Death of a 'people's champion'

Kieran Quinn - Executive Leader of Tameside Council

Tameside Council leader dies suddenly aged 57

EULOGIES have been pouring in following the sudden and tragic death last month, of Kieran Quinn, the Executive Leader of Tameside Council, at the age of 57.  Following a fall precipitated by a heart attack on Saturday, 23 December 2017, councillor Quinn died on Christmas Day in Tameside Hospital.

In glowing tributes from mainly fellow Labour cronies, the former postman and Roman Catholic, from Droylsden, was hailed as the 'ultimate politician', 'unique', 'a great man', 'a visionary', 'a people's champion', and a 'good socialist and proud trade unionist'.   In the first election for the leader of the Labour Party, council Quinn, supported Yvette Cooper MP.

'Proudly pro-business', councillor Quinn, had been the Executive Leader of the council since 2010 having succeeded former Labour leader, Roy Oldham, an Ashton-under-Lyne Freemason, from Longdendale. He had also been a councillor for Droylsden East since 1994. As well as being the Executive Leader of the council, he was also the Chairman of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) and a chief advocate of devolution for Greater Manchester.  He also championed the extension of the Metrolink to Ashton but later on felt that the tram was 'chronically' underused.  He once advised potential tram users travelling from Ashton to Oldham, to take a packed lunch with them because the journey took so long and they would have to make a day of it.  As the former head of housing for Tameside Council, he also played a key role in the privatization of all council housing and the large-scale transfer of housing to New Charter Housing Trust.  He subsequently took up a paid position on the Board of that company.

Although a former trade union official of the  Communication Workers Union (CWU), and a so-called 'proud trade unionist', councillor Quinn came under fire for his close links with the construction giant, Carillion who are a partner of Tameside Council.  In May 2016, Carillion were one of a group of major construction companies (the Macfarlanes Defendants) who admitted and apologised in the High Court in London, to blacklisting union construction workers.  A multi-million pound compensation settlement was shared between 771 workers when the companies including Carillion, admitted to breach of confidence, misuse of private information, defamation, conspiracy, and breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.

In 2011, local trades unionists from Tameside Trades Union Council, wrote on two occasions to councillor Quinn about Carillion and blacklisting and held protests in the area. Despite press coverage, neither Quinn or Tameside Council, ever answered questions or responded to the concerns of the trade unionists.  Two years later, in January 2013, councillor Quinn, as chairman of the GMPF, approved the appointment of Carillion to build the One St Peter's Square project and told the press:

'Experience, reputation, and the ability to deliver were of paramount importance as we are committed to ensuring that this is a very high quality scheme and that it is completed in the projected time frame.'

Only a fortnight before his death, the people's champion, in a letter to a Dukinfield resident, Steve Fisher, told him that while he was sorry to hear about the extreme financial hardship that he was suffering caused by his Council Tax Support Scheme (CTSS) - which presumed that he received an income he did not receive, and awarded him no council tax support - this was all the fault of the Government's who'd decided to reduce expenditure for the CTSS.  Mr. Fisher - who is self-employed - denies this is the case and that his financial difficulties are entirely caused by a political decision by Tameside Council, to incorporate Universal Credit legislation into their CTSS which was entirely voluntary and unnecessary.  Perversely, when Mr Fisher applies for Housing Benefit from the same council, he receives a full award on the basis that he receives a low income.  Bailiffs acting for Tameside Council, are now threatening to seize Mr Fisher's possessions, in lieu of council tax arrears.

Unlike Steve Fisher, councillor Quinn and his wife Sue, who is also a Tameside Councillor, were unaccustomed to financial hardship as they were raking it in from their numerous political appointments as Tameside Labour councillors.  With his sudden and unexpected demise, the family are likely to see a significant reduction in the family household income. 

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One party state leader accused of hypocrisy over self-employment!

WE are publishing below a letter from Steve Fisher aka 'Starlord' that was sent to the Tameside Reporter & Chronicle last month but was not published.  Mr Fisher, a tenant of New Charter Housing, who own the Reporter, under the guise of 'Quest Media Ltd', in the one party state of Tameside, has been proscribed and deemed a "prolific complainant" by New Charter and banned from entering their business premises since 2007. His letter, was a response to Tameside Council leader, Kieran Quinn (pictured below).

