Government Cuts

Have read in the news today that the RMT (a rather militant British Union) has called for there to be co-ordinated resistance against the governments proposed cuts in the public sector. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against unions, I belong to one myself, though I do believe that some of them do not live in the real world - eg UNITE and BA. But anyway, what the article goes on to say is that the government has asked all departments to make between 25% and 40% savings over the next four years, with the exception of the NHS and overseas aid.


Now those of us in the public sector are anxiously waiting for the end of October, when the government is going to finally publish a figures of how much money they are going to cut, and then the cull will start. The rules state that police officers cannot be made redundant, they can be sacked, but not made redundant. On the flip side they are also not allowed to strike, and those who have served 30 years can be forced to retire, but this is very rarely enforced. As police staff there is a possibility that my job could be at risk, though in my team we do comfort ourselves that our role is hopefully safer than others. We can be made redundant but we can strike.


I think most people realise that things have got to change and jobs are going to be lost, but one of my concerns is that it is all well and good cutting the public sector to save money, but where do they expect these people to get jobs. There is no way way the private sector can fill the gap, after all, I was in the private sector when the recession first struck and was made redundant in a cost cutting exercise. So we cull the private sector and when these people can't get jobs in the private sector what happens............yeap, they will be claiming benefit!


Now the welfare budget, that is another thing that needs to be cut, and the government has stated its intention to do just that. Now there are loads of people who claim benefit that shouldn't, because they are perfectly capable of working.............so that will be a few more people chasing those few precious private sector jobs!!!


And then we get to those two departments that have been 'ring fenced', to use the official term...ie don't have to make cuts. The NHS and International Aid. Now the NHS is one of the most wasteful organisations about. I fully support the right for us all to have access to free health care and I fully accept and understand that in order to have this, we may have to wait for non urgent operations and treatments, but it really does need to sort itself out and become more efficient and streamlined. As with all of these things, when the money is short, who suffers, the people at the bottom who have to deliver the service. Come on NHS, cull some of that management structure.

And then we get to International Aid. Am I the only person out there who thinks charity begins at home????? COME ON. Here we are, millions of people in the public sector might be losing their jobs and we are still supporting other countries. It is all good and well being altruistic and when we have the cash, yeap, lets help those less fortunate than ourselves, but when the country is basically bankrupt, why have we not cut international aid. This is a global recession and hard times are coming to all!

And a sign of the times was brought home to me the other day in Asda. I went to pick up a few bits and also got a joint of meat for the roast today (it being Sunday 'n all). The joint, pork if you are interested, about £10's worth, was security tagged. The girl at the check out said that they are now having to tag the more expensive food items instead of clothes. And that is the stark reality of the situation we are in.

Well I suppose all we can do at this stage is wait and I have to be thankful that on the 12th October I will have worked for the police for a year, so will have more employment rights by the time we hear how much money we are expected to save!!