NEWTON'S OPTIC:TODAY'S PROTEST in Dublin by the so-called 24/7 Frontline Services Alliance is a major tactical and ideological error which plays into the hands of Government, econo-bankers and the right-wing commentariat.
Just by setting up an alliance of nurses, gardaí, firefighters, ambulance drivers and prison officers, the unions have endorsed an artificial distinction between supposedly “vital” public sector staff and the other kind of public sector staff. This distinction is so artificial that the Ictu Standing Committee on Correct Language has not even approved a term for non-frontline staff, leaving them at serious risk of being called “backline” staff.
The way is now open for sinister forces to set worker against worker in the name of international due-finance. It is not entirely clear what “due-finance” means, but that is definitely what we called it at the meeting. As activists, all of us have a responsibility to challenge the establishment’s divide-and-conquer strategy. We must stand up and, with one voice, make it clear that frontline public sector staff can be every bit as useless as the other kind.
This is particularly emotive in the case of nurses, who are much admired for performing all those caring tasks which fall below medicine but above cleaning.
There is no doubt that most nurses slave away selflessly for 39 hours a week (excluding carer’s leave, course leave, disciplinary leave, parental leave, full-pay maternity leave, 28 days of annual leave and career breaks of up to five years) expecting little in return beyond €45,000 per annum plus pension, benefits, allowances, expenses, bonuses and overtime. However, a nurse is still just as capable as any HSE clerical officer of spending a whole shift reading Heat and eating Cadbury’s Celebrations.
Likewise, why should gardaí be held in higher regard than counter staff at the social welfare office, for example? Both suffer inexplicable levels of indeterminate illness, and pass the rest of their time filling in forms as slowly as possible. It is outrageous for the unions to imply one is somehow better than the other.
Firefighting would appear to be the ultimate frontline job. But, on closer inspection, it consists of sitting around all day hoping the phone won’t ring, making it indistinguishable from any post in the Civil Service. Indeed, civil servants often dismiss their own work as “firefighting”. It must be remembered that almost all fires go out by themselves eventually, throwing a huge question mark over this whole field of activity.
Ambulance drivers enjoy a special place in the public’s affections. But what skills do they possess to justify their status? Just by pressing a button they are entitled to ignore all the rules of the road while everyone else gets out of their way. This is not driving. It is merely pointing.
The inclusion of prison officers in the alliance is a complete mystery. Their contribution may be vital, but by no stretch of the imagination can it be called a round-the-clock frontline service.
It is not possible to pick up the phone and have people thrown in jail. That may be how it works in Cuba, but Ictu should note that things are still different here.
Fortunately, the unions have not lost all perspective. Even they are not suggesting that frontline workers include teachers.