By Vivienne Russell | 19 March 2012
Chancellor George Osborne should use Wednesday’s Budget to abandon his ‘mono-policy’ of cuts, Unison has urged today.
The public sector union said the government needs to start creating jobs and investing in construction.
General secretary Dave Prentis said David Cameron should follow the example of US President Barack Obama who has shown ‘you can build the economy by investing in jobs and infrastructure’.
He said: ‘Instead of pursuing his mono-policy of cuts and even thinking of tax breaks for the rich, Osborne should look at how investment creates a virtuous circle. Creating more jobs takes people off benefits, renews consumer confidence and spending which in turn boosts small businesses and powers economic growth.’
Fairer taxation should be Osborne’s starting point. Unison is arguing that up to £70bn could be raised by tackling tax evasion by individuals and companies. Dropping the controversial Health and Social Care Bill would save another £1bn, the union says.
Responding to suggestions made by Osborne over the weekend that public sector pay bargaining should be localised, Prentis said this would only depress the economy further and could spark a pubic sector recruitment crisis.
‘Local pay pushes depressed areas further into depression by cutting off spending in local businesses,’ he said.
‘In the NHS, nurses, paramedics, therapists and midwives are among the workers
suffering for a second year without any increase in pay, to compensate for
rising costs. The dismantling of Agenda for Change [the NHS pay scale] would be
the government’s final nail in the coffin of our NHS.
‘Local government workers already face a third year without a pay rise – and cutting pay further,will take many more families on to the breadline and on to benefits, with taxpayers picking up the bill.’
