The National Union of Mineworkers expresses its support for fellow trade unionists in the Public Sector who today are having to resort to withdrawing their labour (a fundamental right of any worker) and take strike action against these unfair cuts to their pensions and terms and conditions. 

These cuts are being imposed by an intransigent government for no other reason than to follow their financial plan to cut debt too fast and too quickly whichs means that working class people are having to pay for the mistakes of the banking and financial sectors.

The government at every opportunity blamed the current financial situation on the previous Labour Government and the state of the country's finances when they took over.  When questioned as to why, during their term of office so far, their imposed plans for reducing government borrowing/debt has failed they resort to laying the blame on the global financial crisis or Eurozone.  They refused to accept that the global financial crisis started towards the end of the Labour Government's term in office and is to blame for the current situation.

One example of the double standards that the government is employing is that it says the government cannot continue to borrow and spend its way out of recession whilst it is continuing to encourage banks to lend to small and medium size businesses so that they can spend their way out of recession and hopefully create growth in the economy and jobs.  This policy shows that it is not the borrowing that is wrong it is how the money borrowed is spent, if the government borrowed money and spent in on infrastructure and building projects to create jobs it would do more good than reducing the borrowing.

This government should now recognise that the electorate of this country are no longer the uneducated, unwashed masses of the 19th century.