PCS union Mark Serwotka on public sector pension reform (10Mar11)

The head of the PCS union Mark Serwotka does not like the idea of the public sector having to suffer reforms to the public sector pensions system. In 1997 when Labour's Tony Blair and Gordon Brown STOLE from and destroyed the private sector pensions, the public sector remained quiet. Now the unions think the private sector will sympathise with their predicament - wrong!

The shrinking private sector cannot afford the growing public sector, and something has to give. Without a private sector there is NO public sector.

Recorded from BBC's Daily Politics, 10 March 2011.

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• serwotka
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• union
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• strikes
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• sector
• pension
• pensions
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• 10
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• 2011

[queenofshebalala]

@Rjimppy..the reason some of these big companies are able to hold us to ransom, is because they take over vital services that we can't do without. They are able to keep the profits and pay low wages to workers while executives are awarded massive amounts; run the service down; charge customers extortionate amounts and then demand subsidies and bail outs to keep the service running.

[queenofshebalala]

@TheMotherofChrist.. People need transport to get to work; workers need health care and social services to stay healthy enough to work; workers need to be educated etc. The public sector provide services that are essential for the economy. In all,they are much more productive than private companies who charge extortionate fees and demand bail outs for failures.

[TheMotherOfChrist]

@Rjimppy these are all services which eat money ( they don't generate it)

[TheMotherOfChrist]

@Rjimppy excluding the people who drive buses yes you are right, however they would be much more efficient if they were run by private sector companies i fear...

[Rjimppy]

@TheMotherOfChrist Who drives the buses? Public sector workers. Who keeps the workers healthy? Public sector workers. Who enforces the law to prevent crime? Public sector workers... see where this is going? So banks overall contribution to the wider economy is very small compared.

[queenofshebalala]

So far Mark Serwotka has proved to be the trade union leader with integrity who refuses to sell us out by negotiating away our pensions, jobs and services. Good on him. I am not a member of the PCS but if Prentis sells us all out and messes up our futures to pay for financial sector private debt, I know plenty of Unison members who will want to find a way of joining the PCS.

[TheMotherOfChrist]

@dikkydoo1 rather extreme but i quite agree :D

[TheMotherOfChrist]

@MrGilles1990 well said!!

[TheMotherOfChrist]

@Rjimppy If only that were true.We have a PRIVATE transport system???? so your wrong. and they don't generate resources which is what we need to get out of this recesion. Banks provide resources (money) where as public sector provides services which can't be exported, tell me how that is better for the economy?

[Rjimppy]

@MrGilles1990 That is false. Banks growth to the economy is very limited and has a high risk factor, while public sector workers contribute a wide ranging growth factor due to their impact on health and transport