PCS members on strike at the East Kilbride tax office
Budget Day strikes by civil service workers
By Richie Venton–SSP national workplace organiser - 22-03-10
What a comment on the state of New Labour! As Alistair Darling of the Rich announces their Budget, over 200,000 of “their own” workforce – civil servants - will be striking against New Labour’s attempt to slaughter tens of thousands more jobs on the cheap.
On 8-9th March, these mostly low-paid workers walked out in the biggest civil service strike since 1987. Around 90% responded to the 48-hour strike – with numbers even bigger on the second day, partly as the handfuls who went in to work were swayed by the sheer scale of the first day’s strike.
Pickets at the Scottish and Westminster parliaments on Budget Day will be a feature of this battle to stop savage cuts to redundancy terms, costing many workers tens of thousands of pounds, which would usher in carnage of jobs and galloping privatisation.
Strikers plan to lobby Labour Party HQ in Glasgow and Alistair Darling’s residence in Edinburgh.
PCS – in common with the SSP – are highlighting the obscene £130billion taxes on big business and the fabulously rich that went unpaid last year. If the government wants to cut their own deficit, why not hire more tax workers to chase this up, instead of firing 25,000 of them so far, with many more job losses planned?
As well as rocking the government on Budget day, this is an opportunity to build amongst PCS members for united action across the entire public sector, against all cuts to all jobs and services. The SSP is championing the drive to turn the Scottish UNISON national demo, in Glasgow on Saturday 10th April, into an almighty show of united strength, to pound the pro-cuts parties and politicians into retreat as they beg for votes in the general election.
The rolling thunder of resistance by workers is spreading across the railways, BA, teachers, council workers and PCS members. With the courage of the members who defy bully-boy bosses (as in the railways, BA and PCS) and vicious demonisation by the media, the union leaderships need to build united action just when politicians feel they have to listen for once: pre-Election!
A successful Budget day strike followed by a monster march on 10th April will help to halt the carnage being pursued by all the parties who believe public sector cuts are essential to the upkeep of their friends’ profits.
The SSP, in common with our track record since 1998, will be on the pickets, lobbies and marches, fighting for a socialist alternative that creates jobs and expands public services, by making the rich pay for the crisis of their own making!