After five days of negotiations we now have a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition. Despite all the rhetoric about change, it is already clear that the Thatcherite strategy of destroying the public sector and the Welfare State is one that the Conservative PM plans to pursue.
Although PCS won a fantastic victory in the courts earlier in the week, don't think that the war is won. The new government is will appeal against the decision and if it we win the appeal, it will only mean that anyone made redundant will get the redundancy pay they have accrued during their service. It does not mean that the planned redundancies will not happen.
Don't believe me? Well the new Chancellor, George Osborne, has promised to deliver an emergency budget within fifty days which will cut the defecit by six billion pounds. That money will be found by cutting back on public services.
You may think that the government have no other option. But just think for a minute. This year the banks which the tax payer bailed out, have paid nearly the same amount of money in BONUSES. So despite the fact that the bankers reckless pusuit for super profits failed, they have still received billions of pounds in rewards! Surely it makes more sense for this money to go towards repaying the banks bail out, rather than make public sector workers redundant?
We are still awaiting full details of the cabinet, but the decision to make Iain Duncan Smith the new DWP Minister sends a clear message. Since 2005 IDS has been Chairman for the right wing think tank, The Centre for Social Justice. This group has continuously argued that the voluntary sector delivers better than the public sector and advocates that voluntary organisations should replace work currently carried out by civil servants. The Conservative Manifesto explicited stated that "The Work Programme will be delivered by private and voluntary providers, who will only be paid when someone gets and keeps a job." In other words, the new minister is on a mission to dismantle his own department.
What happens in DWP will be replicated across other departments. The website http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ gives an excellent breakdown on the voting record and opinions of all MPs, so when your new minister is announced, you can get get a decent idea of what their plans will be.
PCS will face it's biggest test during the life of this parliament. The reason for the cuts is ideological, not economic. The recession is just being used as an excuse, because boom or bust, they planned the cuts. We need to make the argument that it is the interest of the country, not just our members, that these savage cuts do not take place.
Right now is were the fight for our jobs begins.
