This coming week in the budget the chancellor is expected to scrap the national pay rate agreement for public sector pay allowing certain parts of the country to start paying less or more depending on their area.
Chancellor George Osborne is expected to say civil servants, such as Jobcentre and DVLA staff, should have pay brought into line with private sector salaries in their regions.
The Public and Commercial Services union says it would cut regional wages.
The Treasury says public sector pay in some parts of England and Wales is up to 18% higher than the private sector.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union - which represents civil servants - told the BBC the plans would be "cruel, economically incompetent and counterproductive" at a time when public sector salaries and pensions were being cut.
The chancellor wants to rebalance the economy and that means getting private sector companies growing. Scrapping national pay deals for public sector workers might level the playing field... or so the theory goes.
In places where public sector workers are paid more than those in the private sector, Treasury sources say private firms are "crowded out" because they cannot compete with the wage levels.
But that would mean setting pay levels locally which the trades unions warn would lead to huge disparities across the country and could drive down pay in the regions.
The move would mean local factors, such as the cost of living and private sector pay rates, would now be taken into account for public sector workers.
Treasury research suggests the pay gap ranges from 18% in Wales to 0.5% in the south-east of England.
The plans would initially affect 160,000 civil servants working in Jobcentres, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), and border guards at ports and airports.
But local pay rates affecting up to six million public sector workers could be rolled out from next year.
Which to me tells me where this is eventually heading, full privatisation of public services claiming that private sector jobs can’t compete is nonsense to me and is further playing public sector off against private sector workers. More and more classic divide and rule tactics from this rotten Tory government.
Why are people not asking well if private sector pay is not as good as public sector why don’t we bring that up to a similar level rather than levelling down public sector all the time?
It seems to me another vicious attack on public sector workers on top of the already hard attacks on pensions, pay freeze’s cuts to services working hours and others. It’s a cynical attempt by a government who has lost its way and is desperately trying anything to kick starting a failing economy. The fact that workers wages are being attacked full stop tells me much, while bankers get their bonus’s and the rich get tax cuts the poorest workers in society see pay cuts, pay freezes and cynical divide and rule tactics enforced on them.
Its time all unions in the public sector said enough is enough and starts preparing plans for a serious wave of industrial strike action that can lead to the downfall of this government.
Its clear capitalism is not working and needs to be brought to an end replaced with a democratic planned economy based on everybody's needs not the greed o fa few.
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Showing posts with label private sector workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label private sector workers. Show all posts
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Monday, 28 November 2011
How a victory over public sector pensions can give all workers a boost in confidence
This wednesday 30th of November its been well documented that up to 4 million public sector workers will be out on strike first time this many on one day since the 1926 great general strike. But this could be a game changer.
If and its a big if the government of millionaires are foced back and have to retreat which is not impossibly given their record of u-turns already. Mass action of working people can give huge confidence to other workers in say the private sector and to young and old workers.
An opinion poll commissioned by BBC News suggests 61% of people believe public sector workers are justified in going on strike over pension changes.
The research also indicates differences between men and women in their outlook on the strikes and the economy.
The polling firm Comres interviewed 1,005 adults by telephone across England, Scotland and Wales one week ago.
The poll indicates greater sympathy for the industrial action among women - at 67% - compared with men, at 55%.
Younger people, it also suggests, are considerably more supportive of the strikes than pensioners; almost four in five 18 to 24-year-olds back the action, a little under half of over-65s do.
No doubt much of this support has come through student demonstrations and demonstrations like the Jarrow march drawing attention to youth in struggle and how the young are being hit hard by this crisis in capitalism.
But a only a complete withdraw of the pension reforms and a change back to RPi from CPI which this government cynically changed when they came in will only do for ordinary workers who are due to loose out big time.
As i've said before ordinary working people did not cause this crisis so they should not have to pay for it. Not a single cut is nessesary as i've pointed out if the 120 billion estimated pounds of evaded tax from rich corporations and business's was properly collected.
Failing that the banks should all be nationalised under democratic workers control. These key demands must be started to be taken up by workers in struggle i feel.
But the sense of confidence a win in this dispute will given workers and unions alike will be huge. Just imagine if we push teh government back on this. We will be able to say look our unions pushed back the gov on this and strike action works now lets go further and push for more and more.
Lets be under no illusion this government forged together in the cellar of teh city of London a government of austerity and misery for working people who have no mandate are extremely weak and can be defeated.
