'Public sector has key role to play'

(12/01/09) General secretary Dave Prentis will be urging the prime minister to make sure that the public sector will have a key role in helping people through the recession when they meet at today's jobs summit. Last year, almost 50,000 public service workers were made redundant and more cuts are on the cards.Mr Prentis will support measures aimed at increasing apprenticeships to fill the skills gap and to help the jobless back to work. And in that context, he will also be arguing that it would be "madness to add more public sector workers to the dole queues."It's going to be a tough year for everyone, but the government has to face down the critics baying for public sector blood. I will be telling the prime minister that it would be madness to add public sector workers to the dole queue."Some politicians and commentators argue that we should now be cutting back public spending and carp that public sector jobs are not going at the same rate as the private sector."But, Mr Prentis continued, "this is not a question of private versus public or a race to see who sheds the most jobs. It's in no-one's interests to have a race to the bottom. The cost of job losses to the taxpayer, in whatever sector is enormous. The cost of a job lost to an individual or a family is enormous. Each redundancy is a personal tragedy."Fairness is fundamental as the human impact of the recession hits home. The burdens need to be spread fairly, and those who can must make their contribution. The government has bailed out the bankers who got us into this mess, now it is right that working people should be given a helping hand."Public services are needed now more than ever – to stabilise our economy, to help people through difficult times, and to lay the foundations for a better future. In a recession, they are the first line of defence."