As we loom ever nearer to that momentous day, when approximately 750,000 public-sector employees will walk out in protest over proposed pension reforms, it is essential that an enlightening, yet concise, case is made in favour of strike action. For months now, tabloid stories denouncing public-sector workers and their pay have been abundant.
Gold-plated has been utilised as a supposedly cutting remark, notwithstanding that fact that, when thinking about it, to be gold-plated signals inferiority as opposed to superiority. Indeed, if I were given the choice between a gold watch and a gold-plated watch, I know which one I would purchase. Nevertheless, petty linguistic squabbles aside, there is a very real and genuine case to be made in support of the unions in their ongoing melee with the Tories.
First and foremost in my argument is the simple, and accurate, assertion that the Tories are in fact hopeful that the unions will walk out and stage numerous protests over the coming months. These pension reforms have provided Cameron with a window of opportunity to finally finish what Margaret Thatcher started during her reign as Conservative leader.
Her war with the trade unions was an incomplete battle and one Cameron's right-wing rabble had every intention of finishing the moment they stepped foot inside Downing Street.
Workers rights have never been top of the Tory agenda, except now, with the full backing of the majority of mainstream media outlets, they can irrevocably endeavour to stick the final nail in the public-sector coffin. Cameron knows that, with headlines such as "The gold-plated council pensions funded by you", the majority of public sentiment will be against strike action.
Blatant myths have been fabricated and re-told in order to rally the ignorant masses. The most common of these myths is that public-sector pensions are "unaffordable" and "untenable". This fable has been exercised in order to alarm an already anxious public into believing that our hard-working teachers and nurses are in some way culpable for the current financial mess Britain finds itself in. If only the fable were accurate.
The government-commissioned Hutton report clearly and irrefutable highlights that public-sector pensions payments will peak, this year, at 1.9% of GDP, falling gradually, prior to any reforms and alteration, to 1.4% of GDP in 2059. As the Public Accounts Committee states, it appears that affordability was defined "on the basis of public perception rather than judgement on the cost in relation to either GDP or total public spending."
Ironically, in 2007, David Cameron had the bare-faced audacity to accuse Gordon Brown of hitting "those who have worked hard and saved for their future" by pushing through, you guessed it, pension reform. Clearly Mr Cameron has forgotten his deep underlying concern for hard-working Brits if his latest ideologically-driven proposals are anything to go by.
Far from being an economic necessity, the proposed changes, whereby employees must work longer and pay more at a time when inflation is at a record high, are undoubtedly the result of a much-desired Thatcher-inspired conscious political decision. Yet, our unquestioning, inattentive and morally-absent general public cannot for the life of them see this.
They merely pick up their newspaper, voluntarily absorb the lukewarm diarrhoea being spoon-fed to them and then have the impudence to criticise the teachers who educate them and the nurses who cure them.
What should be plain to see for anyone of even the smallest level of intellect is the incontestable reality that these reforms are merely a small chunk out of the corpulent carcass known as naked deficit reduction. Having made so many ill-judged guarantees that, over the course of this parliament, Britain's deficit would be significantly reduced. Cameron pledged in the Financial Times that he "will not falter" in his self-appointed mission to reduce the deficit.
However, with growth stagnant and unemployment rising by the day, the Tories are resorting to desperate and impulsive channels in an effort to bolster the cash-light Treasury. Regrettably, yet not altogether surprisingly given the Conservative's track record, the public-sector, along with the most vulnerable and poor strands of our society, are taking the biggest hit.
Take the recent announcement that benefit payments are to be increased in line with a six month average inflation (4.5%) instead of the traditional, and much fairer, monthly inflation (5.2%).
Considering welfare payment cuts have already been implemented, this emphasises a not-so-covert programme aimed at bleeding the last drop of blood from the least well-off.
Furthermore, the decision to exempt pensioners from this new initiative underlines the conservative mentality: they will do anything to remain in power and see through their warped objectives. They know all too well that pensioners vote in huge numbers at elections and any policy taking aim at them would automatically achieve a significant deduction in popularity at the polls. I am hoping, by now, that the penny may be starting to drop for some of you.
Let us broadly look at who has suffered most following the disgusting antics of the banks in this country; the very banks and bankers who helped bring about our current economic disarray. Firstly, it is imperative to point out that they themselves have not suffered. The Tories have not imposed sanctions limiting the amount of money set aside by banks in order to nauseatingly shower senior executives with multi-million pound end-of-year bonuses. Then, to add insult to injury, it was revealed that the average FTSE 100 director received a 49% wage increase this year; conversely, average worker pay increased by just 1.8% (well below inflation). Now, by my reckoning, a semi-coherent chimp could deduce from these stats that it ought to be the bankers paying off the deficit; not the hard-working cog of Britain's ever-rusting mechanism.
Yet somehow, and I do struggle to comprehend why, our current administration blindly believes that "we are all in this together". Of course, they say this to justify the bleak fact that the police are facing front-line cuts, the NHS is undergoing major, not to mention unwanted, changes, all public-sector workers are having to forfeit their pension payments and all of us suffered a £520 dent when VAT rose to 20%. But worryingly, the Conservatives continue to enjoy a decent level of public support; especially with regards to opposition to striking public-sector employees.
This beggar's belief. The one theme that incessantly occurs when speaking to private-sector workers is that of fairness: if we are undergoing pay freezes and cuts, so must the public-sector.
A race to the bottom has unnervingly manifested as a result. Aside from the small issue surrounding ethics and morality, to want a whole sect of workers to suffer just because another is struggling to maintain the healthy advantage usually enjoyed over it is baffling. So what if the private-sector no longer enjoys a massive pay gulf over the public-sector?
Is it not fair to say that it is the public-sector that provides the backbone of this nation's cadaver; my use of lexis to signal a belief that the country is fast becoming corpse-like. Project managers, event managers, consultants, you name it, we do not necessarily need them; they do not have an effect, be it positive or negative, on our daily lives.
On the other hand, teachers, nurses, bus drivers; the opposite is indeed true. They shape our world on a monthly, daily, hourly basis.
I for one shall be thoroughly endorsing the action taken on the 30th and will continue to support the unions in their bid to bring about fairness and equality. Whatever the Tories say and whatever the right-wing media contends, remember just three things:
1) Two-thirds of private-sector employees are not enrolled on a pension scheme (compared to just 12% of public-sector workers), begging the quite palpable question: do they even care about pensions?
2) Imagine a Britain without the public-sector. Imagine if they all pulled out of their pension schemes, where would that leave our deficit reduction plan?
And 3) bare this stark fact in mind: the most equal countries in the world are those where union membership is highest (Sweden=68.4%, Norway=54.4% and Denmark=66.6%).
It is no surprise that as Britain's union membership has decreased (currently standing at 26.6%), inequality has soared.
That is why we must unite whenever issues concerning trade unions and public-sector workers arise: they have the potential to benefit us all.