UNITED KINGDOM
The prospect of some 150,000 UK Public Servants going on strike during the northern summer is looming larger after the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) trade union voted to ballot its members on industrial action over pay.
The PCS hopes the forthcoming ballot will provide leverage in its negotiations with the Government on lifting the 1 per cent public sector pay cap for PS employees.
A consultative ballot on pay last year found that 80 per cent of PCS members would be prepared to strike if the Government failed to scrap the public sector pay cap.
The cap has been in place since 2012, and followed a two-year pay freeze across the public sector.
The Treasury has indicated that the cap will be lifted and cap-busting rises have been offered to police officers (of 2 per cent) and prison officers (1.7 per cent), but these must be paid for from within existing Departmental budgets.
National Health Service staff have been handed a 6.5 per cent increase over three years, to be paid for with additional funding, in exchange for improvements in productivity.
PS employees working for the Scottish Government have been offered at least a 4 per cent pay rise for the majority of staff — and 12 per cent for some.
General Secretary of the PCS, Mark Serwotka said a vote in favour of striking could lead to sustained action.
“Our members deserve a fair pay rise to make up for years of pay restraint, but we have been told there is only 1 per cent in the Budget for pay, unlike other parts of the public sector,” Mr Serwotka said.
“This is a disgraceful way for the Government to treat its own workforce.”
A motion passed at the PCS annual conference formally stated its intention to support the election of a Labour Government.
The motion, which was passed overwhelmingly, called on the union to “develop an effective political strategy for the next General Election that involves advancing our industrial agenda through national union support for a [Jeremy] Corbyn-led Labour Government”.
Mr Serwotka said the vote highlighted Labour’s pledge to return to national pay bargaining in the Public Service and related bodies.
London, 25 May 2018
