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    • Jan 2012
      • Fire & Emergency Demo
      • Bias In Pub Panel Chair
      • IFS Shoddy Pensions Report
      • Four Seasons Accounts
      • RBS Boss Lottery Win
      • 706,300 Manufacturing Jobs Lost
      • Fears For Hospital
      • Eastern Ambulance Targets
      • GMB Call For Shipbuilding Future
      • Cable Fails to Curb High Pay
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      • Dudley Council New Agreement
      • Extend Co-ops To Social Care
      • Scottish Ambulance Deal
      • GMB No To Nurses Pay Cut
      • Remploy Strike 26th January
      • GMB On Unemployment
      • Yes to 3rd Runway at Heathrow
      • More Unilever Pension Strikes
      • Stop Tory Selling Playing Fields
      • Formal Strike Ballot At Carillion
      • GMB Appeal CPI Pension Ruling
      • GMB Rugby League Players
      • GMB Cab Members Abandon West End To Touts
      • Keep Weekly Bin Collections In Sheffield
      • GMB On NHS Pensions Offer
      • Unilever Strike Dates
      • Keep Pension Funds Safe
      • GMB on Regional Pay
      • Scottish Ambulance - More Talks
      • Homes Without Work
      • Extend HS2 To Heathrow
      • Scottish Ambulance Service Talks
      • Unilever – Further Strike Date
      • Medicine In Schools
    • Feb 2012
    • March 2012
    • April 2012

Bias In Pub Panel Chair

Tuesday 31^st January 2012

 

ED DAVEY HAS BEEN TAKEN FOR GULLIBLE FOOL AS PUNCH MAN IS APPOINTED TO CHAIR “INDEPENDENT” PUB DISPUTES PANEL

 

Bias is so blatant that appointing Rodger Vickers is the equivalent of the FA appointing Sir Alex Ferguson to referee a game between Manchester United and Liverpool says GMB

 

GMB, the union for pub tied tenants, commented on the news that Rodger Vickers from Punch Taverns will chair the newly-formed Pub Independent Conciliation Advisory Service (PICAS) deal with disputes about matters other than rents between pubcos and tenants.

 

Paul Maloney, GMB national officer for pub tenants said “Ed Davey has been taken for a gullible fool by the pub industry. Appointing Rodger Vickers is the equivalent of the FA appointing Sir Alex Ferguson to referee a game between Manchester United and Liverpool. The bias is that blatant.

Vickers is part of BBPA to his last sinew so GMB members can expect him to press the cases of the pubcos. Even today he is in the pub of a GMB member pressing the case for a 60% rent increase in the middle of a recession. 

This new PICAS, which we are told will be up and running at the end of February, is part of the self-regulation deal between the British Beer & Pub Association and the Government in the wake of the Business, Innovation & Skills Committee (BISC) report which Ed Davey signed off. 

PICAS will operate alongside another toothless bodyPIRRS (Pubs Independent Rent Review Scheme) where Vickers has also been an advisor since 2009. PICAS remit is disputes other than rents and will have the same dismal record as PIRRS. MPs on BIS Select Committee need to probe why Ed Davey has proved such a soft touch.

The underlying issue not being tackled at all is sky high rent that have pushed the price of a pint £1 above the level justified by inflation and changes in taxation. This has priced pubs out of the market. This additional revenue ends up offshore paying pubco bondholders in tax havens.

BBPA, which justifies this rip off culture, has the bare faced cheek to launch a campaign for tax breaks as its members blatantly shovel money offshore into tax havens”.

End

Contact: Paul Maloney 07901 289880 or Dave Mountford 07792 198 954 or GMB Press Office 07921 289880 or 07974 251823