Welby scores 10 for ‘zero’ speech
Well done, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for launching his “deliver us from evil” speech. Our dishevelled society is being run by the greedy for the greedy, hence huge pay for company bosses and starvation wages for workers in the gig economy.
Amazon highlights the entrenched inequality of the system, paying only £4.6million of tax on UK sales worth billions. No wonder our high streets are ghost towns and our NHS, schools and so on are underfunded.
The Tories won’t change, hence their continued austerity policy brought about by the collapse of Lehman Brothers a decade ago.
Bill Cook, Teignmouth, Devon
Archbishop Justin Welby raised interesting questions during his speech to the TUC Congress, not least, would Jesus have been a trade unionist? At a stretch probably, though he would struggle to find a real apostle in Len McCluskey!
That said, Archbishop Welby is a thinker and a credit to his role as the conscience of the nation in these times of ruinous Tory austerity.
Collin Rossini Dovercourt, Essex
As Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the TUC, the surge in zerohours contracts and the rise of the gig economy means we haven’t seen greater insecurity in the workplace since the Jarrow Crusade in 1936, when desperate workers marched on London. So just how the Tories can keep repeating that unemployment is at its lowest for decades beggars belief. Tell that to all the shop staff who have lost their jobs recently.
I want decent jobs for my grandchildren, not zero-hours contracts.
Dave Mellor, Warrington
I’ve read Paul Routledge’s reports from the TUC Congress with interest. The very fact that only 26% of UK employees are covered by trade union deals is frightening (Mirror, Sept 12).
Where once the all-powerful unions could bring down governments, they now have little clout. This would change under a Labour government and is a top reason to support the party.
Geoff Hall Middlesbrough
In his article on the 150th anniversary of the TUC, Brian Reade wrote about the 80 Liverpool dockers who were sacked in 1995 for refusing to accept the imposition of what we now call zero-hours contracts (Mirror, Sept 5).
Another 329 workers who refused to cross their picket lines were also sacked. The dockers’ own union, the T&GWU, followed by Tony Blair’s New Labour government, embraced the Tories’ anti-trade union legislation and zero-hours was born.
Eric Thorp, Salford, Gtr Manchester
If Justin Welby wants to keep the Church of England relevant, he should keep speaking out against modern injustices. Firms such as Amazon and Wonga are a stain on our society and are helping to destroy our great country.
Jason Bradshaw, Halifax
Well done to the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby for speaking out against firms like Amazon who don’t pay their fair share of tax and this heartless Government’s Universal Credit policy. The CofE is often portrayed as the Tory Party at prayer, but there are many Christians with a deep social conscience who are appalled by this Government’s callous policies.