'The Leader' accused of Hypocrisy

"I read 'The Leaders' Column', Tameside Reporter (3rd Nov 2016), with astonishment! Cllr. Kieran Quinn thinks Self-employment is 'here to stay'. Does he mean  bogus self-employment or the truly self-employed 'Sole Trader' like myself ? Should I call myself a Sole Trader to differentiate myself from the rising mass of bogus self-employed? 

Ironically, the very existence of thousands of real self-employed people, is imperilled by the roll-out of Universal Credit. Why? Because they are not subject to the National Living Wage, but that's changing for the worse. 

To qualify for Working Tax Credit (WTC), HMRC require that all work done be 'for payment or in expectation of payment', and they must work at least 16 hours p/w part-time or 3o hours p/w full-time. WTC is paid if earnings are low, zero, or if making a loss. But WTC is being merged into Universal Credit and thousands of self-employed Sole Traders will be forced onto the dole, while bogus self-employment is on the rise! 

Some organisations exploit tax loop-holes to employ people 'as if' self-employed. It's part of the tax avoidance/evasion scam. It is indeed "an excuse for companies to avoid their duties and obligations in terms of things like sick pay, holiday pay, the minimum wage and pensions." But this is precisely what Tameside Council are doing! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! 

Many of the bogus self-employed are little more than slaves without workers rights and none of the freedoms of self-employment. They have little or no control over what they do. If they don't do as the Company commands they don't get the work. Self-employment lets them dodge their employment responsibilities, and health and safety legislation. It's 'my way or the highway'! 

A client of mine was indirectly employed by Tameside Council. He worked 'as if' a council employee alongside council employees, but he has no contract with the Council. He's an agency worker. Many years ago he worked directly for Tameside Council doing the same work. 

You wouldn't believe how much paperwork he had to deal with, reading, signing, scanning and emailing, merely to secure simple paid work. It's bad enough claiming Universal Credit and trying to avoid benefit sanctions, but this scam is even more devious. 

Let me explain. As a self-employed consultant I helped him to complete all 'paperwork', did some online research, and made some phonecalls on his behalf. He couldn't have done this alone, but the tale's even more twisted. 

He was employed by 'Service Care Solutions Ltd.', Preston, who procure workers for Tameside Council via AGMA. Much cheaper than hiring workers directly. He has few employment rights and no union protection, but that's a Labour Council for ya! 

This situation was exacerbated when SCS hired a payroll company, 'Freelance Professional Services Ltd.', to pay his weekly wage into his bank account. They have an office in Viking House, Ramsey, but their HQ is on the ISLE OF MAN! The bells begin to ring! 

FPS then created a separate company to act as his direct employer, and so he became a de-facto employee of his very own company Limited by Guarantee, and working for himself. These are known as Umbrella Companies. FPS act as Tax Agent with HMRC. I say de-facto because he had to sign and agree to a 36-point 'Administrative Terms & Conditions' form, many of which are legalistic and complex and completely unreasonable. He'd already been working for a week! Don't sign, don't get paid, lose the job, and then try to re-claim Universal Credit which would be refused because he'd left his job voluntarily. Not much of a choice! Whatever happened to workers rights? 

He had to "agree to adopt a flexible working approach and opt out of the 'working time regulations'", agree to data sharing, breaching his Data Protection rights, and that FPS be appointed Company Administrator placing them in control of the very company that they set-up in his name without his permission. 

The job was advertised as £8.60 per hour, but his actual pay after deductions was £7.20 per hour. It's as if they'd calculated backwards to get this figure! He did not receive the full advertised rate because he had to pay two lots of taxes and two lots of National Insurance, one for the company and one for himself, and holiday pay manipulations. What a con!

He hadn't a clue what was happening. He just wanted to work, but had little choice in the matter. It's all seemingly legal, but very dodgy! 

There are 4 separate 'legal entities' in-between the worker and Tameside Council, which includes AGMA, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities! 

