A certain tabloid newspaper columnist, who generally enjoys being as racist, sexist and downright unpleasant as possible, is fond of saying ‘you couldn’t make it up’.
Ironic then that you really couldn’t have made up the latest offering from the Taxpayers’ Alliance – the sort of organisation I imagine the Richard Littlejohns of this world really love.
In response to the news that we’re heading for a triple dip recession because of the government’s failed austerity policies, this wholly misnamed outfit – set up and bankrolled by big business interests, but strangely reluctant to reveal its backers or sources of funding – called for “bold steps to cut spending to stimulate the economy”.
“Bold steps” to cut spending are, of course, already responsible for our communities being ripped apart and lives being shattered, with people who rely on benefits being scapegoated and punished in the most sickening way.
These steps are the ones that cut the jobs of tens of thousands of our colleagues, froze our pay and raided our pensions. Now ministers are coming for our basic working conditions as well because, with the rest of society on its knees, it’s apparently not fair that some people are still managing to crawl.
This is why our ballot for a new round of strikes and industrial action is so important, it is our response to the government’s “bold” vision that has done nothing but plunge us into the longest recession in living memory.
People have asked me, ‘shouldn’t we be round the negotiating table?’, and I say yes, we should. But for that to happen there needs to be a table to sit round – the government has refused to talk to us.
And consider all this alongside the plans to cut our facility time. Faced with increased workloads, more stress, the threat of redundancy and new draconian performance management systems designed to make it easier to sack staff, members are having the lifeline reps like us provide pulled away.
We have said it before, but it bears repeating, it’s a cynical political project to fundamentally change the face of our public services and our economy. And on the evidence to date, the more it fails, and the worse our economic situation gets, the more their cheerleaders will call for them to go further, and cut even deeper.
You really couldn’t make it up.
Sadly, they have, and it’s up to us to fight it.
Janice Godrich,
National President