For this to happen we must stand united public and private sector workers. No flinching from any trade union leaders. No to any secret deals everything must be done all out in the open.
The fact is public sector pensions are affordable and actually go down as a percentage to GDP over the years according to the Lord Hutton report.
Lets not buy the arguements that private sector pensions are poor so public sector should be too. That is a recipe for a race to the bottom. It is a arguement that private sector pensions should be decent aswell.
If the government says it cannot afford this then we must say we cannot afford your system and call time on capitalism and the 1%. Its time to look for alternatives. That alternative is socialism.
A system based on peoples needs before profits. A system that looks after the 99% not just the 1%.
If and its a big if the government of millionaires are foced back and have to retreat which is not impossibly given their record of u-turns already. Mass action of working people can give huge confidence to other workers in say the private sector and to young and old workers.
An opinion poll commissioned by BBC News suggests 61% of people believe public sector workers are justified in going on strike over pension changes.
The research also indicates differences between men and women in their outlook on the strikes and the economy.
The polling firm Comres interviewed 1,005 adults by telephone across England, Scotland and Wales one week ago.
The poll indicates greater sympathy for the industrial action among women - at 67% - compared with men, at 55%.
Younger people, it also suggests, are considerably more supportive of the strikes than pensioners; almost four in five 18 to 24-year-olds back the action, a little under half of over-65s do.
No doubt much of this support has come through student demonstrations and demonstrations like the Jarrow march drawing attention to youth in struggle and how the young are being hit hard by this crisis in capitalism.
But a only a complete withdraw of the pension reforms and a change back to RPi from CPI which this government cynically changed when they came in will only do for ordinary workers who are due to loose out big time.
As i've said before ordinary working people did not cause this crisis so they should not have to pay for it. Not a single cut is nessesary as i've pointed out if the 120 billion estimated pounds of evaded tax from rich corporations and business's was properly collected.
Failing that the banks should all be nationalised under democratic workers control. These key demands must be started to be taken up by workers in struggle i feel.
But the sense of confidence a win in this dispute will given workers and unions alike will be huge. Just imagine if we push teh government back on this. We will be able to say look our unions pushed back the gov on this and strike action works now lets go further and push for more and more.
Lets be under no illusion this government forged together in the cellar of teh city of London a government of austerity and misery for working people who have no mandate are extremely weak and can be defeated.
For this to happen we must stand united public and private sector workers. No flinching from any trade union leaders. No to any secret deals everything must be done all out in the open.
The fact is public sector pensions are affordable and actually go down as a percentage to GDP over the years according to the Lord Hutton report.
Lets not buy the arguements that private sector pensions are poor so public sector should be too. That is a recipe for a race to the bottom. It is a arguement that private sector pensions should be decent aswell.
If the government says it cannot afford this then we must say we cannot afford your system and call time on capitalism and the 1%. Its time to look for alternatives. That alternative is socialism.
A system based on peoples needs before profits. A system that looks after the 99% not just the 1%.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
The role the NSSN has played in the struggles so far
The left was seen by many to have taken its time to organise a proper fightback to the cuts and austerity but we can be in no doubt now that the trade unions and the left is here and fighting back. We in the National shops stewards network can feel very proud of the role we have played so far in the struggles against the cuts and privatisation.
The increasingly important role the NSSN is playing in the anti-cuts movement means that the democratic debates which took place at the beginning of the year on whether the NSSN should launch an anti-cuts campaign at all now seem a distant memory.
Events have quickly confirmed that the NSSN was right to do so.
Split from SWP
Nonetheless it is worthwhile briefly commenting on recent developments in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) because they have so clearly confirmed many of the points made by the Socialist Party in the debate at the beginning of the year.
In the run up to the January NSSN conference the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) was among the most vociferous opponents of an NSSN anti-cuts campaign being launched on the spurious grounds that it would unnecessarily divide the movement to launch another national anti-cuts campaign when Coalition of Resistance (CoR) and Right to Work (RtW) were already in existence.
In the anti-cuts movement there is rightly and inevitably a mood for unity. Nonetheless, as was understood by a large majority of delegates at the NSSN anti-cuts conference, to attempt to use that mood as a reason to oppose the NSSN launching its own anti-cuts campaign was completely disingenuous.
The NSSN has consistently argued for the maximum possible cooperation between the national anti-cuts campaigns. To give just two examples from recent weeks the NSSN invited RtW and CoR to speak on its stages at the TUC demo and has taken part in joint delegations to discuss with the TUC.
