"The unions won’t like it – but they should remember that the point of public services is to serve the public – not the unions." So asserts rent-a-quote Neil O'Brien Director of the right wing lobbyists Policy Exchange.
In using his platform in the Daily Telegraph to attack public service workers who are resisting cuts in jobs and services, O'Brien asserts that they are acting against the public interest.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/7414737/Unions-must-learn-that-public-services-are-there-to-serve-the-public.html
It is not a new point. Intellectual theorists for privatisation and 'small state' solutions have advanced the theory of producer capture to discredit the public sevice ethos. This ideology underpinned the Thatcherite measures such as CCT in the 1980's and sadly has been embraced by New Labour since 1997 - who can forget Blair's "scars on my back" attack on public sector unions?
http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/public-policy/voluntary-sector-immune-to-producer-capture/
Public service workers need no lessons from well heeled politicians or pundits on what is in the public interest. As UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis said earlier this week when launching the union's advertising campaign in defence of public services:
"the reality behind the facts and figures is that cuts mean people are left without services they rely on".
www.unison.org.uk
