Contrast the treatment of these workers with “Sir” Fred Goodwin, the ex-boss of the RBS who receives an annual pension of £693,000 or chief executive Stephen Hester who received £9.7 million last year. Despite the rhetoric of clamping down on banker bonuses from the politicians, nothing has changed. US bank Goldman Sachs is on track to pay $22 billion in bonuses this year alone. In Britain, fat cat bankers were paid over £16 billion in bonuses during the last financial year alone.
With the bank bail-outs the government now owns 43% of Lloyds and 84% of RBS. Workers though are expected to pay for the bail-out through cuts and job losses. House repossessions are at their highest since 1992. The profitable parts of RBS and Lloyds will be sold off while the banks’ toxic debt will remain with the taxpayer. Instead of bailouts, we need socialist nationalisation of the banks and major financial institutions under the democratic control of working people and used the massive wealth which exists to provide for peoples needs not wasted on bonuses and profits.
The draft ‘Public Assemblies’ Bill under discussion by the Assembly Executive has been branded a ‘disgrace’ by local anti-racist campaigner and South Belfast Socialist Party spokesperson Paddy Meehan.
The massive spending cuts the new “Con-Dem” government will announce in June’s emergency budget will be the first stage of an unrelenting attack on working class people, sustained over years. Despite the veneer of opposition from some MLA’s, the local politicians are fully committed to implementing this Thatcherite agenda.