Today, the Daily Mail - the bastion of Conservative apologists and middle class prejudice - bemoans that the Queen has not let Tory Ministers remove the traditional privilege day for civil servants - The Queen's Birthday. This can be no surprise, as one of the prioities of the late Margaret Thatcher was to "de-privilege" civil servants and to reduce the size of the Civil Service.
Today her heirs in the Coaltion Government want to continue this process, but this time overtly to open up the work of the Civil Service for privatisation. A swinging set of reductions to existing terms and conditions for new entrants and promotees have recently announced, which removes the traditional Civil Service privilege days. However, perhaps, in fear of legal challenges on the grounds of contractual entitlement, current staff will have 1 and half privilege days "rebadged" as annual leave.
Also in the sight of Ministers is facility time for trade unionists to carry out the duties on behalf of the members whom elected them. In this attack, they have been some of the more sharped toothed animals in the jungles of Conservatism are hellbent on building up resentment towards trade unions and trades unionists.
There are several ongoing campaigns by Tory backwoods-men and other right-wing elements (a.k.a the swivel-eyed loons):
Trade Union Reform Campaign, supported by the disgraced former minister Liam Fox, a right-wing group that wants to prevent union officers who are also nurses and teachers from carrying out union duties in work time. It also aims to evict unions from branch offices located in hospitals and schools.
Taxpayers Alliance banging on about taxpayer subsidising unions, bemoaning the number of public sector bodies automatically deducting trade union subscriptions in the payroll process.
The website Conservative Home applauds the changes made by Francis Maude, but are worried these can be easily be reversed by a Labour government unless the Government change the legislation which underpins them. Tory MPs Jesse Norman and Aidan Burley want the withdrawal of the broader range of support given to trade unions – the free offices, noticeboards and subscriptions being deducted at source by the government payroll department. These are denounced as hidden subsidies which must be must ended.
These groupings claim to have the ear of Ministers such as Maude, Pickles and Gove, who are at the forefront of the attacks on trades union facility time. As they are small-minded enough to take away civil servants’ privilege days, they are likely to instruct departments to end the check-off systems for the payment of subs by union members.
As is common with right-wing idealogues they rant and rave about relatively small amounts of money, but turn a blind eyed to their political representatives dipping their hands in the till. Has the Taxpayers Alliance criticised the subsidies of bars and restaurants in the Houses of Parliament? Will they denounce the imminent £20,000 pay increase in MPs' pay as unaffordable in these times of austerity?
When it comes to even-handedness, never trust a Tory!
