date: 17 December 2007
embargo: 00.01hrs Tuesday 18 December 2007

Public servants deserve fair pay - launch of Speak Up for Public Services campaign

Today (Tuesday) in Westminster, the TUC and its 26 member unions representing the UK's public sector workforce, are launching a major new campaign urging the Government not to impose below inflation public sector pay increases in the coming year.

All the unions have signed a statement (the full text of which appears below), which calls on ministers to accept in full the recommendations that the various pay review bodies are due to make in the coming months and so avoid any repetition of the anger that provoked a wave of strike ballots across the public sector earlier this year.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, along with TUC President Dave Prentis, senior union officials and employees from the UK's public sector workforce are launching the 'Speak up for public services' campaign at 11am in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to the Houses of Parliament (full details in the notes to editors).

Also today (Tuesday), the TUC and the unions are releasing 'Six million pay cuts', a new report rebutting all the Government's arguments on public sector pay, including the suggestion that public sector pay is driving inflation, or that holding back public sector pay will help reduce it.

Text of public servants deserve fair pay statement

The TUC launches the Speak Up for Public Services campaign today to urge the Government to think again about imposing below inflation pay increases on public servants over the coming year.

The Government's target of two per cent pay rises across the public sector represents a cut in living standards when the cost of living is rising at around four per cent a year.

Our public services bind the nation together. At times of emergency - whether from natural disasters such as flooding, terrorist outrages or threats such as avian flu, bluetongue or foot and mouth - the nation depends on public servants working beyond the call of duty. The social fabric and welfare of the people depends on the daily commitment of those who work in health, education, the justice system and all the many other public services - many of which people only notice if they stop.

Public servants do not understand why they are facing cuts in their pay. In the current financial year many are having below inflation rises phased, thus further reducing their value. Ministers should remember that they inherited a demoralised and under-resourced public sector from the previous government where below inflation pay had led to difficulties in recruitment and retention, and badly hit the quality of service to the public.

This Government deserves praise for ending the cycles of boom and bust in the wider economy, but it looks as if we are now returning to bust in public sector pay.

Ministers risk doing damage to the structure of industrial relations in the public sector and jeopardising good work to promote partnership working. Pay Review Bodies cover large parts of the public sector, and were established to reduce conflict and introduce integrity and impartiality into settling pay in the public sector. By not accepting their recommendations, or interfering in implementation, ministers have already provoked strike ballots and damaged the public sector ethos.

Nor do public servants or economic experts accept that public sector pay is driving inflation, or that cutting the living standards of public service workers will make any significant contribution to reducing inflation.

The TUC and public sector unions call on ministers to step back and think again about public sector pay before resentment further builds and the current concerns over recruitment, retention and morale become embedded.

The Speak Up for Public Services campaign, which we launch today, will closely monitor developments across each area of the public sector and support unions in their negotiations for fair pay. Unions will be working together to co-ordinate pay strategies within local government, education, the health service, the justice system and the civil service to build support among members and put forward early claims to employers. Regular updates and bulletins will be issued to exchange information on progress across the public sector and the TUC will be organising a series of informed debates, led by independent pay experts and helping unions to exchange information on arguments and evidence. The campaign will also continue to co-ordinate action by public sector unions in defending their services and their members from unjustified budgetary cuts and privatisation policies.

The TUC campaign will also call for pay increases to reflect the true cost of living in the UK. The Government insists on using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which currently stands at 2.1% as its target for pay awards. Yet working people are currently facing real inflation levels of 4.1% according to the Retail Price Index (RPI). This measure, which includes housing costs, is a more accurate and realistic reflection of the rising cost of living than the CPI.

The TUC and the unions will be producing regular updates for the media, the public, MPs and union members on the campaign, seeking to ensure that ministers understand why public sector workers deserve fair pay and asking them to support trade unions and to Speak up for Public Services.

Association for College Management, Association of Educational Psychologists, Aspect, Association of Teachers and Lecturers, British Dietetic Association, British Orthoptic Society, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Community and District Nursing Association, Educational Institute of Scotland, Fire Brigades' Union, FDA

GMB, Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, Napo, National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, National Union of Teachers, Public and Commercial Services Union, Prison Officers Association, Prospect, Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, Society of Radiographers, Undeb Cenedlaethol Athrawon Cymru, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians

Unison, University and College Union, Unite, TUC.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• The TUC and the unions are launching 'Speak up for public services' in Westminster at 11am on Tuesday 18 December in Victoria Tower Gardens
• Using a giant mock 'Speak up for public services' megaphone and several smaller ones, the union leaders and public sector employees in their uniforms and work clothes, will urge ministers not to impose below inflation public sector pay increases in the coming year.

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (1,100 words) issued 18 Dec 2007