The Leader says, "that HMRC have set up an 'Employment Status and Intermediaries Scheme' that will react to complaints and investigate companies that have declared a high amount [number] of self employed workers." Very good and about time, BUT how high is high? Will this include the likes of Tameside Council? It certainly should! So where do I go to report TMBC?"

Tribunal Judge calls for Judicial Review of Council Tax Scheme!

 

A 58-year-old community campaigner against the Tory 'bedroom tax', recently won a council tax appeal at the Valuation Tribunal of England sitting in Manchester in 2014.

 

Steve Anthony Fisher, a self-employed man from Dukinfield, appealed against a decision of his local authority Tameside Council, to bill him full council tax under its council tax scheme. Under a previous scheme Mr. Fisher had received council tax benefit in full. However, when the council changed its scheme in 2013, he was shocked to find that the council now expected him to pay full council tax even though his circumstances had not changed. He was also hit with a double whammy, when the council demanded a further £12.50 charge for his Tory bedroom tax because he was deemed to have a spare bedroom. Both charges together amounted to 50% of his disposable income.

 

Mr. Fisher has lived at his two bedroom house for the last thirty years. Believing that he had suffered an injustice and had been treated harshly, he appealed to the Valuation Tribunal. After two separate hearings, the Tribunal decided to allow his appeal in part, because the 'billing authority' (Tameside Council) had incorrectly applied their own scheme in relation to Mr. Fisher. In short they did not know their arse from their elbow.  

 

In his promulgated decision, Mr. P. Johnson (Tribunal Chairman), made the following obiter:  

• This case raised potential grounds for Judicial Review of the Scheme and potential for challenge under the Articles and Protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
• While Mr Fisher's primary and legitimate concern was with the principal that he should be deemed to possess more income than he actually received, he noted that the Tameside area (or at least a substantial part of it) is an area in which Universal Credit has been introduced, but does not yet apply to all persons claiming Universal Credit. He believes that The Scheme has been drafted to dovetail with the Universal Credit Scheme, copying heavily from that scheme, but has failed to ensure fair treatment to persons not in receipt of Universal Credit.
• The tribunal could not consider those matters, but recommends that Tameside MBC give urgent reconsideration to the wording of The Scheme, in light of the hardship caused to some persons claiming under the Scheme.

Given the Chairman's comments, Mr. Fisher would be keen to pursue the matter to Judical Review if legal aid was available. Alternatively, an organisation like C.A.B. or welfare rights, might want to investigate the matter further as it seems to affect many more people living in Tameside. Mr. Fisher can be contacted on starlord@starlord-enterprises.freeserve.co.uk

 

 

Bedroom tax campaigner lambasts Tameside local press for bias!

 

The above photo shows an action in the campaign against the Jobseeker's Allowance outside Burnley Jobcentre in the 1990s:  in the foreground on the left is Steve (Starlord) Fisher. 

 

WE are publishing below a letter that was sent last week to both the Tameside Advertiser and the Tameside Reporter and Chronicle newspapers, from local environmental activist, Steve (Starlord) Fisher (pictured above).  The issue of a free press in Tameside is something that we have previously reported on in Northern Voices. In September 2012, in an exclusive, we revealed that the Tameside Reporter had been bought by New Charter Housing Ltd, a housing company that also owns Tameside Radio and has close links to the Labour council in Tameside. In 2008, we also reported in Northern Voices magazine, claims made by  Private Eye magazine (1220) that  Tameside Council was meeting with local newspaper editors to 'suppress sensationalist reporting'.  We have no misgivings about publishing Mr Fisher's epistle in full because we share many of his concerns about press censorship.  This concern was also noted by one of our readers who predicted at the time of the takeover that we would see, the 'banning of dissenting voices' and lashings of corporate agenda.  Should anyone therefore be surprised that local newspaper sales are plummeting. 

'Many readers of your "redoubtable" newspaper are no doubt reading under the illusion that it reports fairly and faithfully on current affairs in Tameside.  Well I can assure you that's not the case at all.  They can't honestly say they didn't know, that they can't report on everything, that it's neutral in its reportage.  Far from it, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue.  How do I know this you might ask?  Well I'll tell you.

