An appeals films produced by Northern Newsreel and Trade Films for the Tyne and Wear One Fund for All (OFFA) that showcases the work of the Newcastle Trade Union Council Centre Against Unemployment that helps find work for unemployment trade union members. The film mixes both documentary and drama and features an early performance from Hexham born actor Robson Green. Title: Tyne and Wear OFFA. One Fund for All A young man asleep in bed, his radio alarm clock goes off with the time reading...

An appeals films produced by Northern Newsreel and Trade Films for the Tyne and Wear One Fund for All (OFFA) that showcases the work of the Newcastle Trade Union Council Centre Against Unemployment that helps find work for unemployment trade union members. The film mixes both documentary and drama and features an early performance from Hexham born actor Robson Green. Title: Tyne and Wear OFFA. One Fund for All A young man asleep in bed, his radio alarm clock goes off with the time reading 6.30am. Before he turns the radio off, a female news reader comments on new government figures showing a drop in the numbers of people out of work. The man takes a shower and after getting dressed puts on a pair of headphones for his Sony Walkman cassette player to listen to some music. Heading downstairs he knocks on the bedroom door of his brother before turning to addressing the camera directly. He complains about his brother being unemployed and him ‘lounge about all day’ while he is out at work. At a dining room table the man eats a cooked breakfast while reading a tabloid newspaper. Again, he addresses the camera about the unemployed ‘not having it bad’. He turns the Positions Vacant page and points out the large number of potential jobs available. The clock on the tower of Newcastle Cathedral reads 8.30am as John McCormack walks across St Nicholas Square to his office at the Newcastle Trade Union Council Centre Against Unemployment on the Cloth Market. He unlocks the office door, heads inside and after putting the lights on heads over to his desk to look through some post. In voiceover he talks about the work of this and other Trade Union Council (TUC) unemployment centres and the facilities they offer. The young man stands in front of a bathroom mirror brushing his teeth still listening to music on his Walkman. He sees the camera and complains about the amount of tax he pays that allows people like his brother to sit around doing nothing all day. He asks the questions, why should he help them [the unemployed] when they’re not prepared to help themselves? Sitting at his desk John McCormack talks about the £30 million a year in benefits which go unclaimed on Tyneside alone. He believes this money is not only been denied to those who need it the most but also to the local economy which could create new jobs. The young man comes down a set of stairs and again knocks on his brother’s bedroom door. As he continues down to the ground floor, he makes a cruel joke about helping his brother keep fit. John McCormack talks about the perception employed people have of the unemployed that they have a ‘cosy’ life living on unemployment benefits. As John talks about the reality of the situation with people having to survive on extremely low-levels of incomes a line of men walking into a local Unemployment Benefit Office. As people walk past a poster inside a shop window that state it is Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) approved, John talks about the loss of many discretionary funds that once existed that would allow people to live with a certain level of dignity. Around Grey’s Monument in Newcastle a TUC protest with a young man addresses passer-by with a megaphone and others around a trestle table collecting signatures and handing out stickers. John McCormack explains the importance of campaign work such as this in getting the message over about ‘inadequacies and injustices’ that affect unemployed people. The young man comes out of his house and walks over to his car parked in the street. As he leaves and drives to work, he explains that his boss only employs people who already have a job as he sees those who are unemployed are ‘lazy’. John McCormack provides details of some of the benefits to employers of employing someone who has been long term unemployed. As the young man arrives and parks at his place of employment, John McCormack talks about the effects of long-term unemployment have on the individual who’s been knocked-back so many times. As the man walks away from his parked car, he comments that he believes that everyone is selfish and only looking after themselves. He concludes be saying that the unemployed has nothing to do with him as he already has a job. John McCormack counters this argument by say that he believes that most people wouldn’t want to live in a society where people didn’t care about their neighbour or those in their community. In his office John McCormack collects up leaflets placing them in a suitcase, in voiceover he describes his job as to go out and talk to shop steward committees, mass meetings and groups of trade unionists to explain the work of the TUC centres and how the One Fund For All fits into that network. Still images of the three TUC centres within Tyne and Wear at Newcastle, North Shields and Sunderland followed by photographs of those in a One Fund For All office at work with John McCormack in voiceover providing details about how the fund was set up and asking trade unionist watching to contribute financially towards it. At a meeting of shop stewards John McCormack makes a presentation on One Fund For All explaining its connections to the trade union movement, those around the table listen intently and make notes. Asleep in his bed the young man ignores his radio clock, the newsreader on the radio talks about the loss of jobs in the engineering industry. Looking sad he washes himself in the sink before trying to find something to eat. However, he is now unemployed and can no longer afford to keep his shelves and fridge stocked and thus are empty. A pen circles a part-time job in a local newspaper with John McCormack explaining in voiceover that the centre is seeing more people who had felt they were in a ‘job for life’ but are now finding themselves unemployed. The film ends with the young man coming along Cloth Market and looking in on the Newcastle Trade Union Council Centre Against Unemployment before heading inside. Title: Since this programme was produced, cash raised by OFFA has helped to establish an Unemployed Education Outreach Centre in the Gateshead area This represents a major success for the fund, and is a further step towards establishing a TUC Unemployment Centre in Gateshead The Officers and Staff of Tyne and Wear OFFA would like to thank Northern Newsreel for producing this video End title: © 1988 Trade Films Ltd