However, to merge the three campaigns into one organisation would only be a step forward if the net result was an open, democratic anti-cuts campaign organised around a clear, fighting programme.
So as we move towards the autumn with the high possibility of big mass strikes to come in the public sector we feel that the NSSN has and still is playing a key role in the fight against the cuts. I do feel at present though we do have to keep trying to reach out to other parts of the working class such as the reserve army of workers AKA the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and women too of course.
On 30 November, two to three million public sector workers will be on strike to defend their pensions. More workers will be out than on the first day of the 1926 general strike.
The NSSN is proud of the role that it's played in paving the way. On 11 September we lobbied the TUC Congress and held a rally under the slogan of a 24-hour public sector general strike. Over 700 shop stewards and trade unionists listened to leading union speakers such as Mark Serwotka of the PCS and Bob Crow of the RMT.
This government of millionaires can be defeated by coordinated strike action. Millions of workers striking together can stop the Con-Dems in their tracks. And if one day is not enough to force a u-turn, we must prepare for a two-day strike as the next stage of the escalating action.
In all the workplace meetings, shop stewards' committees and union branch committees, the message has to be hammered home that workers shouldn't pay the price for the bankers' crisis.
Workers have shown their determination to fight at every opportunity they've been given this year. Over 500,000 marched against the cuts in London on 26 March and over 750,000 civil servants, teachers and lecturers went on strike against the pension attacks on 30 June.
But the first job for 30 November is to win the strike ballots with an overwhelming vote. Meetings have to be organised in every workplace. Where there is more than one union, these could be joint meetings. Members of the PCS, NUT, UCU and ATL unions who were out on 30 June and have live strike mandates should be invited to speak. This can give confidence to the many workers who haven't been on strike before.
These can be supplemented by public meetings and rallies in towns and cities and on estates to draw in other working class people - young people and all those who suffer from and oppose the cuts, including private sector workers who also face job losses and pay and pension cuts.
The NSSN encourages all private sector workers involved in current disputes to consider coordinating their industrial action with the strike on 30 November. As Mark Serwotka said at the NSSN rally on 11 September: "Low-paid workers in the private sector are exploited by shareholders and executives, not by fellow low-paid workers in the public sector."
A victory for public sector workers on pensions, by forcing a retreat or even the downfall of this government, would raise the confidence to fight back.
What you can do:
If your union is balloting, you could organise a workplace meeting, if applicable jointly with other unions. This should form the basis for democratic control of the strike
You could organise a public meeting in your town or city with the unions in dispute or trades council, anti-cuts campaign or NSSN. Explain the need to prepare for further action if necessary
Plan a demonstration in your town or city on the day of the strike
All united - invite private sector workers, young people, unemployed, pensioners, etc to any public meetings, rallies and demonstrations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this issue
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building for 30 November strike
Mass strikes can
Many call for unity at these times but certainly on the industrial front against cuts this is key and teh NSSN i feel is leading the way showing a lead in the struggles against the boss's. With big unions and trade union leaders now backing the network such as Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka two of the more militant trade unin leaders out there are highlighting the role the NSSN has played in putting pressure on the TUC to call for a 24 hour public sector general strike. We feel that we added to the feeling and the pressure by lobbying the TUC on the 11th of september and will happily do so again next year if need be. We will not rest and sit by while our fellow workers in the public and private sector are under attack. We need a organisation like the NSSN to bring together all of the struggles unite under one banner and give support quickly and effectively when needed to workers.
The NSSN is key in the struggle as it gives rank-and-file trade unionists a voice and a network to organise in. To learn off each other and unite our struggles.
I think we can feel proud of our role and i hope the NSSN continues to grow and remain strong, democratic and a fighting organisation for militant trade unionists.
The increasingly important role the NSSN is playing in the anti-cuts movement means that the democratic debates which took place at the beginning of the year on whether the NSSN should launch an anti-cuts campaign at all now seem a distant memory.
Events have quickly confirmed that the NSSN was right to do so.
Split from SWP
Nonetheless it is worthwhile briefly commenting on recent developments in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) because they have so clearly confirmed many of the points made by the Socialist Party in the debate at the beginning of the year.
In the run up to the January NSSN conference the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) was among the most vociferous opponents of an NSSN anti-cuts campaign being launched on the spurious grounds that it would unnecessarily divide the movement to launch another national anti-cuts campaign when Coalition of Resistance (CoR) and Right to Work (RtW) were already in existence.
