Gordon Brown announced last week that he was going to step up the
attacks on public-sector workers, no matter who runs the Labour
government.
Bill Mullins
Brown implied, according to the Guardian (14 July) that the days of
plenty for public-sector workers were over.
Opening up his assault on two fronts, he announced that a pay freeze
on public-sector workers’ pay would continue until 2011 and that any
pay increase would be restricted to no more than 2%. This actually
amounts to a pay cut for the six million workers in the public sector,
as inflation is already above that figure and is forecast to go even
higher.
His other attack was on jobs. He boasted that 45,000 civil service
jobs had already gone in "less than two years", as part of the 84,000
jobs that were targeted by Sir Peter Gershon in 2004. He then said that
once they had gone there would be more cuts after that.
Brown obviously thinks that it is popular to attack public-sector
workers, especially civil servants, "and put more resources into the
front line caring services". The reality is that the jobs that are
going or have already gone have caused a huge crisis in departments like
the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
As a result of staff cuts, millions of phone calls go unanswered and
some of the most vulnerable sections of society, those who depend on
state benefits, are being abandoned and thrown to the wolves.
Gordon Brown, like all the other New Labour neo-liberals, thinks that
you shouldn’t depend on the state and if you do then you are part of
the "undeserving poor" that are not worthy of any sympathy. The only
thing that stands against this brutal and cold-blooded attitude at this
stage is the public-sector trade unions.
"PCS members have never had "plentiful days" – more than a third
of our members earn less than £16,000 per year and have an end of
service pension of less than £4,000 per year. PCS members are completely
committed to delivering essential services that the poorest and most
vulnerable in our society rely on.
Our members and the services they provide are currently buckling
under the pressure of excessive cuts in jobs and services. This Labour
government should be supporting those jobs and services, not decimating
them in their attempts to line the pockets of big business and private
enterprise rather than the welfare state. PCS will do everything in its
power to stop the government in its tracks."
Marian Lloyd, PCS NEC member from Yorkshire
"If the days of plenty ever existed then they have passed me and my
workmates by. We do a service for the community despite politicians and
managers. There is a lot of good will given by us to do this job but we
are getting fed up with how we are treated by the bosses. There is a lot
of anger and the workplaces are like a tinderbox waiting to go off".
Nancy Taaffe, Waltham Forest library worker and UNISON member
"When have we ever had days of plenty? For the last five years we
have had pay increases pegged to the level of inflation and now he wants
to pay us even less. MPs have awarded themselves pensions of £28,000 per
year, whilst we are having our pensions rights cut to the bone."
