Banker fat cats cutting jobs
1,800 jobs are to be lost at Ulster Bank by 2016. After bailing out RBS – the owners of Ulster Bank – to the tune of £55 billion of public money, bosses are making ordinary workers at Ulster Bank take the hit. Compare the treatment of workers who have played no role whatsoever in the banking crisis to RBS boss Stephen Hester who is also leaving RBS this year. Hester is reckoned to have received over £40million in salaries, bonuses and shares since 2008. These overpaid parasites should be turfed out of the banks which should be fully nationalised and run democratically by elected public representatives, banking staff and representatives of workers to to provide affordable credit to ordinary people and small businesses.
11% pay rise for MPs
MP’s look to receive a pay rise of £8,000 from 2015 based on proposals from the so-called Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). The Chairman of IPSA, ‘Sir’ Ian Kennedy is a well-known lawyer and advocate of privatisation of the NHS who has been appointed to many public bodies by governments. This pay rise would bring MP’s basic pay to £74,000 (before expenses).
£50billion cut for workers!
Workers in both the private and public sectors have seen their wages decline in recent years. According to the trade union PCS a total of £50billion has been cut from workers wages since 2008! The effect of pay ‘freezes’ and below inflation rises has meant wages are not catching up with the cost of living. Chancellor George Osborne though thinks workers should suffer even further by ordering an end to pay increments for civil service workers in England & Wales as part of new cuts of £11.5billion announced in June.
