Well it is clear who the Tax Dodgers Alliance see as their main opponent in their campaign to attack services for the people of the UK – they have been burning the midnight oil over at their plush offices in the right-wing enclave in Tufton Street (provided free by Avanta, and their Chief Executive David Alberto) to cut and paste their lists of so-called ‘non-jobs’ onto UNISON’s video attacking public spending cuts - which has been posted on the union's Million Voices campaign page http://www.unison.org.uk/million/ .
Utilising the Telegraph blog of Tory MEP Daniel Hannan they have put a response video out in the media to claim (as they always do) that there are loads of non-jobs in the public sector.
Hannan, in case you don't immediately recognise him, is the man who recently rubbished the NHS as a ’60-year mistake’ in America (on Fox news - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiSPRkq28iU - it's worth a look too.)
The so-called Taxpayers' lists of so-called non-jobs are also instructive. Many of them (for all the fancy names) are about dealing with the media. Are they suggesting that the public sector doesn’t have to deal with the misinformation that they and others pump out on a daily basis? Indeed, I notice they themselves have just appointed a ‘New Media Co-ordinator’. I assume that is someone to co-ordinate, ‘new media’ rather than a ‘new’ co-ordinator of all media. So, assuming that someone deals with the ‘old’ media, that means that they have at least two. Well what is sauce for the goose …!
Dramatherapists? – I think most clinicians know the value of therapy in healthcare – obviously the TPA neither knows nor cares. Green jobs – doesn’t surprise me. What are the TPA’s policies on climate change? Do they accept that carbon emissions are increasing global warming or not? Do they think that the polluters are going to reform themselves without regulation? Most people actually think that the public sector should lead the way in reducing carbon emissions and carry out the function of protecting the environment – who do they think should do it? Exxon?
But the one I am most surprised to notice is the ‘Street Football Co-ordinator’. Maybe they think people have forgotten their most widely dropped clanger – but we haven’t. This post was created by Moray Council in 2006 and – two years later - the TPA whipped up its usual froth of righteous indignation about it. However Moray Council’s press office (yes that non-job) had other ideas and put the true story out.
The job was in fact part-time, and therefore the cost was half what the TPA – who had only noticed the top-line salary – claimed. It was only part-funded by the council, the rest being paid by the police, by other agencies and by the private sector – the TPA’s chums – who were delighted that the work was taking kids away from vandalism and other anti social behaviour. So much so in fact that the council has been able to secure funding until later this year –from all the original partners.
So now we know – if you want increased vandalism, environmental damage, poorer healthcare and authorities who are unable to put their views into the media – lets thank the TPA!
Chris Bartter
UNISON Scotland Communications Officer
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