The Government is proposing more deregulation of the banking industry. Last time round it led to aggressive growth, many organisations getting out of their depth and the financial crash of 2008. If you’re a banker, you might be celebrating, no worries about fuelling inflation if you get an unlimited bonus. If you have non-dom status you might be celebrating Rishi Sunak’s failure to crack down on your tax status, but for teachers, nurses, postmen, ambulance drivers, railway workers, civil servants and the rest of us this is a very difficult time.
Energy and food prices are soaring and average real pay for public servants has dropped by 7.7% since two years ago. Even if people are working they are still struggling to pay bills, and visiting food banks. Numbers of teachers are plummeting, there are almost 50,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS, and ministers allegedly blocked a suggested 10% two-year pay increase for rail workers, because of ‘inflationary fears.’ We’re seeing the biggest drop in living standards on record, and it isn’t going to get better soon.
So when the Government cynically talks up the power of ‘union bosses,’ in an attempt to turn us against people striking, remember what unions have done for us. Two-day weekends, eight-hour working days, paid maternity leave, equal pay, workplace health and safety legislation, and the minimum wage were all introduced because of trade union activity.
When you have to wait for an ambulance, because of a strike, remember that you were already waiting for ambulances because of bed-blocking and underfunded NHS and adult social care. NHS staff are feeling undervalued, over-worked and have the burden of the nation’s health weighing on their shoulders.
When your train is overcrowded because two previous ones were cancelled due to strikes, remember the strike is not just about pay but about keeping passengers safe. Government insistence on driver-only trains makes them less secure and accessible, especially for vulnerable and disabled passengers, and the Government’s own disabled advisory body has previously described driver-only trains as ‘toxic.’ By adding unnecessary conditions at the last moment, it feels as if ministers are deliberately blocking the prospect of a deal.
Meanwhile Labour seems to lack enthusiasm for supporting public sector workers. Earlier this year a Shadow Minister was sacked from the party’s frontbench for daring to stand on a picket line and call for workers to receive a pay rise in line with inflation, and they haven’t made any promises to offer nurses a higher pay rise than the Tories.
The best Christmas present the Government could offer us all is ensuring that we get the public services we need by giving public sector workers a pay packet that provides dignity at work and at home.
Cllr. Jill Perry
Published in the Times & Star 22.12.22.
Titled 'What have the unions done for us'.