DOES Gordon Brown ever listen to himself to hear what utter tripe he is trotting out?
The economic genius justifies his decision to deal with the police as shabbily as he has treated other public-service workers by saying that “no policeman and no person across the country would thank us if their pay rise was wiped out by inflation.”
Given that the current inflation rate, measured by the retail prices index, is 4.2 per cent, any worker who has had a 1.9 per cent “rise” imposed on them is already seeing a wage cut.
Both the police representatives and trade unions that negotiate on behalf of public-service workers have been prepared to accept settlements well below 4 per cent, but to cut even further is adding insult to injury.
Mr Brown wrings his hands, insisting that he’d love to pay the police their salary rise in full, but it just can’t be afforded.
However, there doesn’t seem to be any problem in boardroom pay in Britain’s top companies having soared by 37 per cent, bringing the average remuneration for a chief executive to £2,875,000 a year.
This is fully 11 times the average percentage pay rise for the people who actually do the work and create the wealth.
The latest skyrocketing rise in boardroom payouts compares with 28 per cent the previous year, preceded by 16 per cent and 13 per cent.
This shows that those who close down final salary pension schemes while holding on to their own gold-plated arrangements and those who pay for being found out over incompetence or corruption by being handed a platinum parachute are free to feather their nests as opulently as they like while those who depend on the state to reward public service with decent treatment can whistle for it.
No-one should be surprised by the self-centred behaviour of company directors – what do you expect of a pig but a grunt?
The real blame lies with the new Labour government, which has thrown in its hand with big business and betrayed the working people who put them into office.
The number of voters prepared to do this has dropped by nearly five million since those heady days of 1997 and the unchanging pro-business bias of the government can only lead to that figure decreasing even further.
The Police Federation decisions to demand the immediate resignation of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and to ballot police officers on having the right to strike indicate the growing level of anger directed against the government.
Wage-earners are repaying the contempt shown by government to them with contempt and bitterness of their own.
The police have a just case and a growing number of Labour MPs are complaining to ministers over their rigid pay policy, but it should be remembered that the same arguments posed by police officers also apply to firefighters, prison officers, nurses, civil servants, teachers and all but the elite in public service.
The government wouldn’t have to plead poverty if it put an end to unjust and unwinnable overseas wars and if it stopped feather-bedding big business and the rich in terms of taxation.
If companies and the well-heeled paid their fair share of taxation, it might allow for more just pay settlements for the public sector.
DOES Gordon Brown ever listen to himself to hear what utter tripe he is trotting out?
The economic genius justifies his decision to deal with the police as shabbily as he has treated other public-service workers by saying that “no policeman and no person across the country would thank us if their pay rise was wiped out by inflation.”
Given that the current inflation rate, measured by the retail prices index, is 4.2 per cent, any worker who has had a 1.9 per cent “rise” imposed on them is already seeing a wage cut.
Both the police representatives and trade unions that negotiate on behalf of public-service workers have been prepared to accept settlements well below 4 per cent, but to cut even further is adding insult to injury.
Mr Brown wrings his hands, insisting that he’d love to pay the police their salary rise in full, but it just can’t be afforded.
However, there doesn’t seem to be any problem in boardroom pay in Britain’s top companies having soared by 37 per cent, bringing the average remuneration for a chief executive to £2,875,000 a year.
This is fully 11 times the average percentage pay rise for the people who actually do the work and create the wealth.
The latest skyrocketing rise in boardroom payouts compares with 28 per cent the previous year, preceded by 16 per cent and 13 per cent.
This shows that those who close down final salary pension schemes while holding on to their own gold-plated arrangements and those who pay for being found out over incompetence or corruption by being handed a platinum parachute are free to feather their nests as opulently as they like while those who depend on the state to reward public service with decent treatment can whistle for it.
No-one should be surprised by the self-centred behaviour of company directors – what do you expect of a pig but a grunt?
The real blame lies with the new Labour government, which has thrown in its hand with big business and betrayed the working people who put them into office.
The number of voters prepared to do this has dropped by nearly five million since those heady days of 1997 and the unchanging pro-business bias of the government can only lead to that figure decreasing even further.
The Police Federation decisions to demand the immediate resignation of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and to ballot police officers on having the right to strike indicate the growing level of anger directed against the government.
Wage-earners are repaying the contempt shown by government to them with contempt and bitterness of their own.
The police have a just case and a growing number of Labour MPs are complaining to ministers over their rigid pay policy, but it should be remembered that the same arguments posed by police officers also apply to firefighters, prison officers, nurses, civil servants, teachers and all but the elite in public service.
The government wouldn’t have to plead poverty if it put an end to unjust and unwinnable overseas wars and if it stopped feather-bedding big business and the rich in terms of taxation.
If companies and the well-heeled paid their fair share of taxation, it might allow for more just pay settlements for the public sector.