On public sector pay and pensions

One of the meanings of the word society is a collection of persons forming a community (1). A tribe is a society, as is a town and a country. Being part of a society means to share responsibilities as well as rights and to have a political viewpoint, not necessarily a party-political one. Social animals, such as humans, are political creatures.

Every time the Prime Minister and his nodding sidekick talk about public servants, I feel angered because I believe that one important fact is swept aside.

Regular visitors to my blog will be accustomed to my occasional political posts. From people I know, who are public sector workers, I have acquired a little insight from the other side of the argument. Every time the Prime Minister and his nodding sidekick talk about public servants, I feel angered because I believe that one important fact is swept aside.

During this current national debt crisis, cuts to public sector pay are being justified by the need to spend less. Politicians claim that it is also in the interest of fairness. It goes like this: Some private sector workers have already agreed to pay cuts and other variations in their employment, so it is “only fair” that public sector workers should do the same. Whether the argument is valid depends on which side of the fence you are but as an argument it is as good as any.

What the ConDem coalition does not tell is that public sector workers are punished whatever the economic conditions: When economic growth is strong, the job on hand for governments and central banks is usually to keep a lid on inflation. This is used as an argument to keep public sector pay rises well below the rate of inflation. It happened not so many years ago when the government of the day told us that the British economy was invincible, that growth was forever sustainable and that the risk of inflation was low. The policy of keeping public sector pay below the rate of inflation may have been good for everyone else but it amounted to a pay cut in real terms for public sector workers. Effectively, public sector workers were being excluded from partaking in the economic boom and sharing its spoils.

We cannot exclude public sector workers from sharing the spoils of economic booms and expect them to suffer in times of recession, too.

Private sector workers, on the other hand, are the first to experience restrictions in times of economic crises but they do enjoy pay rise after pay rise in times of economic growth.

The argument that we are all in this together can probably not be faulted but we should be all in this together whatever the economic conditions. It seems inherently wrong to exclude public sector workers from the good times whilst relying on their sacrifices in bad times. We cannot make public sector workers pay whatever the economic climate.

Bibliography
(1) Hoad, T.F. (editor, 1985, 1996) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Subscribe to this blog to be notified of updates and new posts.

You might also like: