Manchester TUC issue call for action against cuts

Article published: Tuesday, October 19th 2010

With the long awaited Comprehensive Spending Review now upon us, the Manchester Trades Union Council (TUC) has organised a series of protests in opposition to cuts that it describes as “the biggest attack on working class living standards in living memory”.

In an announcement they further levelled the charge that while the cuts have been presented as inevitable by the Chancellor George Osborne, the Conservatives’ motivation is in fact ideological. As evidence they point to the fact that the savings will be made only 27% by an increase in taxes, with the remaining 73% coming from spending cuts – with poorer families to be hardest by rises in regressive taxes like VAT. As MULE has already reported these cuts will also disproportinately affect the North of the country, which is far more reliant on public sector jobs and government spending.

The Left Economics Advisory Panel (LEAP), a group of left-wing Labour MPs, have also published a dossier that tests the statements the Osborne made at the June Budget Statement and highlights ‘the flawed assertions and mistakes’ of the government’s fiscal policy. Equally it trashes the government’s claim that the budget is ‘progressive’ while arguing that rather than offering a robust response to public sector job losses, the private sector will too be weakened – quoting a leaked document from the Office for Budget Responsibility that showed that 600,000 job losses in the public sector would have a knock-on effect of 700,000 redundancies in the private sector.

For Geoff Brown, Secretary of Manchester TUC, this underlines the need for public and private sector workers to rally together. Speaking to MULE, he said: “You cannot separate the private sector from the public sector. You have members of the same families who work in both; and workers in the public sector provide services to those in the private. They cannot be played off against each other and treated as an ‘other’.

“The government has based its policy on the idea that by cutting wages it can increase exports and thereby reduce the deficit. This cannot occur on a global level, as is being proposed, for if wages crash everywhere there will be no import power. It is an economic nonsense.

“Anyone who takes a cut in wages actually makes it worse for other workers as it will lead to a race to the bottom in terms of wages.”

Previously this year trade union UNISON published an ‘alternative budget’ in which they showed how the deficit could be balanced by a series of progressive taxes, such as the Robin Hood Tax, without detrimentally affecting economic growth or the incomes of the majority, whilst the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have published similar alternatives. Nevertheless, critical voices questioning the necessity of the cuts have largely been ignored in the mainstream media.

A number of protests have been planned in Manchester over the next week by numerous unions and the Right to Work Coalition:

Wednesday 20 October day of protests

A rally called by the University and College Lecturers Union (UCU), UNISON, GMB and the National Union of Students (NUS) will begin at 12.30pm at All Saints Park.

This is to be followed by a “No To Cuts” public protest at Picadilly Gardens at 5pm.

Manchester TUC will hold a ‘Defend Education’ meeting at the Mechanics’ Institute at 8pm, open to all. This last event will focus on the Browne report on Higher Education published last week, which has angered the student body with its call to abolish the cap on the limit Universities can charge for student fees. This would result in graduates being saddled with debts for up to 30 years.

 

Saturday 23 October

There will be another day of protests starting at 11am in St. Peter’s Square, organised by the North West Shop Stewards Network and to be followed by a demonstration at midday outside the BBC building on Oxford Road called by the Right To Work Campaign.

 

Michael Pooler

For more information, go to Manchester TUC website: http://www.manchestertuc.org/

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Comments

1. 800,000 extra public sector workers were hired by new Labour. Council tax rocketed for years.

   Now the Tories wna to get rid of a mere 500,000 public sector workers. Most people never noticed any real imporvment in services when all the extra workers were hired and so won’t be sorry to get them off the payroll.

   Joblessness has been rising for a long time now but only when public sector workers start to suffer do the unions think this is a bad thing. That’s because unions are nothing more than public sector worker pressure groups which care nothing for the standard of services and everything about keeping their members in well paid, superbly pensiond jobs, many of which don’t need doing at all.

   Comment by simon on October 19, 2010 at 6:38 pm

2. On a personal note I’d like to say that in home care for the elderly has improved greatly and I’m worried that my grandparents aren’t going to get the help they need when the cuts come.

   Anyway

   Simon what utter crap. The BA strikes are just one example of the unions fighting for private sector workers in recent time.
   Unions have the problem of being hamstrung by draconian legislation that puts companies in the accendancy.
   Also have a look at the mules last art re pensions and pay in the public sector, it dispels alot of your myths

   Comment by dave on October 20, 2010 at 10:38 am

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   This is the secret covenant by which we shall live the rest of our present and future lives, for this reality will transcend many generations and life spans.
   This covenant is sealed by blood, our blood. We, the ones who from heaven to earth came.

   Comment by paradigmshifter01 on October 21, 2010 at 5:57 pm

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