Sunday, January 03, 2010

Lies, Damned lies...and The Sunday Times


The TUC think tank website ToUCHstone rips apart the blatantly misleading and partisan rubbish put out by today’s The Sundays Times about public sector pay. While I don’t think any genuine progressive would expect fairness from Murdock’s Tory fanzine you would not think that a "serious" heavyweight broadsheet would resort to such laughable gibberish masquerading as serious analysis.

Since these outrageous porkies will not go away in the run up to the next election all of us who have some regard to the truth must rebut this stuff straight away.

Average public sector pay may be 7% more than in the public sector, but this is because there are more graduates and professionals in the public sector than the private sector. Since for example we expect all our doctors and teachers to be qualified graduates. People doing similar jobs (“Peers”) in the private and public sector are not being compared. Ironically the evidence as shown by TUC Nigel Stanley is that graduates and other qualified staff in the public sector are paid less. It is only the lower paid public sector workers such as cleaners and diner ladies that “benefit” when compared to the private sector. This is because many private sector jobs pay minimum wage, basic holiday pay, statutory only sickness pay and no pensions at all.

What is particularly laughable is the “reports” on page 12 about a Karen Moffat (aged 60 please note) who strangely is paid more while working as a manager in the NHS than in some undefined role in a supermarket canteen? Well I never! Or the Morpeth Jeweller who complains that he trains up workers “who then leave to get similar roles in the Council”. Who on earth besides Sunday Times journalists thinks that Northumberland Council runs a jewellers? The article also mentions a “victim of public sector golden age”. Bizarrely they think it is noteworthy that “Zoe Waas” who runs a cleaning company cannot get staff to only work less than 16 hours (at God knows what rotten pay and conditions) due to the public sector offering more hours and pay? So people should be barred from working more than 16 hours? What does she pay her staff? What rot and rubbish. Call this reporting?

I’ve just google “Morpeth Council jobs” and it came up with 3 vacancies via Northumberland Council, A cleaner on £6.30-6.47 per hour; A family placement support worker (day and support care for disabled and non-disabled kids) for £17,161 - £19,621 a year and a NHS Care Support worker at £13,233 per year. Yeah, what great money, what a “golden age” you must be enjoying on these pay rates.

I could go on and on but I will finish with this...

Why didn’t the Sunday Times just run a more honest feature on “why doesn’t the public sector pay poverty wages for working people just like the private sector?”

Or much better still “Minimum Wage for All - Sunday Times Journalists and Executives will set an example to the Nation”.

Update: UNISON Active joins in the fun and highlights the dodgy role of so called "Straight Statistics" in this sorry tale.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

John mate,

Happy New Year. Good blog this. What's happening in Lambeth mate? I hear the SWP are standing two candidates against a Black Woman of national standing for assistant. Is this right? If it is then it is a total disgrace and it shows thhe nature of the Lambeth beast. Look at their blog! Just talk and no substance!

Albert

Anonymous said...

good post

golden public sector pensions

£3,500 a year average