Is the public sector at the centre of the class struggle?

Abstract

Public sector workers are workers even though they are not employed by profit-making firms. As a consequence their unions are part of the working-class movement. Working for state-owned and managed services does not detract either from their class position or from the need for their unions to defend and improve their terms and conditions. In the current UK situation with politically-engineered ‘austerity’ (budget, wage, and pension cuts) and the application of tougher performance management systems in the public services (New Public Management), their struggles can be seen to be one centre of the wider class struggle.