PCS Union campaign and petition

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have sent a letter with three questions to local councillors and prospective councillors around the proposed job cuts, privatisation and pay. The PCS union represents more than 320,000 civil servants and those working in non-departmental public bodies, related areas and the private sector.

See my response to their questions here and on the PCS website here. Locally the Gloucestershire branch of PCS also sent a question out to a list of Gloucestershire councillors: two were quick to respond to the whole list saying they didn't respond to such questionnaires as they often get misrepresented. To me this is a little shocking as electors in my view have a right to know our position. I therefore sent my answers around - here was a reply from one councillor whose name I have removed as I've not sought permission for publishing views:

"When you talk about a minimum wage and a 48 hour week you show a total lack of understanding as to what is going on in the real world. We have already lost thousands of manufactoring jobs to the Far East and Eastern Europe. If we are to survive as a Nation with any like a decent standard of living to hand on to our children then we must be able to compete with these rapidly expanding economies.

It is clear that you really have no business experience and you have to be blind if you haven't noticed that the low paid jobs in our Country are now being taken up with Polish workers etc, leaving our own countrymen on the dole. How are we to fund the Unemployment Benefit and other Social Security Cost in the future?

I bet you that the workers at Peugot that lost their jobs to Chezch Rebulic recently would gladly work over 48 hours per week if they were given the choice. Througout my working life I have never worked less than 50 hours as soon as I became an Executive."

I find such responses can be a challenge as we are coming from such different viewpoints - here was my answer:

"Thanks for response but I have to strongly disagree - research shows that longer working hours lead to lower levels of productivity. France is a case in point: a country with a 35-hour working week which has higher productivity than the US and UK.

And no one canseriously suggest that we should compete with wage levels in China or Vietnam. Research indicates that the discrepancy in wages between the EU and these poorer countries is as much as 50 times. Not only would this cause personal misery it would also result in a sustained economic depression due to reduced levels of demand by those without the money to spend on consumption. Deeply short-sighted economics.

The solution to our economic problems is to focus on the sufficiency perspective, providing for our own needs and protecting domestic jobs by a system of import and export controls. This would have the added benefit of reducing the volume of trade, which has been shown repeatedly to only benefit the wealthy in developing countries, and reducing transport-related CO2 emissions."

Coincidently as I write this up I came across this collection of three articles showing we need to look beyond the old growth economics. See here. It is at last not just Greens who are challenging the absurdity of our current system.

Anyway more for another time - there is also a petition people can sign re public services - please go here and add your name.