Well Gordon Brown's speech went pretty much as I expected (see previous post). He used his allotted time to spew out party policy, instead of dealing with the spreading frost (outrage at below-inflation public sector pay rises) that could easily build into another Winter of Discontent.
Gordon stuck to his "always put stability first" guns saying: "No loss of discipline, no resort to the easy options, no unaffordable promises, no taking risks with inflation. So let me be straightforward with you - pay discipline is essential to prevent inflation, to maintain growth and create more jobs - and so that we never return to the old boom and bust of the past."
Discipline for who Gordon? I don't see you struggling to pay your mortgage and your bills. You are offering hard working people a less than inflation pay rise. You are therefore reducing the standard of living of millions of workers. Are you telling them that you can afford to fight wars abroad, you can afford to hand out millions more in benefits and you can spend £2.3bn for MOD consultants, but you cannot give honest working men and women the pay rise they need to meet the rising cost of living. You are robbing Peter to pay Paul. Peter works in the public sector and Paul sits at home all day scratching his fat arse while laughing at Peter.
Well Gordon, the people are not mollified with your spin. This is what the people who hold your job in their hands have to say:
Colin Moses, chairman of the Prison Officers' Association: "I never thought I would hear such a speech from a Labour prime minister."
Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union: "The government cannot achieve its own poverty reduction targets through low pay."
Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary: "The squeeze on pay of millions of public servants is a particular flash point at the moment, for sure."
Gordon, soon the people will realise that your party does not represent the working people of this country. You represent the people who are more than willing to sit idle while others work to sustain their sloth.
5 comments:
Here here.
Wow, Steve. Are you referring to the capitalist class who produce no wealth yet get the most of it?
Thought not.
Charlie,
How can you be a capitalist yet produce no wealth? I understand that capitalists are in it for themselves, but in making their money they are usually employing people.
True, but it is the employees doing the work, producing the wealth, no?
Don't try to muddy the issue.
Are public sector workers getting huge bonuses and above-inflation pay deals? How about telephone number salaries? No.
And before you say it: yes, I accept that there are small capitalists (I don't mean they're short!) who work alongside the people they employ and are therefore economically productive -- but their interests are more with their employees than with the super-rich.
I see from the previous post that the people you think we're all subsidising are those who are out of work (because they can't get a capitalist to employ them!) or unable to work because of illness (often caused by working conditions!) -- rather than the capitalist class.
I've never understood working class Toryism. If it's just opportunism, say it. Don't pretend there's no idle capitalist class who are the biggest drain on us.
Post a Comment