Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/535/4163
From The Socialist newspaper, 28 May 2008
Them & Us
Fat cats...
CREDIT CRUNCH hitting wages and prices? Not true for City of London fat cats who have been awarded bonuses totalling £13.2 billion so far this year. These were the record bonuses paid for high finance sector profits earlier in 2007.
The figures so far this year are only 1% down on those of a year ago. But the joy in the City may be short-lived. Some experts think that as many as 50,000 jobs could be lost in the City this year with a knock-on effect on job losses amongst the many lower-paid workers who service the City.
...and beasts of burden?
WORKERS IN Britain do a huge amount of unpaid overtime. A new report by Bristol University researchers suggests that this is particularly true in public-sector employment.
Almost half, 46%, of education, health and social care workers in public-sector and non-profit making bodies do regular unpaid overtime as compared to 29% of those employed by private companies in the same sectors. The unpaid labour of the public sector and 'non-profit' workers is equivalent to the work of 60,000 staff on normal hours.
This 'public-sector ethos' is being eroded by privatisation. Cost-cutting governments also risk the trust of these workers with pay freezes and below-inflation pay deals. More and more trade unionists will consider refusing to do either paid or unpaid overtime and will insist on taking proper rest and lunch breaks.
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In The Socialist 28 May 2008:
Crewe and Nantwich 'no-win' by-election: Why New Labour lost
I told my union: "We need a new workers' party"
Westminster parties are remote from life
Campaign for a new workers' party: conference 2008
Socialist Party campaigns
Exeter bomb explosion: Workers' unity needed against terrorism, war and deprivation
Socialist Party women
Women welcome abortion rights victory: Now fight to extend rights
Youth and crime
Home secretary: "Tough on crime"...but not the causes
'Youth justice': repressive measures do not work
Socialist Party feature
'Counter-terrorism' legislation threatens our democratic rights
International socialist analysis
South Africa: Attacks on refugees and migrants reveal capitalism's barbaric underbelly
Socialist Party review
The Wire - Reviewed by Michael Wrack
Socialist Party workplace news
PCS conference: More battles ahead on pay and jobs
Usdaw general secretary election: Members want democratic debate
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