I’m tired of reading unfair criticism of the public sector; it’s in my timeline on Twitter, it riddles the national press like Cancer and even some of my friends seem to think it’s okay to do. They are wrong, they are all wrong!
I’m sick to death of reading some of the Public Sector workers that I look up to talking, almost apologetically, about working in the sector they do. I work in the public sector and I’m proud of this fact! Collectively, the work We do is amazing, We make a difference every single day; We are a diverse and multi-talented workforce dedicated to serving our communities. You would miss us if we are not there and I sincerely hope you never have to experience this.
You need to understand that We are angry, You need to understand where that anger comes from. We are angry because we have a Government that is striking at our very heart, willfully eroding our ability to deliver outstanding public services; We are angry that colleagues have lost their jobs to redundancy and that the loss of their skills and experience makes us collectively weaker; We are angry that our pensions are under attack; and We are angry that there is so little understanding that the Sector many like criticising most is paradoxically the Sector they rely on most.
On 30th November the public sector unions have declared a day of strike action and rightly so. Industrial action is never something we relish doing, We’d all rather be doing our jobs, the jobs we love. Striking is a last resort, but what other options do we have to make our voices heard than standing together in protest?
I’m serious here, show me another way, convince me we can show our opposition to this Government’s erosion of our services in some other way and I’ll recant all this in a heartbeat.
I suspect a lot of the criticism is bourne of ignorance of exactly what it is that we do, I encounter this all the time when I talk to people. Channeling the immortal voice of Tyler Durden allow me to explain:
Here it is, We collect your bins; We plan, build and maintain your roads; We make sure company’s maintain certain compliances; We make sure restaurants don’t poison you; We run your libraries; We care for the children no one else can or will; We safeguard vulnerable adults and children; We manage the residential care homes that you put your relatives in when you can no longer cope; We heal and care for you when you are sick; We fight your fires; We police your streets; We strive to communicate with communities in the best way we can; and We do all this on lower-than-average salaries, ever-decreasing funds and expectations of savings to be delivered.
Think about this, I mean really think about this, read it again if you need to…now think about this: Do. Not. Fuck. With. Us.
Support the public sector, we’re fighting to best deliver the services you rely on!
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