Plaid supports strikers

Tomorrow, one of the biggest days of industrial action will take place in the UK in living memory. I will stand with the many ordinary men and women who are calling for the pension schemes they signed up to and paid in to, to be honoured. It is not too much to ask for a retirement without poverty after a lifetime of work but that is exactly what is at stake if the Westminster coalition has their way with the public sector pension scheme.

This is precisely why this issue has garnered such wide-spread support, particularly from trades unions which have never previously taken part in industrial action. Refuse workers, teachers, nurses, civil servants, meals on wheels providers will all be screwed by this Westminster cabinet of millionaires. Yet if you swallowed the rhetoric, you would be forgiven for thinking that tomorrow’s strikers are greedy, self-serving and not living in the real world.

Education Secretary of State Michael Gove this week described some of the union leaders as “militants itching for a fight”; a statement rendered even more farcical by the emergence of pictures of him kneeling proudly on an NUJ picket line in the 1980s.

The Government’s lead negotiator with the trade unions is Francis Maude MP. This privileged son of a Tory MP has been hopelessly inept throughout the whole proceedings and shown an ignorance of Government policy that mystifies his appointment as the government's liaison person with the trade union movement. I'd say that it's the Westminster Coalition Government that is actually ‘itching for a fight’ with the public sector. After all, they have form when it comes to cracking down on the public sector in their brief, but incredibly destructive, 18 months in office.

In Plaid Cymru, we know whose side we are on. We recognise that public sector workers deserve to retire without facing grinding poverty after a lifetime of dedication. Most importantly, we are not afraid to declare our support for such a just cause….are you listening Ed Miliband? As a Unison member and chair of the cross-party PCS group in the Assembly, I will proudly take my place on the picket line tomorrow.

I have no doubt that moral argument is on our side. With solidarity and determination, victory will be ours too.

PCS strike

Next week thousands of members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union are due to strike in defence of their redundancy terms. The UK Government is looking to make up to £500 million of savings by imposing new terms on public and civil servants that would see them lose a third of their redundancy entitlement. This means workers could lose up to £12,000 or a thrid of the value of their redundancy package if they are forced out of a job.

I recently shared a platform with the PCS union’s General Secretary, Mark Serwotka, and Jonathan Edwards, Plaid’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, during the Undeb fringe event at Plaid Cymru’s spring conference. Mark inspired delegates by speaking about the need to protect frontline services and resist the cuts agenda being pushed by the three UK political parties.

The main reason that our public finances are in such a mess is due to the tax-payer funded bank-bailouts that took place to avoid a complete collapse of the financial system. Casino capitalism and greed has led us to this position, yet it will be those who use public services who will be made to pay for the mistakes of the bankers yet again. The poor are being robbed to pay the rich - a reversal of the Robin Hood principle.

The PCS dispute is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a sustained all-out attack on the public sector and the thousands of loyal workers that keep our services running smoothly and efficiently, often for little more that the minimum wage. As chair of the all party PCS group in the Assembly, I'm urging as many people as possible to support the PCS strike next week. Without civil and public servants, there can be no public services. The stakes are high.

Sacking them on the cheap

Last week it transpired that the UK government intends to cut the redundancy package currently available to civil servants. Cynics think it may have something to do with plans to sell off government assets like the Royal Mint, Llantrisant. The Mint is will be more attractive to potential buyers if they can lay off people 'on-the-cheap'. This is from last weeks Record of Proceedings:

Leanne Wood: The UK Government seeks to make changes to the civil service compensation scheme that governs redundancy and early retirement payments to employees of all devolved and non-devolved Government departments as well as those of many other public bodies. Those changes will rob thousands of hard-working employees of a third of the value of the redundancy payment that they thought that they could expect as a right. Even though Tessa Jowell agreed with the unions in September that talks with officials should be reopened to secure a mutually acceptable outcome, that has not happened. A slightly improved set of proposals were circulated to all civil servants by permanent secretaries as a fait accompli on Friday 4 December, with no prior consultation with the trade unions. Given the implications for the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government, the National Assembly for Wales and Assembly Government sponsored bodies, will the Assembly Government make representations to the Cabinet Office for the resumption of negotiations in good faith as a matter of urgency? Furthermore, will the Leader of the House make time available for this issue to be discussed in Plenary as soon as possible in the new year?

Carwyn Jones: On the civil service compensation scheme, it is important that all channels are kept open to make sure that there is a satisfactory solution, particularly for those who may be affected by the scheme. I will ensure that I investigate the situation, and if there is a need to offer a view on behalf of the Government, that will be done. At the moment, it is a matter for negotiation between the unions and the UK Government. I hope that it is something that will be resolved satisfactorily in the future.

