The AM for where was it again Slick?

Newport resident Mick Antoniw was elected in 2011 as Assembly Member for Pontypridd, the constituency he claimed to be living in at the time. 

Yet it is sometimes difficult to tell looking at his twitter feed and press releases which seem to be almost solely concerned with union issues and his asbestos Bill.  Even his website has little to say about his constituency.

Take a look at his news page. Asbestos Bill, Agricultural Wages Board, and article about a Statement of Opinion he tabled on the “injustices suffered by Welsh miners following events at Orgreave Coke Plant, South Yorkshire, during June 1984.”

There are a couple of pats on the back for RCT Council, and only one article which really addresses any of the major issues of concern on his patch – the appalling ambulance response times in RCT.  Bottom of the league yet again according to the latest stats.  They have been way off target for some time, but this is the first mention he has made of them, coincidentally immediately following a series of direct challenges I made via twitter to him about it.

Under the Pontypridd tab is a direct lift form Wikipedia which is solely about Pontypridd town, not the constituency.  His ‘campaigns’ show a similar disregard for the area – a report about Tonyrefail which is 18 months old and about which nothing seems to have been done since.

What about the disgraceful state of our town centres, what about a reduction in business rates for traders there, what about car parking charges, what about health waiting lists, what about the paddling pool, what about the disgraceful Estyn report RCT received last year? What about the proposed new town centre for Talbot Green? Does the Pontypridd AM have any comments or concerns about any of the things his constituents are talking about?  Or is he too busy pursuing his union interests?

Each week in the Assembly AMs get to put questions to Ministers.  Many use this opportunity to bring up subjects that are important in their constituency / region.  Today was their opportunity to question the Minister for Housing, Regeneration and Heritage.  So what would it be?  A question about empty homes which affects wards such as Treforest and The Graig in particular.  Or about  regeneration – how would the new town in Talbot Green, if it gets the go ahead affect existing town centres, should more be done to regenerate existing centres?  Heritage – maybe a question about the paddling pool?
 

Nope.  His question today

"What plans does the Minister have to recognise the 200^th anniversary of the birth of John Hughes next year?”

Who was John Hughes? 

“A nineteenth century industrialist who founded an ironworks and mining town in imperial Russia, named Hughesovka in his honour. Little is known about his early life, but John Hughes was born in Merthyr Tydfil where his father was an engineer at Cyfarthfa ironworks.”

Although reading on you can see where Slick’s interest may spark from

“It is thought Hughes also learnt his trade there before moving to Ebbw Vale and then the Uskside Foundry in Newport in the 1840s.

There he married Elizabeth Lewis, and had eight children, six boys and two girls, all born in Newport.”

I rest my case.

Antoniw takes the biscuit on employees rights.

Pontypridd AM Mick Antoniw really does have some brass neck.  He has currently been banning the drum on several projects associtaed with employees rights. 

The abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board has been troubling him greatly - despite the fact that this organisation no longer serves any useful purpose as workers are protected by the minimum wage.

Then just last week he reported that he

"Asked Minister and leader of the House about corporate governance in Wales. 111 Welsh workers blacklisted for being members of a trades union or raising health and safety issues. some of these companies have received contracts from Welsh Gov worth millions over the years."

Now I would not suggest for one minute that the practice of blacklisting anyone for being part of a union should be condoned - nor indeed for not being part of a union!  But for Mr Antoniw of all people to be taking this holier than thou attitude is a bit rich.

He is of course a former partner in Thompsons solicitors - reprimanded by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and made to pay costs amounting to £88,000 for irregularities involving miners' compensation claims.

Last week Wales Online carried an article  in which it was claimed he refused to give his own employee - an RCT Councillor - time off to attend Council meetings, even though he is legally entitled to such time.

The double standards shown are quite breathtaking, but then we have come to expect little else from him.  He did after all rent a house on Llantrisant for a couple of months prior to the Assembly election merely to have a Pontypridd constituency address to put on his ballot paper.  He actually lives in Newport.

Those he purports to represent really do deserve better. 

Actions speak louder than words

“LEADING figures in the Tonyrefail community have joined forces to have their say on the future of their beloved town.

More than 100 people from local schools, community groups, churches and businesses took time out to read a new report by Owen Smith MP and Mick Antoniw AM on how the town can increase footfall, be promoted and boost its sense of community.”

This was the beginning of an article which appeared in the local press on 22^nd March 2012 – oddly enough just as the Council election campaign started to get under way properly.

As far as I am aware very little appears to have happened since.  Although there was an apparently chance encounter between Mr Antoniw and Tonyrefail traders in September as reported in the Rhondda Leader.  After that slight run in the Pontypridd AM had to quickly get in touch with the Council and come back with a statement no doubt prepared by our favourite story teller Hans Christian Hanagan.

His colleague and co-author of the report Owen Smith made similar noises at a public meeting in Pontypridd some two years ago when he talked of a new forum for traders and residents in the town there.  Nothing has come of that either.  Yet more cynical politicking by Labour’s not so dynamic duo?