 

'I and many of my friends in 'Tameside Against the Cuts' have been protesting unstintingly every Thursday afternoon for the last 6 months outside Ashton Jobcentre against 'work-for-dole' and illegal & unlawful Benefit Sanctions and many other social injustices.

 

'The local press have been told many times by phone and email.  We've invited them but they're just not interested & to date no article has been published about our important voluntary "Community Contribution".  That is the level of biased reportage in Tameside.

 

'Our "Community Contribution" counts for nothing, jarring no doubt with New Charter's social engineering agenda. They do not approve of our activities.  We do not even meet with their new conditionality criteria for getting a New Charter tenancy.  They simply don't recognise our way of "giving something back", failing to recognise the positive work that we do in the community.  But who put them in charge? No one! They just own and control the bulk of Tameside Social Housing, the Tameside Reporter, and Tameside Radio in their empire building 'Quest' for power and influence.

 

'Astonishingly, I recently read 3 articles about a new related campaign launched outside Hyde Town Hall by Emma Mohareb-Leyla in January:  I've been told she was also published in the Manchester Evening News.  It's great that she's been able to highlight some of the issues we've been campaigning about for the last 2 years!  So why have we been ignored?  We are treated like lepers!  Why has it taken somebody else to get this published? How does one get an audience with the press-barons of Tameside?

 

'On the 25th September 2013 one of my 3 letters about the Bedroom Tax was published in the Reporter. Every reference to New Charter was excised! New Charter then had the gall to publish their riposte the following week! Where's the editorial independence when a social landlord like New Charter have a vested interest in the Bedroom Tax?

 

'My last published letter was about KFC in Hyde, but that too was severely edited culling most of the really interesting stuff. My next 4 letters in a row went unpublished. It's really hard to get a letter published in the local press let alone articles reporting what's actually happening in Tameside.

 

'For the last 2 years Tameside Against the Cuts have protested all over Ashton: on Ashton Town Hall steps and Market ground & outside Ashton Magistrates court against TMBC's unfair Council Tax and their use of Marstons bailiffs; outside New Charter Housing & Ashton Pioneer Homes against the Bedroom Tax (tenants have been evicted); & outside parasitic Work Programme Provider organisations paid thousands of pounds by the Government to force the unemployed to work for their dole and undermine wages!  They are treated worse than many convicted criminals.  To date we've targeted only StandGuide, but i2i, Work Solutions, and Avanta, are also in our sights lest they think they've been forgotten!  We are well aware of a number of slave-labour stores in Tameside and would like to target them too!

 

'We've very effectively concentrated our efforts on Ashton Jobcentre where many of the poor and the vulnerable can be found.  These innocents have been unfairly targeted by the Tories ideological agenda and made to pay for the gambling excesses & extravagances of the greedy and materialistic rich and powerful.

 

'Ashton Jobcentre was chosen by this poxy proxy Government to pilot their draconian Universal Credit which gambles with the lives of the poor, making them destitute & homeless, driven to foodbanks and even to suicide.  Worse still this avowedly Tameside Labour Council are collaborators. These turncoats capitulated and rolled-over to have their belly's tickled. They feebly argue that they had to be in it in order to 'shape it'! Yet after 2 years they refuse to say how they've 'shaped-it' with apparently nothing to show for their treacherous behaviour.

 

'The name Universal Credit tells you all you need to know. For one it ain't universal! Secondly 'credit' is a proxy for debt.  We live in a consumer 'credit' society, for which read "debt" society, in which we subsist, bound in servitude to the rich. The vast majority are indebted to and enslaved by the rich.

 

'What is needed is far more revolutionary, the introduction of a Universal Unconditional Guaranteed Basic Income Scheme for ALL to ensure a basic or minimum level of existence for all as a right whether in work or not which is in harmony with the principle of Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs'. That would indeed be truly universal unlike Universal Credit which is not!  This Government have the vision of a bat out of hell knowing only the price of everything but the value of nothing.

 

'A Basic Income would really empower the poor who could then truly choose when and where to work, and to do 'Good Work'. Those who want to have more than the bare necessities of life can work for them to satisfy their desires, but no longer can they force people to labour for them.