Plaid conference highlights

I returned yesterday, not-so-fresh, on a packed train from Llandudno. The Plaid annual conference is great for catching up with old friends and making new ones – with late night conversations often finishing just a few hours before the 'official' debates on the conference floor.

On Thursday, I chaired a discussion called "Is going green a luxury Wales can't afford?" where there was general agreement that we cannot continue to consume as we are and that we should now be looking beyond material wealth as a measure of a prosperous society. We passed motions calling for a maximum wage, against cuts to front-line local authority services, for a campaign to defend disability benefits as well as opposing the privatisation of the Royal Mail and the Royal Mint.

With the possible exceptions of the hilarious entertainment provided by Plaid youth section CymruX's 'Have I Got News for Plaid', George Monbiot's speech at the conference dinner and the demolition of Welsh Conservatism by Adam Price, my personal conference highlight was the UNDEB fringe meeting, ’Unions after the Union’. Our guest speakers were England football fan and author Mark Perryman, and Professor Gregor Gall from Edinburgh, expert in industrial relations, author and editorial board member of the Scottish Socialist review, Celyn's sister magazine. It was sponsored by the Public and Commercial Services Union Cymru, and UNISON Cymru. This union sponsorship was a first for UNDEB, and a first for Plaid.

Both speakers put forward strong but challenging arguments. Gregor outlined the reasons as to why the independence movement in Scotland has gained strength. He argued that self government would provide an opportunity to improve the lives of working Scots, and that the numbers of people who are pro-independence is now on the rise. He smashed the argument that independence would mean a break in solidarity between workers who are currently in Britain-wide unions by pointing to the situation in Ireland.

Mark put forward a clear and undisputable case for a multi-cultural, democratic and non-imperialist English nationalism to counteract the rapid rise in support for the far right in England - a force, he argued, which is less dominant and relatively easier to defeat in Wales and Scotland. He spoke of the effect of prejudice-based humour such as that of Jeremy Clarkson, Anne Robinson and Gary Bushell, who portray anti-Welsh and Scot sentiment on our TV screens. His work through the England Football Supporters group involves attempting to redefine the St George Cross as a symbol which represents a civic pride in a multi-racial country, as opposed to a badge of racism and hooliganism. Together with Billy Bragg he argues that England and Britain are not one entity, that Union Jacks should not be flown at England games and that 'God Save the Queen' should be replaced by a new anthem for England. They stand for an independent England with good relationships with its neighbours. He argued that the battle for English identity is currently being won by right-wing and far right bigots and that the situation simply had to be contested. This is not an academic question - turning the debate around is a huge task. The outcomes of failing to do so are frightening.

We had a good discussion as to what could be done to work across borders to stop the vile hate-based and nonsensical politics of parties like the BNP, who are rising on a wave of race-based English identity. Plans for more work together have been hatched.

The feedback from the 50 or so attendees couldn't have been more positive. Most said it got them thinking. You can't ask for more than that.

Do we have to accept a £500m budget cut?

According to news reports Wales could face budget cuts of 'up to £500m' next year. The reason - the bank-bailouts have to be paid for, and so public spending across the UK is expected to be squeezed.

The fallout from the inadequate local government and further education funding settlements was bad enough. 2010 and beyond will be a nightmare. The public sector provides more jobs pro rata in Wales than it does in other parts of the UK and so these cuts will have a bigger impact here. They'll destroy attempts to raise the GDP of the EU's Objective 1 area, West Wales and the Valleys.

The financial crisis has led Governments across the world to rewrite the rules of capitalism, contradicting the economic doctrine that they have been fighting wars over for the past fifty years. Isn't it now time for the rules to be rewritten in favour of working people? Shouldn't jobs should be the top priority? Large-scale long-term unemployment causes deep social problems which can last well into any recovery period, as many of our former mining communities know only too well. Public sector jobs are the easiest ones for the government to save. We simply can't take these cuts lying down.

Mark Serwotka of the PCS Union has said that we need a united front of politicians and trades unions, to challenge Gordon Brown. What is needed is an emergency rescue deal for the public sector. Or will the bankers continue to be the UK government's top priority?

PCS strike

This week has seen strikes from staff in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). DWP Management have imposed a three-year pay settlement – this has been overwhelmingly rejected in a ballot of union members – such a settlement would mean a measly average 1% annual increase for many staff and no increase at all in 2008.

Workers have been left with no option but to take strike action after departmental management refused to improve a pay offer that would mean a real cut in living standards. DWP staff are already poorly paid, with more than half on less than £17,700 and some earning as little as £12,500 a year; thousands have to rely on tax credits to make ends meet.