DSG 20 March action briefing 1 - Austerity: The Battle Cry of the 1%

As our union prepares to take action on 20 March, never has the phrase, "We are all in this together" seemed more inappropriate. We have asked for talks on pay, pensions, jobs and terms and conditions, but ministers are imposing cuts and refusing to negotiate.

Background

This is the most serious dispute we have faced as a union. We must take action to force the government to negotiate a fair settlement with us – otherwise our living standards, our jobs, working conditions and pensions will continue to be cut.

In the Ministry of Defence, we are making some progress, albeit slowly with the department in our Fair Deal in Defence campaign. The national campaign and the Fair Deal campaign are interlinked so on Budget Day 2013, we are asking all defence sector group members to send a message to the government and our employers that we don’t accept the cuts and we want real negotiations and agreements to protect our rights.

The rich getting richer

Members will probably be aware by now of the staggering statistic that just 1 per cent of the world’s population owns 40 per cent of the world’s wealth, while 60 per cent have to share just 1.9 per cent of it.

In the UK, the top 10% of households are now 850 times wealthier than the bottom 10% according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, according to the ONS, the biggest gap between the rich and the poor is in pensions; the top 10% had built up pension savings averaging £742,000 compared to the bottom 50% of households had just £4,000 in pension savings. The average civil service pension is £4,200 per year.

The government response?

In total there are over 13,000 millionaires in the UK. A recent study by Unison regarding the government’s decision to cut the 50p rate of tax would give these millionaires an average of £97,884.62 next year.

At the other end of the spectrum the reviled ‘bedroom tax’, will further impoverish the poorest in our society by making them pay more because they have the audacity to live in social housing with an extra room.

What are the policies of austerity?

PCS members are already starkly aware of the austerity measures happening in this country - cutting and privatising public sector work, alongside pay restraint, pension cuts and attacks on our terms and conditions.

Alongside this we should now add to the list the proposed changes to employment and trade union legislation, which will be revised to empower employers at the expense of employees’ job security, wages, benefits, and trade union representation for those in work.

Using austerity to weaken the trade union movement

It is in the DNA of Tory led governments to try and weaken, if not break trade unions when they are in power. The last Tory government, led by Thatcher deliberately engineered a dispute with the miners, stockpiled coal, paid massive salaries to the police and as a result weakened the trade union movement for generations to come

It is not a coincidence that today’s austerity measures are aimed first and foremost at the public sector. The public sector is the UK’s most heavily populated unionised area. If our union, alongside others in the public sector can be broken into accepting austerity, sweeping aside the rest of the UK’s workforce in the pursuit of greed will be an easier task for the 1%. In short, austerity is a program of class war.

Time to fight back

Austerity is sold as the only available means of reducing the debt. However, there is plenty of money to take care of these financial imbalances. It is in the pockets of the wealthy and big business elites whose think tanks and politicians are, not coincidentally, the architects of austerity.

It is time to redress the balance and take a stand against the rich, wealthy and powerful that hide behind, but benefit from austerity.

Make that stand on 20 March

PCS members are now ‘all in this together’. Of course, we do our jobs to get paid and to look after our family, but as PCS members in the defence sector, we also do our job because we understand and support the need for the best possible support to our military on the front line.

As part of the Ministry of Defence, we get plenty of plaudits, but this is simply empty rhetoric and unfortunately the millionaires in the cabinet along with their friends in the right wing press and their billionaire backers care little about the first rate service we provide.

On 20 March, it is time to take action. It is now time for every PCS member in the Ministry of Defence to stand together and get fully behind our union. We have proven that when we stand together we can resist attacks from the employer and defend our jobs and terms and conditions. Make sure everyone where you are is in our union and is prepared to stand up and defend our entitlements and our jobs. A small sacrifice now can make a big difference.