Single Currency, Privatisation & Public Services

Billy Mitchell

It is becoming increasingly clear that the five economic tests set by Gordon Brown for the United Kingdom�s entry into the European single currency are not going to be met in the near future.

While our local Assembly-members� have no real power to decide one way or the other about the UK�s entry into the single currency, they do have a certain amount of lobbying potential. In this small region of the U.K. we depend heavily on public sector employment and it is essential that this sector is protected from the ravages of privatisation.� Our MLA�s have a responsibility to lobby on its behalf.

Opposing the U.K�s entry to the European economic and monetary union is one way of doing that. Entry into the single currency would be disastrous for public sector employees and their families and it would seriously undermine any attempt by government to� revitalise the British economy. It would certainly have devastating effects on our own local economy.

The economic basis of European economic and monetary union is the very same monetarism that underpinned the free market and privatisation project of Margaret Thatcher. Under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty and the Amsterdam Stability Pact the levels of public expenditure and borrowing would be severely restricted leading to an increasingly greater reliance on private sector capital. This will inevitably lead to more and more privatisation of public services through such schemes as PFI. PPP and �Best� Value.

There is no viable future for public services or for public sector employees under privatisation, and the Maastricht convergence criteria demands more, not less, privatisation. This will lead to a transition from public-led to profit-led public service provision, a demand for greater production from a smaller demoralised workforce and a general deterioration in pay and working conditions � a retrograde step rather than a progressive move for both the general public and public sector employees. Public services must, at all costs, be kept within the public sector and must be accountable to the public whom they serve.

The delivery of high quality public services is best undertaken by a properly funded public sector that is committed to democratically accountable structures and to the principles of best practice rather than by a privately financed sector that is accountable only to its shareholders and that is committed to the maximisation of profits rather than to the provision of high quality public services and sustainable employment. Increased privatisation will erode both accountability and service delivery to the public, it will also undermine the ability of trade unions to secure and maintain strong recognition agreements and will severely weaken their bargaining powers.

The public services are major employers and have a crucial role to play in setting standards for good practice in employment. It is an incontrovertible fact that public sector employees enjoy excellent terms and conditions of employment because� of strong recognition agreements and national bargaining. As privatisation increases we will see a progressive reduction in both recognition agreements and national bargaining. Employees will be left to bargain at local level with employers holding the whip hand. Poor conditions and lower pay will produce an unhappy and ineffective workforce leading to less efficient services and poorer delivery.

The privatisation of public services has already robbed the public of essential resources and handed them over to those rich enough to buy shares. This process will continue unabated as more and more public services come under the control of private interests.� In terms of employment and service provision we will see numerous job cuts, drastically reduced services and greater social and economic inequality across the country. Already a number of privatised services have announced massive job cuts in a bid to protect their profits and dividends for shareholders � a clear indication that profits come before employees and their families.

The campaign for properly funded high quality public services must not be left to the public service unions. This is as much a community & voluntary sector issue as it is a public sector issue. It is the most marginalised and the most vulnerable in our society who depend on quality public services and those of us in the community sector know only too well just how important the issue is.� We have a duty to campaign effectively for an end to the privatisation of public services and the �service for profit� mentality that goes with it.

We must lobby our local MLA�s urging them to challenge the government�s privatisation policies and warning them of the dangers inherent in the Maastricht convergence criteria to the recovery of viable public services that serve people rather than shareholders.

The decommissioning choreography is over. The real test for our elected Assembly is not whether it can deliver on decommissioning or Patton, but whether it can deliver effective public services that meet the needs of the people of Northern Ireland and that are driven by need and not by profit.

�(First published in the North Belfast News)

Note: I am aware that the Progressive Unionist Party supports the principle of a Single Currency. However there is a legitimate debate about when the most appropriate time for Britain�s membership of the Single Currency. It is my belief that the economic conditions are not right at the moment, and will not be for the foreseeable future. However, I do support the Party policy on Europe. Obviously in opposing immediate entry to the Single Currency I may appear to be supporting the Tory position. Such is not the case. Many British trade unionists have adopted a similar position to mine, indeed Unison, the largest union in the United Kingdom, has just endorsed a similar position.