 

'This is the politics of fairness, not the politics of envy. I have no desire to be rich, nor do I desire to be poor.  I desire the freedom to serve as I see fit to fulfill my soul purpose on earth.  Those infected with the disease of greed can still work and be rich if they so wish. They could also seek psychotherapeutic help.  They could perhaps even take-up Buddhism.' 

New Charter Housing call on police to evict Bedroom Tax protestors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday 21st September 2013 'Tameside Stop the Bedroom Tax & the Cuts' engaged in a peaceful protest demonstrating against the scandalous Bedroom Tax outside the Headquarters of New Charter Housing Trust Limited in Ashton-under-Lyne. The company are by far the biggest social landlord in Tameside, and being the biggest, they ought to be leading the fight against the Bedroom Tax, working alongside tenants in opposition to it which they have signally failed to do so far.

 

On  Saturday, New Charter held their annual 'jewel in the crown' Resident Showcase event. This was an ideal opportunity to reach out to tenants especially the 1,700 New Charter tenants that are affected by the Bedroom Tax. New Charter say they are opposed to the Bedroom Tax, but seem unwilling to join with tenants to oppose it? Actions speak louder than words!  New Charter haven't shown any real opposition to the Bedroom Tax even though housing boss, Ian Munro, declared it to be 'unfair and incompetent'. They have also declined to reclassify bedrooms to circumvent the tax in order to help tenants to remain in their homes and are pursuing legal action, against their tenants for Bedroom Tax arrears. 

 

The protestors  arrived outside the front entrance of New Charter H.Q. at 10:30 and set themselves up without obstructing entry. Shortly after tenants began to arrive, New Charter staff came out in force to form a  'cordon sanitaire', with three or four of them standing in a line with their backs towards the protestors trying to confine them to the wall area thereby blocking access to passing tenants. As tenants were guided into the building, they were told to ignore the protestors. 

 

New Charter staff initially refused to take any leaflets but one was seen to snatch a copy at the side entrance, which he tore in half as he angrily scrunched it up. As a protestor with his megaphone, called on New Charter to adopt a Bedroom Tax no evictions policy, a prominent New Charter tenant representative, Belinda Jeffrey, was seen to give  'the finger' to protestors from inside the building.  It is also understood that one female tenant, who was attending the event, asked if she could use the megaphone, then called  the protestors 'wankers'!  

An hour into the protest, the police arrived after being summoned by New Charter. The Bedroom Tax protestors were told that there had been a report that people had felt harassed and intimidated. After being reassured by protestors that this was  peaceful demonstration on the International Day of Peace,  the officer left, much to the chagrin of New Charter Housing staff.

 

The very purpose of the annual Residents Showcase event is for tenants to SHOWCASE what THEY are doing for tenants and the wider community as long as this doesn't involve campaigning against the Bedroom Tax, or treading on New Charter's big corns.

 

Steve (Starlord) Fisher, a protest organiser, told NV blog:  

 

"We had a very successful day and great fun was had by all. We had a wonderful time and would like to thank New Charter for the kindness they  have so far shown to everyone affected by this atrocious Bedroom Tax, brought-in by this wretched Tory-led government that is cutting taxes for the rich while introducing punitive taxation, for the most vulnerable people in society.

 

While it is excellent news to hear that Labour if elected, have pledged to repeal the Bedroom Tax, social landlords and council's, should in the meantime adopt a no evictions policy and cease pressuring tenants to leave their homes to move to smaller properties. We expect Tameside Labour to come off the fence and support the campaign against this iniquitous tax. We will also continue to protest and work in the best interests of tenants."  

Thousands threatened with eviction in UK by Tory 'Bedroom Tax'!

Opposition to the Tories iniquitous bedroom tax is increasing daily. Although there have been no riots as of yet, parallels have never the less been drawn with the campaign against Thatcher's dreaded poll tax, which was ultimately defeated because of mass opposition to it by people who took to the streets in their thousands to protest.

