There is an alternative
In her column for PCS People, Fran writes about PCS's three new policy pamphlets on the case for safe routes for asylum seekers, the social security system, and the need for tax justice.
The documents have been produced by our policy unit in consultation with workers who do vital work, day-in day-out, to keep our public services running.
Our members understand the system and are therefore best placed to make proposals to improve things. I’ve always been immensely proud of PCS members for their dedication to the public services they provide, but also of the way the union has always sought to build links between those who provide the service and those who access it.
When we wrote our policy on safe routes for asylum seekers we not only drew on the experiences of our Home Office members, we joined forces with Care4Calais who work to support asylum seekers.
Despite years of politicians promising to ‘stop the boats’ and ‘smash the gangs’ we have a system that has failed to deliver, and too often results in people, including children, drowning in the English Channel. To the best of our knowledge, not a single Ukrainian has got in a small boat and none have drowned in the Channel. That is because there is a safe and legal route for them to get to the UK without being reliant on criminal people smugglers. We need that same sensible, orderly and humane system for all.
Talking of humane systems, the social security system in this country falls far short of its founding aspirations to tackle poverty and inequality for all. Child poverty is at a record high, as is the number of homeless families. Our DWP members are passionate about helping people but, disgracefully, more than one in 10 have to claim benefits themselves to make ends meet.
In drafting our policy on social security, we also consulted with our national disabled members’ forum – because this Labour government has shamefully tried to balance the books on the backs of disabled people.
A concerted campaign by PCS, groups like Disabled People Against Cuts, and decent Labour MPs threatening to rebel has forced the government into a partial U-turn.
We must make sure that the upcoming budget ends the war on social security and lifts people out of poverty. Part of the solution is a fair taxation system and our renewed tax justice policy sets out how we can do that. Again, PCS has worked with our HMRC members and leading tax experts like Professor Prem Sikka to develop our policies to fund a fairer society.
Our three pamphlets can be summarised as: don’t scapegoat migrants; don’t scapegoat benefit claimants; tax the rich instead. It is our job – our responsibility to our members and to society – to say, ‘there is an alternative’.