In the anti-cuts movement there is rightly and inevitably a mood for unity. Nonetheless, as was understood by a large majority of delegates at the NSSN anti-cuts conference, to attempt to use that mood as a reason to oppose the NSSN launching its own anti-cuts campaign was completely disingenuous.
The NSSN has consistently argued for the maximum possible cooperation between the national anti-cuts campaigns. To give just two examples from recent weeks the NSSN invited RtW and CoR to speak on its stages at the TUC demo and has taken part in joint delegations to discuss with the TUC.
However, to merge the three campaigns into one organisation would only be a step forward if the net result was an open, democratic anti-cuts campaign organised around a clear, fighting programme.
So as we move towards the autumn with the high possibility of big mass strikes to come in the public sector we feel that the NSSN has and still is playing a key role in the fight against the cuts. I do feel at present though we do have to keep trying to reach out to other parts of the working class such as the reserve army of workers AKA the unemployed, the disabled, the elderly and women too of course.
On 30 November, two to three million public sector workers will be on strike to defend their pensions. More workers will be out than on the first day of the 1926 general strike.
The NSSN is proud of the role that it's played in paving the way. On 11 September we lobbied the TUC Congress and held a rally under the slogan of a 24-hour public sector general strike. Over 700 shop stewards and trade unionists listened to leading union speakers such as Mark Serwotka of the PCS and Bob Crow of the RMT.
This government of millionaires can be defeated by coordinated strike action. Millions of workers striking together can stop the Con-Dems in their tracks. And if one day is not enough to force a u-turn, we must prepare for a two-day strike as the next stage of the escalating action.
In all the workplace meetings, shop stewards' committees and union branch committees, the message has to be hammered home that workers shouldn't pay the price for the bankers' crisis.
Workers have shown their determination to fight at every opportunity they've been given this year. Over 500,000 marched against the cuts in London on 26 March and over 750,000 civil servants, teachers and lecturers went on strike against the pension attacks on 30 June.
But the first job for 30 November is to win the strike ballots with an overwhelming vote. Meetings have to be organised in every workplace. Where there is more than one union, these could be joint meetings. Members of the PCS, NUT, UCU and ATL unions who were out on 30 June and have live strike mandates should be invited to speak. This can give confidence to the many workers who haven't been on strike before.
These can be supplemented by public meetings and rallies in towns and cities and on estates to draw in other working class people - young people and all those who suffer from and oppose the cuts, including private sector workers who also face job losses and pay and pension cuts.
The NSSN encourages all private sector workers involved in current disputes to consider coordinating their industrial action with the strike on 30 November. As Mark Serwotka said at the NSSN rally on 11 September: "Low-paid workers in the private sector are exploited by shareholders and executives, not by fellow low-paid workers in the public sector."
A victory for public sector workers on pensions, by forcing a retreat or even the downfall of this government, would raise the confidence to fight back.
What you can do:
If your union is balloting, you could organise a workplace meeting, if applicable jointly with other unions. This should form the basis for democratic control of the strike
You could organise a public meeting in your town or city with the unions in dispute or trades council, anti-cuts campaign or NSSN. Explain the need to prepare for further action if necessary
Plan a demonstration in your town or city on the day of the strike
All united - invite private sector workers, young people, unemployed, pensioners, etc to any public meetings, rallies and demonstrations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this issue
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building for 30 November strike
Mass strikes can
Many call for unity at these times but certainly on the industrial front against cuts this is key and teh NSSN i feel is leading the way showing a lead in the struggles against the boss's. With big unions and trade union leaders now backing the network such as Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka two of the more militant trade unin leaders out there are highlighting the role the NSSN has played in putting pressure on the TUC to call for a 24 hour public sector general strike. We feel that we added to the feeling and the pressure by lobbying the TUC on the 11th of september and will happily do so again next year if need be. We will not rest and sit by while our fellow workers in the public and private sector are under attack. We need a organisation like the NSSN to bring together all of the struggles unite under one banner and give support quickly and effectively when needed to workers.
The NSSN is key in the struggle as it gives rank-and-file trade unionists a voice and a network to organise in. To learn off each other and unite our struggles.
I think we can feel proud of our role and i hope the NSSN continues to grow and remain strong, democratic and a fighting organisation for militant trade unionists.
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