Them & Us

Fat cats...

CREDIT CRUNCH hitting wages and prices? Not true for City of London fat cats who have been awarded bonuses totalling Ł13.2 billion so far this year. These were the record bonuses paid for high finance sector profits earlier in 2007.

The figures so far this year are only 1% down on those of a year ago. But the joy in the City may be short-lived. Some experts think that as many as 50,000 jobs could be lost in the City this year with a knock-on effect on job losses amongst the many lower-paid workers who service the City.

...and beasts of burden?

WORKERS IN Britain do a huge amount of unpaid overtime. A new report by Bristol University researchers suggests that this is particularly true in public-sector employment.

Almost half, 46%, of education, health and social care workers in public-sector and non-profit making bodies do regular unpaid overtime as compared to 29% of those employed by private companies in the same sectors. The unpaid labour of the public sector and 'non-profit' workers is equivalent to the work of 60,000 staff on normal hours.

This 'public-sector ethos' is being eroded by privatisation. Cost-cutting governments also risk the trust of these workers with pay freezes and below-inflation pay deals. More and more trade unionists will consider refusing to do either paid or unpaid overtime and will insist on taking proper rest and lunch breaks.

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In The Socialist 28 May 2008:

Build A New Workers' Party