PUBLIC SECTOR ON THE MARCH

Commentaors as moderate as Madeline Bunting have joined in the rallying cries of the left against the needless cuts agenda in the public sector. Figures to conjure with as all parties rush to slash and burn are the £78 billion which would be saved by axing Trident, the £100bilion -plus lost to the Treasurey in tax avoidance, and the immeasurable personal and financial cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This week's civil service strikes are the first wave of what will be a tsunami of oitrage if eother Labour or the Conservatives scapegoat public sector workers for the crimes of greedy global capitalism.


http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/87748

TEACHERS DESERVE A BETTER DEAL......

Ed Balls has the manner of a manic Civil Serrvant and that's probably because he spent so much time at the Treasury. To say he lacks the common touch is undersrating the issue and his arrogant appearance on the ITV News just now will not have won him many fans. Frankly, how dare someone on a Ministerial salary lecture low-paid teachers on their decision to strike. It's 21 years since the last industrial action and teachers don't down tools lightly. The LRC is right behind the picket lines in the NUT, PCS and UCU
LRC Chair John McDonnell MP said today, "Government Ministers, the Conservatives and Nick Clegg have all condemned the civil servants and teachers taking industrial action today, but I applaud the members of NUT, PCS and UCU who have the courage to stand up against wage cuts at a time when inflation is ripping through standards of living.
"Many loyal public servants have been forced to take action by the Government's refusal to acknowledge that its pay policy is cutting the income of some of the lowest paid workers in the public sector."

JACK STRAW BANS PRISON OFFICER STRIKES

Last year, I was delihted to welcome Brian Caton of the National Prison Officer's Association to speak at a meeting I organised in support of the LRC. Brian turned up at incredibly short notice and gave a rousing speech. I suspect he will now be making a few more following the news that the Government is re-introducing the Tory legislation which banned prison officers from striking.
Jack Straw has just announced that he will reinstate a statutory ban which was first imposed by the Conservatives in 1994, and at the time was opposed by Labour, who later repealed the law in 2005.What a disgrace! The POA is unlikely to take this one on the chin. Indeed Colin Moses has just been on the radio saying the union will take its case to Europe if necessary. The right to strike is a fundamental one which no Labour Government should take away. Straw's approach is hardly conciliatory and seems guaranteed to further inflame the situation .