The Guardian 15 February, 2006

Backlash on job cuts

The tide is turning against privatisation — and politicians who cut public sector jobs will be punished at the ballot box. That's the message from NSW voters in key state seats. The public no longer believes that the private sector delivers either better quality services or better value for money.

The Iemma Labor Government is already talking about a round of 4000 voluntary redundancies in the public sector. It is also flirting with the idea of going further and breaking its commitment to "no forced redundancies" as Finance Minister Michael Costa is reported as saying the public sector is bloated.

Launching a state-wide "Public Interest minus Job Cuts = Service Cuts" campaign, PSA (Public Service Association) General Secretary John Cahill said public services have reached a "tipping point" and that any further cuts would severely compromise service delivery.

And he has warned that PSA members will refuse to carry out the duties of colleagues whose jobs are cut from the public sector by the current or any future state government.

When asked to choose between public or private sector on a range of services, voters sent the overwhelmingly message they would prefer public sector workers deal with:

  • administrative support for police, nurses and teachers;

  • looking after public parks, gardens, state forests and national parks;

  • running jails;

  • caring for the elderly and disabled;

  • running hospitals and the health system generally;

  • running power stations;

  • running the sewage and water systems;

  • building and operating roads;

  • running buses and trains;

  • and operating and maintaining schools, hospitals and other government facilities.

    Rather than privatising services, the majority of voters actually want to see more staff in key government departments such as public transport, police administration, child protection rural services and care of the elderly and disabled.

    The findings, based on a poll of conducted by Auspoll for the Public Service Association over the summer, will form the basis of a state wide PSA campaign to support public services over the coming 12 months.

    Mr Cahill says the findings send a potent message to both sides of politics that the days of bashing public servants are over.

    "Politicians have had a lot of fun over the years in making a scapegoat of public servants, but more and more the public seems to be making the connection between public sector jobs and the provision of public services", Mr Cahill said.

    "And when they look at the alternative — core services being carried out by the private sector — they see through the spin and recognise the only winners are big business.

    "This shows that the public does respect and value the work that PSA members perform — and this is a something that we will be stressing over the coming 12 months."

    The public opinion research shows that voters would punish either side that pushed the agenda with:

  • 45 per cent less likely to vote Liberal if they cut 30,000 jobs from the NSW public service;

  • and 31 per cent less likely to vote for Labor if they were to cut 4,000 NSW public service.

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