NIPSA and PCS Unions Calls for Opposition to Anti People Budget
NIPSA and PCS Unions Calls for Opposition to Anti People Budget
21/06/2010
Joint NIPSA/PCS statement in advance of the mini budget on 22 June 2010
Click here to download joint press statement
NIPSA Northern Ireland’s largest trade union and the PCS union which represents UK Civil Service Departments in Northern Ireland in advance of the mini budget on 22nd June are calling for the building of a robust opposition to cuts in public spending across Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK.
Brian Campfield NIPSA General Secretary stated:-
“It is clear for all to see that the Coalition Government of Millionaires, backed by the likes of the CBI and the well funded so called independent think tanks, see the current public finance deficit as their golden opportunity, their chance of a lifetime, to force through their long held wish list to significantly reduce the role the public sector plays in the life of the whole community in the UK and to attack the pay and pensions of public servants in order to create the environment for tax easement for the large corporations and the wealthy in our society.
Under the cloak of fiscal responsibility they are prepared to decimate whole communities, attack the welfare system, jeopardise economic recovery and condemn millions of young people to a life of unemployment.”
Rejecting the prime Ministers claim that “we are all in this together” the NIPSA General Secretary commented:-
“Those who will suffer from these hawkish fiscal measures will not be the millionaire class that is well represented in the Cabinet but the vast bulk of ordinary citizens who work for a living and who struggle to provide a decent life for their families. Those communities which rely on public services and the important employment public services provide will suffer the most while those who can weather the crisis on account of their wealth will barely notice any change in their existence.
These measures to make the people pay for the crisis must be resisted. The message must go to the new government that the trade unions and those who believe in a fairer and more just society will resist any attempts to cut public services.
A start can be made on this by closing the tax gap and chasing the missing billions estimated to be lost to the public purse through tax avoidance and evasion every year and by introducing a more progressive taxation system which makes the wealthy pay more, that is the real alternative to public spending cuts.”
ENDS
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