Home  Campaign against Cuts
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EWN Campaign Against Job, Pay and Service Cuts |
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All workers face tough times ahead. Whichever government is in power there is going to be an attempt to drive down the living standards of ordinary people. But public sector workers face a particularly tough time. It is clear that, over the next few years, the government is going to try and impose public sector cuts of a scale never seen in Britain before.
The Institute of Fiscal Studies has calculated that it will take a 16% cut in public spending to significantly reduce government debt. Cuts of this magnitude would decimate the education sector and lead to thousands of job losses, massive wage cuts and ever increasing work loads for those lucky enough to keep their jobs.
The obscenity lies in the reasons behind the cuts. Instead of directly investing money in public services, the government handed it over to the banks with no restriction on how it was to be used. Then they seemed shocked when the banks used it to boost profits and bonuses. As a result of the government’s stupidity and the bankers’ greed we now find our very livelihoods in jeopardy.
Well, we should send a clear message to the government. The financial crisis was created by the bankers, not us. If the government can borrow billions to save the necks of bankers, it can certainly borrow to invest in schools, universities and the public sector in general. This would not only create jobs, it would drag the economy out of recession, in the process boosting government revenue which could be used to pay off the debt.
But empty threats will not put a stop to spending cuts. It is going to take coordinated strike action, involving all public sector workers to force change on the government. And for us, the starting point for such a strike is to fight against every education cut that management try to impose on us and to link that fight to the wider struggle against public spending cuts. In this way we can build a broad based workplace campaign for a public sector strike that will put a stop to government attempts to decimate our jobs, our pay and our industry.
Here at the Education Workers’ Network we hope to play our part in the campaign for a public sector strike against cuts. If you are interested in being involved please contact us.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 December 2009 )
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