TUC leader warns against ‘economically damaging' regional pay at annual Wales conference

date: 22 May 2012

embargo: 00.01hrs Wednesday 23 May 2012

Addressing the annual Wales TUC in Llandudno later today (Wednesday) TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber will say: (check against delivery)

'It's clear that these are tough times. The economy is in crisis, basic employment rights are under attack, and the services we all rely on are being slashed - with the most vulnerable people in the most vulnerable communities hit hardest.

'Across Britain austerity is leading us towards a spiral of deflation, depression and despair. The government's brutal, ideological cuts are failing catastrophically, confidence has been shattered, growth has been destroyed, and Britain is now in a double dip recession.

'The real damage lies in our communities. It may be business and bonuses as usual in the City, but for people across Britain the reality is very different. Living standards for families are predicted to be no higher in 2016 than they were in 2002. Tax and benefit changes are slashing household income - by over four per cent here in Wales - and our young people face the worst jobs crisis in living memory.

'More than 20 people are chasing each job vacancy in parts of the valleys and an entire generation is growing up in utter despair and the brutal reality is it's going to get worse.

'Austerity means we will lose over 700,000 jobs across our public services - including over 50,000 in the NHS. With a quarter of the Welsh workforce employed in the public sector you don't need me to tell you what that means for Wales.

'Nowhere could the consequences be more devastating than at Remploy, where seven out of nine factories are due to close in Wales. This comes as benefits for many disabled people - among them thalidomide victims, cancer patients and ex-service personnel who have lost limbs - are mercilessly slashed.

'The government's brutal assault on society's poorest and most vulnerable is a moral outrage and we must not let them get away with it. Whether it's our welfare state or our public services, austerity is destroying what has taken generations to build, and for millions of dedicated public servants - the people who educate our kids, who clean our streets and who care for the sick - the brutal reality is this: doing more, with less, for less.

'The TUC has been proud to work with all our affiliates to seek a settlement to the long-running pensions dispute that is fair, just and sustainable, but pensions is just one dimension of a broader attack on public sector workers. The two-year pay freeze was bad enough, the two-year pay cap piles insult onto injury, but most pernicious of all is the unwelcome prospect of regional pay. It is divisive, inefficient and economically damaging.

'If the government forces through regional pay bargaining it will mean money sucked out of local economies, with an even wider divide between the south east and everyone else and an army of bureaucrats administering pay systems that past experience - from the NHS to large private companies - shows simply do not work.

'Let me commend the Welsh government for its strong, principled opposition to regional pay - for exposing Treasury myths that public sector pay has somehow 'crowded out' private sector employment in Wales.

'The situation we face across Britain is desperate, but amidst this despair the Welsh government is offering a glimmer of hope on regional pay and much else besides. I want to pay tribute to Carwyn Jones and his team for adopting a very different approach to the coalition. Let me commend the Workforce Partnership Council, a great example of social partnership - the Welsh government and the Wales TUC working together to save jobs, protect services and promote social justice.

'What is happening here in Wales is living, breathing proof that there is an alternative to austerity. The 'Jobs Growth Wales' scheme is helping provide the opportunities that young people are crying out for. Plans to build 12,500 new homes will give the construction industry a much-needed shot in the arm, the £60 million capital boost for local authorities will help councils provide better services in the future, the £100 million investment in Wales' growing life sciences sector will help re-balance the economy, and extra spending on education, childcare and policing will make a difference to many, many communities.

'The government wants us to believe that austerity is a sacrifice worth making, that in the end the pain will be worth it, but they're wrong. As Keynes once said: 'look after unemployment and the budget will look after itself', and you only have to look to America for evidence of that. Thanks to President Obama's stimulus package, growth has returned, unemployment recently fell to a four-year low, and revenue is flowing into the US Treasury.

'I sense that the arguments are moving in our direction. Across Europe, the tide is turning against austerity. We saw that with the collapse of the Dutch government, we saw that with the election of President Hollande in France, and we are seeing it day by day on the streets of Athens and Madrid as ordinary workers are joining together to say: enough is enough.

'Here in Britain too, the mood is changing. There is anger that the bankers that caused this mess, who we bailed out, are raking it in again. There is anger that the super rich have been allowed to dodge their taxes on such an industrial scale. Above all, there is anger at the shambles in Westminster - notably the decision to give a tax cut to the richest one per cent, a terrible indictment of where the government's true priorities lie.

'Let's be clear: we are not all in this together, we never have been, and so long as this lot are in power, we never will be. It's our job to tap into the mood for change, to shape public opinion, to win the battle for Britain's future.

'Our aim is straightforward: to reach out to anyone and everyone who shares our conviction that cuts are not the cure. So let's campaign, let's organise, and let's mobilise, building a wide, diverse alliance against austerity, defending our public services and our welfare state and showing there is a real alternative to the cuts.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The annual Wales TUC is from Tuesday 22 May until tomorrow (Thursday 24 May) at Venue Cymru, The Promenade, Llandudno. Cost £35 for a visitor/observer pass and conference pack if booked in advance, or £40 for a visitor/observer pass and conference pack on the day if not pre-booked. For more information please contact Jo Rees on 029 2034 7010 or email jrees@tuc.org.uk

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

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 Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk

Wales TUC Martin Mansfield T: 07825 789 604 E: mmansfield@tuc.org.uk