This Thursday, over one million public sector workers, from local and central government, from the education sector and from fire stations - are out on strike over pay and pensions and against the austerity policies of the ConDem government. More initiatives are already announced for after the summer, as well as a national demonstration in London on Saturday 18th October, called by the TUC.

Of course, it's high time that the working class, which has been made to foot the bill for this government's generosity to big business and the City over the past six years, should make its voice heard! And high time that Cameron and his capitalist friends feel the collective strength and experience the anger of working people.

All the more so, because no significant form of collective action has been proposed by the union leaderships since the last 24-hour public sector strike, way back in May 2012 - despite all the talk about organising "coordinated strikes" at every TUC conference! So it will have taken more than two years for union leaders to deliver the goods - or, at least, some of the goods, because this still falls far short of what's really needed - and indeed, what is possible.

For instance, one can only wonder why only part of the public sector is being called out - and not the NHS, which happens to be its largest battalion? And, even more importantly, why no attempt of any kind has been made to involve private sector workers? As if having a public or a private employer makes any difference when it comes to the low wages and lousy conditions we have to face!

A common objective for all...

It is not as if the demand for a £1.00/hr wage increase, which is being put forward by the local and central government unions, could not be generalised across the whole of the working class.

And because it is a demand right across the board, rather than the usual demand for a percentage increase, it could mean that, for once, all workers would have the same interest in rallying together behind this objective, regardless of how much they already earn. For everyone, it could be a first step towards reclaiming the ground which we have lost in terms of wages over the past years.

Of course, a £1.00/hr increase would still fall short of providing the lowest paid workers with a wage they can live on. So this demand would have to be coupled with a demand for a substantial increase in the minimum wage, so as to end the poverty pay on which so many workers have to try to survive today.

Nor would a £1.00/hr increase protect wages against present and future inflation. So we would also have to demand that all wages are automatically increased in proportion to the real increase in the cost of living - not using some sort of fiddled index like the CPI, but according to what we actually have to pay at the supermarket and the amount we have to pay on our bills.

... for a common fight

Predictably, despite a 3-year pay freeze followed by a below-inflation increase last year, the ConDems still claim that they cannot afford to offer increases of more than 1% to the majority of public sector employees.

And this, at the very same time that they are awarding serial corporation tax cuts to companies, and are busy lining the pockets of the construction giants with the tens of billions of pounds poured by Osborne into his latest housing schemes! Not to mention the £3bn they found to pay for their latest (aircraft-less) aircraft carrier!

But then, all employers, whether public or private, sing to the same tune. Private bosses also keep saying that paying decent wages would bankrupt them. But would it? True, it might bankrupt some of them, but it wouldn't bankrupt the capitalist class as a whole which could, collectively, pay for its defaulting members.

The reality is that their system is awash with unused cash. The proportion of company profits which is hoarded, instead of being re-invested has never been so high. It is this surplus cash which is fuelling the current massive speculation on stock markets and real estate.

So, whether the government has to be forced to stop its handouts to the capitalist class, in order to increase public sector workers' pay, or whether the capitalists have to be forced to use their unused profits to raise the pay of private sector workers - it is exactly the same problem we face, with the same solution.

We need to tilt the balance of forces in our favour. And surely the best way to do so is for public sector and private sector workers across all sections and industries, to throw their full weight into the fight together!