Comments on: THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC SERVICES UNDER LABOUR

By: Louise

Louise — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:55:31 +0000

I just skimmed through Serwotka’s speech and what interested me (and maybe I missed it…so apols if I have) is that there’s not much on welfare reform esp. with the Pathways to Work programme along with the contracting out of welfare provision to private and voluntary orgs.

From Dec, Peter Hain hopes that the “successful contractors” will be delivering the Pathways to Work in 15 Job Centre Plus Centres and a second phase of contracts will be announced sometime soon (remaining 16 Job Centre Plus Centres) so even more private companies with their snouts in the trough…..

And one of these “contractors” is WorkDirections Ltd, which is part of the Ingeus Group that has an awful reputation in Australia for screwing the workforce over re pay and conditions.

So…what is the PCS doing?

By: Tawfiq Chahboune

Tawfiq Chahboune — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:40:40 +0000

Ed, this clearly has *everything* to do with Labour policies. The Northern Rock fiasco is a result of Treasury policies. The 25 million names that have gone missing is the result of the Treasury overhaul of HMRC. The continuing sleaze and corruption is a result of being very friendly with shady businessmen (and its distancing itself from the unions) for the lifetime of the New Labour “project”. The economic “boom” has been built on manufactured debt (a partial reason for the Northern Rock chaos) and an artificial bubble in house prices. All of these are now coming back to bite Labour. It is a perfect storm. Where am I wrong? Or did Labour have nothing to do with any of this? What have I made up? I agree with Larry Eliot and William Keegan, pretty reasonable and moderate economic commentators.
You’ll find that I stick to the facts, and the facts are unpleasant.

By: Nick Bird

Nick Bird — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:22:29 +0000

The PCS, of which I am a member, does not represent “backroom bureaucrats”. That is the lie advanced by all three main parties. It represents the people who deliver front line public services in increasingly difficult circumstances. We are also poorly paid and many long serving members are facing an average 1% wage rise over the next three years, an effective pay cut given the rate of inflation. That’s why we’ll be out on strike next week in the DWP.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:13:34 +0000

(and it has very little to do with Brown, as the Blairites claim, but because of ten years of policy)

Tawfiq, you’re consistently wrong on everything. Just because you disagree with the government is no reason to make things up; Labour are patently not in trouble because of ten years of policy. A series of crisis over recent months, unrelated to the public services, has put them in the position they are currently in. We all know this.

Most unions, although deeply concerned about the current tightening of public expendature, do understand that they have done well out of Labour and that every ten years or so they are bound to go through one of these phases - it’s part of the economic cycle.

Mark Serwotka is unusual in that regard; his civil service union, that represents backroom buearocrats, has gone through severe cuts precisely in order to maintain funding to the front line public services, so it’s no wonder he is bitter.

You can’t please everyone in this world I’m afraid - there will always be some losers.

By: Tawfiq Chahboune

Tawfiq Chahboune — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:52:31 +0000

Now that Labour is in real trouble (and it has very little to do with Brown, as the Blairites claim, but because of ten years of policy) we will now hear how we have to rally round, hold our noses and vote for Brown because the Tories will get in.

I’m all for a longterm strategy, but that seems like repeating the same mistakes of the last ten years. I say let Labour fall apart and purge whatever Left there is. For Labour to play the politics of desperation after all this time really is the icing on the cake.