OFFICIAL PICKET Some of the greatest losers in the process will be women and black people who form the majority of the basic and low-paid grades throughout the civil service.
With union derecognition, negotiated 'equal opportunities' policies will cease to exist. Agreements on pensions, holidays, maternity and paternity leave, sickness benefits, rates of pay and hours of work, part-time working, job sharing, special training programmes will be smashed.
There is a also an ideological battle to be fought. The Tories have created the agenda which means privatised services are FOR WORKER:
perceived to be more efficient than state run services; that privatised services 'empower' and provide choice to their users. The opposite is true. It is the dagger of cuts hidden under the cloak of efficiency, empowerment and choice. Less money, fewer material resources and fewer workers mean worse services and less choice. The experience in local government has seen a deterioration of services after contracting out, with some services being brought back 'in-house' after malpractice and suspicions of corruption.
The success of the strike on the 5th shows the potential for increased industrial action. The left needs to fight for an open, democratic, alliance across the public sector.
This should link up with council workers in UNISON who face the same attacks on their jobs. It must draw in service users who also suffer as a result of cuts in the public sector workforce.