BRITISH SAFETY COUNCIL LAUNCHES VIDEO COMPETITION FOR LOCAL SCHOOLS...

A young person is seriously injured in a UK workplace every 40 minutes and 66 under-19s have been killed at work in the last ten years.

As part of its ongoing campaign to educate young people about the risks they may face in the workplace, the British Safety Council is launching a national video competition for schools designed to encourage students to understand the possible dangers through an exciting learning experience.

Open to all secondary school students in the area, the competition requires students to produce a two-minute video about the dangers facing young people in the workplace and the message they would like to get across to employers about this serious issue. Entries can be from individual students or from groups of up to six students.

The videos will be judged by the British Safety Council and the judges will be looking for clarity of message, impact of the message to employers as well as overall creative presentation. The top three entrants and their teachers will be invited to a prestigious lunchtime event in London on 4 December 2009 to showcase their films and receive their prizes.

Winning entries will receive a digital camera for each student involved as well as £50 worth of HMV vouchers and a digital camcorder for the school. Two runners-up will receive a digital camera for each student, £25 of HMV vouchers and a digital camcorder for the school. Five highly commended entries will receive £25 of HMV vouchers for each student.

Entries must be received by 5pm on Friday, 6 November 2009. For your chance to enter the competition, contact the British Safety Council on:- 0208 600 1034 or visit:- britsafe.org/schools.

Usdaw welcomes latest rise in minimum wage

SHOPWORKERS' union, Usdaw, welcomes tomorrow's rise in the minimum wage from £5.73 to £5.80 per hour. John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary, commented:- "The increase in the minimum wage will benefit hundreds of thousands of workers directly, and many more indirectly, whose wages are linked to the minimum wage. I am also delighted that Gordon Brown announced yesterday that the minimum wage Will continue to increase every year. This is the tenth year since Labour brought in the minimum wage, benefitting over a million low paid workers. The minimum wage was originally set at £3.60 per hour. Following continued campaigning by Usdaw it has been increased to £5.80 and helps many workers in retail."

Film on the Waterfront
Written by Gudrun Stolzenburg

OVER the weekend, the 25 September and 26 September 2009 the third of the cultural events “on the Waterfront” took place. After “Music on the Waterfront” and “Art on the Waterfront”, “Film on the Waterfront” was running on a big screen placed in the window of the new Museum of Liverpool at Pier Head. With free entry and chairs supplied, all people had to bring along was something warm and food or drinks.

On Friday the “Best of the Northwest” short films were shown, that is, the winners of “FACT´s Young Liverpool Film Night”. The main feature was “The Long Day Closes”, a film set in Liverpool showing the life of an 11 year old boy in the 1950s. On Saturday after the Liverpool Echo Shorts were shown the main feature was “On the Waterfront”. A classic with Marlon Brando set on New York´s waterfront observing the fight of dock workman Terry Malloy against the corruption in the union.

It was a good atmosphere, the weather not too warm but dry, the people were in a good mood cheering at good short films and at the end of bad short films. Obviously people enjoyed the open air cinema as Friday was reasonable full and on Saturday it was hard to find free chairs.

Prime Minister Announces Expanded Financial Services Role For Post Office

THE Prime Minister has announced a much bigger role for Post Office in providing financial services, to increase the accessibility of reliable financial products for consumers and small businesses.  The Prime Minister said:- “I want the Post Office to play a much bigger role, bringing banking services back to the heart of people’s communities.”  Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said:- “The Post Office is one of the country’s great assets. It is a trusted institution that offers face-to-face contact in the heart of local communities. The time is right to build on these strong foundations and substantially increase the banking services it offers. This announcement will help secure a viable future for the Post Office network. It is also excellent news for consumers and small businesses – giving people access to a full range of banking products at an institution they trust and value.”  The Post Office is one of the UK’s fastest growing financial services providers, and the country’s number one foreign currency provider. Today’s announcement will be the next step towards turning the Post Office into a leading player in financial services, offering a full suite of products across its network of 11,500 branches.  In order to achieve this, the Government will be consulting to help the development of new banking products and services from the Post Office which meet the needs of hard-working families.  This announcement reinforces the Government’s commitment to a secure and sustainable future for the Post Office, following the decision in November 2008 to award it a new contract for the Post Office Card Account, and the investment of up to £1.7bn to 2011.