left school at 16, putting in 40 years plus of hard work and dedication to the plant.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They have seen it privatised by Margret Thatcher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s government and survive through numerous sales.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The workforce has been dedicated and versatile. Everything asked of the people I work with has been delivered by them, sometimes at a great cost to the workforce and the community.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They feel let down by you Mr Cameron, why are you not returning that respect?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When I went home after the announcement and told my family about the news they were devastated. My Grandma cried, she quite rightly pointed out that there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any other big industry in the area and if I was going to have to find a similar job I would have to look further afield. She said she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s scared she will lose me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I have a twin sister who is concerned about the domino effect this will have on Scunthorpe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy and how rising unemployment rates will impact on house prices.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The people I work with are worried about how they will pay their mortgage, how will they afford Christmas with their jobs at risk and where will they be able to find another job.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am telling you all this Mr Cameron because I believe that you can change this. You can but you seem unwilling to.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The steel industry in the UK is going to disappear if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do something NOW!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We know that there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a magic wand to be waved that will fix all the challenges that the industry faces but we also know that there are practical things that the government can do today to make us more competitive in the market.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You could cut business rates, you could lower the energy costs, you could stop the Chinese dumping their cheap steel in our country and there is one thing you could certainly do, use British steel for British infrastructure!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Your excuses are wearing thin Mr Cameron; the people of Scunthorpe need your help now! Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let your legacy be the death of the Steel Industry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yours Charlotte<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Want to help? Please sign the petition<\/a> to save our steel <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span>This letter first appeared in The Mirror on Tuesday October 20<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte Upton, Unite member and electrician at Tata steel in Scunthorpe, has written an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to stop sitting on his hands and to step in and save our steel. \u00c2\u00a0 Over 5,000 steel jobs have gone in the last two weeks and the entire industry is at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4268,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[269],"wps_subtitle":"Unite's Charlotte's plea to Prime Minister","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6378"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6385,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378\/revisions\/6385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}