Pity the public sector

My local chemist is called John: http://stuartchemists.co.uk/

He runs a great business. The shop stocks all the stuff you'd expect at a chemist's: toiletries, Xmas gifts, perfume, make-up. But it's on the pharmacy side that John is a winner. He and his assistant pharmacists always - always - help out. If you run out of your meds, they 'll see you get enough to tide you over. If you're unhappy about side-effects from meds you've been prescribed, they'll check up and phone the surgery if necessary. The shop makes up blister packs for older people so they don't make mistakes with their meds. There are two members of staff working full-time doing that. And the shops delivers the meds, 6 days a week.

John is about 65 now. He clearly loves his job and prospers because he likes people and has encouraged his staff to be kind to customers, especially the older ones - and we have quite a few of those in the area.

Of course, John is not doing this for nothing. He is well paid and always has been. As soon as he graduated and started work, he was on a very good flat rate salary. No question of him working his way up a pay scale: his salary reflected the responsibility of his job from the very beginning. He has a nice house, a great car and plenty of decent holidays. He deserves these rewards. I just wish other workers in the public sector, especially the NHS, got the same recognition.

Right now, I'm listening to Tory ministers complaining that NHS employees seem to expect a pay rise every year. The ministers have, of course, - as usual-  misunderstood what goes on. A lot of people in the NHS are on what's called an 'incremental scale'. They come in to, say, nursing at the age of 22 at the bottom of a pretty long pay scale and can expect their wages to be crap for years to come. The argument has always been you need time to build up experience on the job. By the time you're about 30 or 32, you may be earning a living wage.

That's not the same as promotion. You can get that any time if you're good at your job and impress at interview, but there are only so many promoted posts around.

What the Tory ministers want is performance-related pay. They want NHS people to reach targets and get extra increments according to how they are at work. Fair enough, if that's what ministers want, I dare say a deal can be worked out. The deal would be they start everyone off on entry at a decent wage - just like my pharmacist's.

I don't think this is what the Tories are thinking of. They have shown themselves unable to do anything about wages in the private sector: with people grossly overpaid at the top of the business and totally underpaid and dependent on credits from the tax payer at the bottom of the company. Amazing to think people in the private sector were paid about 25% more than public sector employees just 20 years ago. Public sector people have taken a cut of about 15% in their wages over the past five years but still that's not enough. The rush to the bottom has begun. We've got used to Tory ministers despising the qualifications of working people - why on earth do they need a degree to be a nurse was one question I heard recently on the radio - but this is an attack on living standards.

Can we do anything? Well, yes: join a union if you can. And vote the Tories out at the next election. And I'm not just talking to nurses here. Anyone in the public sector is facing the same problem: teachers, social workers, carers, fire officers, police officers. Time to be afraid. Very afraid.