Pressure cooker
Sooner or later something has got to give, the almost weekly reminders that the current economic policy is not working are met with an apparently harder and harder line from the government, led by the Chancellor, it seems the 'man is not for turning'. Even though the economy appeared to be the number one issue on the doorstep in Eastleigh (the more sensational discourse of politicians in the run up to the by-election is rarely at the forefront of voters' minds) the Tories in particular seem determined to maintain their mantra that austerity remains the only route to economic progress.
Politically this is very risky, as the elections in Italy showed. Socially too, the impact is already causing considerable damage and this is likely to increase with long-term costs to be borne by individuals, families and communities.
The impact on public sector workers is a major source of concern. A recent survey by public services union Unison, showed that since 2010, 87% of workers say pressure has increased, whilst the majority (70%) say that the number of staff has decreased. At the same time the majority (61%) of staff say that service users have increased their expectations and 82% say that employers have also increased their expectations.
Not surprisingly in these circumstances, 72% say stress is affecting how well they can do their jobs and 70% say stress at work is affecting their personal life. The continually increasing pressure on workers to do more, with fewer colleagues, while almost permanently at risk of losing their jobs and persistently lambasted by a callous anti-public services government is clearly hard to bear for large numbers of dedicated public servants.
Years of pay freezes have also made not very highly paid staff under considerable financial pressure too. 60% now feel they are not paid fairly for the work they do and many are taking on debt just to get by; 53% have personal debts 55% owing more than £5,000 and 11% owe more than £20,000. The same is true, of course, for many workers in the private sector and in the third sector too. The fact is this constant driving down of living standards of working people is unsustainable.
The same is true for recipients of public services. As workers across the board face ongoing financial squeeze, there is an increase in demand on public services, through increased debt and homelessness. More too are finding that they simply can't manage; one of the extremely worrying indicators is the presenting of 'children in need' and children being taken into care. A recent NSPCC report highlights the significant increase in the number of children at risk, needing protection plans or becoming 'looked after'. This is clearly a dramatically appalling state of affairs, but there is also a knock-on effect of increased public sector costs.
If economically and politically the government are not persuaded to change course, perhaps this growing social crisis might persuade them to take a different approach and end this fixation with austerity at all costs.
Kevin Rowan
Regional Secretary
Northern TUC
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