Land Registry strike, Swansea, 14.5.14, photo by R Job

Land Registry strike, Swansea, 14.5.14, photo by R Job   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Visiting Land Registry pickets in Swansea

It’s always a pleasure to visit PCS picket lines at Swansea’s Land Registry. For years I’ve witnessed inventive placards, music from a squeezebox and always a good turnout by determined pickets. Today, 14th May, when I visited on behalf of Swansea Trades Council and Swansea Socialist Party was no different. Taking advantage of the sun, pickets had organised a gazebo and were preparing a barbecued breakfast to start their 48-hour action on full stomach.

At stake is nothing less that the future of the Land Registry as a public service, along with all the jobs.

Nowhere perhaps is the government’s ideological commitment to privatisation more demonstrated. The Land Registry is profitable and efficient, so why mess with something that isn’t broken? Yet the government seems determined to hand it over to circling private sector vultures.

Land Registry strike, Swansea, 14.5.14, photo by R Job

Land Registry strike, Swansea, 14.5.14, photo by R Job   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Pickets called the so-called consultation by the government ‘a fix’. A recent leaked memo from the government suggests that far from being open to all options as it claims, the government is only interested in what form of privatisation to apply to the Land Registry. These revelations have strengthened pickets’ determination to fight to maintain not just their jobs but the public ownership and quality of the service they provide.

A militant workforce willing to take action is the best disincentive to potential private owners.

Keep the Land Registry public! Solidarity!

Ronnie Job