Imagine that motor industries had been in the public sector for years and the health service, schools, fire brigade etc. had been privatised. The government is about to cut the pensions of the garage workers.
The union of garage workers would hold a ballot, 25% would vote, most in favour of striking and a strike would be held. Would the garage workers see anything wrong in their actions as the country ground to a halt? No, they would say that it is obvious that they are THE essential service, without them there would be no fuel for ambulances, doctors would be unable to get to work. Without their terrible sacrifice, working with the evil, health threatening diesel and petrol in the noise and dirt, the whole country would grind to a halt.
Over the years the garage workers would have insisted that only those with a doctorate could actually touch a spanner. To increase efficiency there would be a pre-repair stage where cars with problems would go and lesser technicians would examine their fitness. Those vehicles with real problems would be told to report to the large, efficient, regional garages where the most qualified and effective specialists would hold all the right parts and know how to deal with any problem, unlike the local garages which would never have the parts and close from 9am to 6pm and at weekends. The government would have ensured that the regional centres were run by nurses and childcare assistants to decrease the power of the motor industry professionals and give the whole organisation an air of private sector efficiency.
The union of public sector driving instructors would also strike. Their union would point out that their central role in the economy and society at large is seldom appreciated by other people but if they did not train drivers there would be no society. There would be no fire engines to save your burning house because the engines would be stuck in the depot, no specialists to treat your ailing car because these people could not even have got to school, let alone to specialist university had their mothers - all trained drivers - not driven them there.
If the private sector were to complain that 60% of the economy of the North East now consists of parts depots and motor regulations enforcement offices the unions would say that they had encouraged their Labour Party to do this so that the poor people of the North East could have stable employment.
If the private sector workers, such as teachers, were to complain then the unions would point out that the motor industry is prior to education, without vehicles teachers could not even get to school to teach and the teaching would be pointless anyway because there would be no industrial society for the children to join upon graduation. It is just typical of the private sector, such as teachers and doctors, to insist that grubbing about indoctrinating children and screwing on metal hips for money was more important than ensuring the smooth operation of communications services: services that are needed by the old and young, the fit and sick alike.
What value can you truly put on a garage mechanic's or filling station manager's wage? The police would be running after criminals on foot down our motorways, firemen would be using watering cans to douse fires and ambulancemen would be jogging miles with patients on stretchers without the sacrifice of our heroic public sector workers. Which of us would be prepared to do the ten years of training, endure the endless ripping of skin against hard metal, the slipped disks and near permanent immersion in oil to ensure the smooth running of everything for everyone? Let alone the risks of rescuing breakdowns, the roadside being more dangerous than the fires faced by firemen or the criminals faced by the police. Do you really begrudge the motor workers their four months paid annual holiday and paid retirement in Majorca after such a life of service?
Source URL: http://indahrahmadewi.blogspot.com/2011/11/are-public-sector-holy.html
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The union of garage workers would hold a ballot, 25% would vote, most in favour of striking and a strike would be held. Would the garage workers see anything wrong in their actions as the country ground to a halt? No, they would say that it is obvious that they are THE essential service, without them there would be no fuel for ambulances, doctors would be unable to get to work. Without their terrible sacrifice, working with the evil, health threatening diesel and petrol in the noise and dirt, the whole country would grind to a halt.
Over the years the garage workers would have insisted that only those with a doctorate could actually touch a spanner. To increase efficiency there would be a pre-repair stage where cars with problems would go and lesser technicians would examine their fitness. Those vehicles with real problems would be told to report to the large, efficient, regional garages where the most qualified and effective specialists would hold all the right parts and know how to deal with any problem, unlike the local garages which would never have the parts and close from 9am to 6pm and at weekends. The government would have ensured that the regional centres were run by nurses and childcare assistants to decrease the power of the motor industry professionals and give the whole organisation an air of private sector efficiency.
The union of public sector driving instructors would also strike. Their union would point out that their central role in the economy and society at large is seldom appreciated by other people but if they did not train drivers there would be no society. There would be no fire engines to save your burning house because the engines would be stuck in the depot, no specialists to treat your ailing car because these people could not even have got to school, let alone to specialist university had their mothers - all trained drivers - not driven them there.
If the private sector were to complain that 60% of the economy of the North East now consists of parts depots and motor regulations enforcement offices the unions would say that they had encouraged their Labour Party to do this so that the poor people of the North East could have stable employment.
If the private sector workers, such as teachers, were to complain then the unions would point out that the motor industry is prior to education, without vehicles teachers could not even get to school to teach and the teaching would be pointless anyway because there would be no industrial society for the children to join upon graduation. It is just typical of the private sector, such as teachers and doctors, to insist that grubbing about indoctrinating children and screwing on metal hips for money was more important than ensuring the smooth operation of communications services: services that are needed by the old and young, the fit and sick alike.
What value can you truly put on a garage mechanic's or filling station manager's wage? The police would be running after criminals on foot down our motorways, firemen would be using watering cans to douse fires and ambulancemen would be jogging miles with patients on stretchers without the sacrifice of our heroic public sector workers. Which of us would be prepared to do the ten years of training, endure the endless ripping of skin against hard metal, the slipped disks and near permanent immersion in oil to ensure the smooth running of everything for everyone? Let alone the risks of rescuing breakdowns, the roadside being more dangerous than the fires faced by firemen or the criminals faced by the police. Do you really begrudge the motor workers their four months paid annual holiday and paid retirement in Majorca after such a life of service?
Source URL: http://indahrahmadewi.blogspot.com/2011/11/are-public-sector-holy.html
Visit Indah Rahma Dewi for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection
