Speaking at the Cardiff Trade Council’s May Day rally on 4 May, UNISON Cymru/Wales head of local government Dominic MacAskill told those attending: “Our resistance to austerity needs to be based on a sound economic analysis, needs to be well planned and needs to be led by a united and organised working class.
“There is still a majority of the general public that believes the ConDems and the mass media’s manufactured consensus that we are ‘all in this together’ and that ‘there is no alternative’.
“However, UNISON is developing an alternative economic strategy for Wales, which will be entitled A Future for Wales and will be launched early in June.
“This programme starts from the premise that what we strive for today will play a major part in determining what we have tomorrow.
“I will give you an exclusive preview of one of the alternative policies – a potential big idea.
“The Welsh economy desperately needs an injection to the money supply. Yet the £375bn pumped into the bond markets by the Bank of England through quantitative easing has not boosted the economy anywhere in Britain, although it has helped repair bank balances in the City of London.
“Rather than pour more good money after bad into the private banking sector, the Bank of England should develop a public sector equivalent – a Wales ‘Funding for Building’ scheme.
“This would see the Bank of England investing money directly into the Welsh economy, which would be of far greater benefit than pumping it into the bankers’ coffers.”
UNISON Cyrmru/Wales
