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BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL Hosts the national body that nets loan sharks .
SAVED by being
SOLD
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BITING BACK !
Good news for a team that takes loan sharks to task
G
MB is delighted to hear about the decision to reverse major cuts to The National Illegal Money Lending Team England ( NIMLT ), hosted by Birmingham City Council , which operates across the country to clamp down on illegal money lenders . This decision will save GMB members ’ jobs . NIMLT faced cuts of up to a third to their budget , which would have resulted in as many as 17 redundancies for GMB members .
NIMLT is a government-funded investigation team hosted by the council . The team investigates unlicensed money lenders on a national basis and supports the victims of these illegal lenders . The funding is allocated directly to the team for their investigations , and would have been diverted to regional Trading Standards services had the proposed cuts gone ahead .
Joe Morgan , GMB Regional Secretary Birmingham and West Midlands , said : “ There was a sustained campaign to save jobs in NIMLT . The team carries out valuable work combating illegal loan sharks who prey
ONCE BITTEN … The NIMLT helps to protect the vulnerable from loan sharks .
RIPPING YOU OFF Sid the Shark is part of a loan shark awareness campaign .
on the vulnerable using violence and threats to extort money from those already in extremely desperate situations . It is estimated that the team costs £ 3.6m to run but has got £ 63 million-worth of illegal debts written off since 2004 .” Gill Whittaker , regional organiser said : “ The team has brought more than 200 loan sharks to justice across the UK , helping nearly 24,000 victims . We hope the government continues to maintain the funding long-term so that the team can carry on working hard to crack down
on these illegal practices .”
Ultra-good news for furniture factory workers
A Kingswinford furniture company , which made 84 members of staff – including GMB members – redundant back in March , has now been bought out in a pre-pack administration deal , allowing it to keep trading and saving the jobs of the remaining 116 staff .
Ultra Furniture , based on the Pensnett Estate in Kingswinford , had made 84 staff members redundant after losing a major customer at the start of the year . The redundancies were a terrible surprise to the workforce , some of whom had worked there for over 20 years . They were made redundant with no consultation with GMB . GMB decided to pursue Ultra through solicitors when the news came out .
Now , however , the company ' s remaining workers look to have a brighter future . Administrators have sold the business to a new firm set up by Glenn Aston , Ultra ' s managing director . Mr Aston hopes to ensure the remaining staff will continue to be employed , with no further redundancies to be made .
GMB is pleased that members appear to have secured their employment , and looks forward to working with Ultra ' s new management team , but will be working to make sure lost earnings are covered .
ULTRA FURNITURE Keeping skilled jobs in the West Midlands . www . gmb-westmids . org . uk 05