In the North West 43% of people living in council or housing association homes who receive housing benefit will be affected. Around 110,000 will be worse off by £728 a year when the bedroom tax comes into effect in April. Hundreds of thousands face the threat of eviction if they cannot pay the tax which applies to all people of working age in receipt of housing benefit who live in social housing and who are deemed to have spare bedrooms.

Although the Tory-led government say this measure is necessary to free-up social housing that is under-occupied i.e. spare bedrooms so that people can move to smaller dwellings and to save money, the current demand for housing is such that there are not enough one or two bedroom properties for people to move to. Critics of the bedroom tax, say this severe shortage of social rented housing, will drive people into the private rented sector and will increase the housing benefit bill.

In Tameside, the Registered Social Landlord (RSL), New Charter Housing Trust Ltd, own around 14,500 properties and it is expected that the bedroom tax will have a direct impact on 1,700 New Charter tenants. New Charter boss, Ian Munro, believes that the tax is 'unfair and incompetent' and he has written to the Prime Minister calling on him to axe the bedroom tax. In his letter which was published in the New Charter owned Tameside Reporter, he pleaded on behalf of his tenants:

"Tenants are telling us that they are very worried not only about being able to meet household bills, but also the prospect of being forced out of what is more than a house - it is their home....Equally (the changes) are incompetent as they will not achieve the Government's objective of better use of social housing, and in forcing a migration to the private sector will increase rather than reduce the Housing Benefit bill."

Some time ago, New Charter which was formed in 2000, to own and manage former council homes in Tameside, set up a 'Specialist Welfare Reform Advice Team' (SWAT) to advise tenants about their available options concerning the bedroom tax. Although neither Munro or the SWAT 'sink or swim' team, have given assurances that tenants who fail pay their bedroom tax will not be evicted, it is known that the team who have carried out 1,800 tenant interviews since last August, have advised tenants to eat less to economise in order to pay their Tory bedroom tax. In Manchester, Eastlands Homes another RSL, have written to their tenants asking them if they can afford to smoke, drink, play bingo and afford Sky TV, as well as pay their bedroom tax.

While it is understandable that New Charter and Eastlands Homes tenants should feel affronted by being asked to eat less food or to forgo fags and booze to pay their Tory bedroom tax, it should be clear that despite what boy George says about us all being in it together, it is people on benefits, public expenditure cuts and job losses in local government that are paying off the budget deficit brought about by the incompetence and greed of bankers and governments. Despite cuts in benefits and public services, the government last year cut  taxes for their rich chums by £3bn-a-year. In April, 8,000 millionaires are due to receive an average tax cut of over £107,000. It  also estimated that tax evasion in this country costs the exchequer around £70bn-a-year in lost revenue.

One New Charter tenant affected by the Tory bedroom tax, is 56-year-old Steve Fisher, from Dukinfield, who has lived at his two bedroom home since 1984. As a self-employed person who currently receives £52 pw in Working Tax Credit (WTC), he has been told by Tameside Council that he must pay £12 pw bedroom tax because he has a bedroom extra to his needs and £13 pw council tax, out of his £52 pw income. Mr. Fisher who is campaigning against the bedroom tax, told NV blog:

"Under the Council Tax Benefit scheme (CTB), which has now been abolished, I received full council tax and housing benefit because I am on a low income. Some years ago, I chose to go self-employed rather than claim unemployment benefit, but am now penalised by changes to council tax and the introduction of the bedroom tax. Tameside Council have replaced CTB with their very own 'Council Tax Support Scheme' (CTSS) which presumes that as a self-employed person, I am receiving a far greater income that I do and therefore, they expect me to pay full council tax. As from April, everyone with exception of pensioners, who is in receipt of a council tax discount, will have pay at least 20% of council tax. This measure introduced by a Labour council, attacks some of the weakest and poorest members of the community.  Although the Labour council in Tameside are cutting jobs and services and increasing the council tax this year by 3.5%, the council refuses to reduce the number of Tameside councillors or to cut its own allowances and perks. What this council and government are seeking to do, is nothing short of daylight robbery."

Anyone interested in joining Mr. Fisher's campaign against the bedroom tax, can contact him at starlord@starlord-enterprises.freeserve.co.uk