Furious trade union leaders on Tuesday signalled a wave of strikes in the coming months after the government unveiled below-inflation pay rises for millions of public sector workers.
Prime minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet on Tuesday signed off wage increases covering 2.5mn public sector workers of about 5 per cent on average. Consumer price inflation is running at a 40-year high of more than 9 per cent.
The government, which is under pressure to help people with the escalating cost of living crisis, said it had accepted recommendations by independent pay review bodies covering the public sector.
It said this year’s pay awards were intended to “strike a careful balance” between recognising public sector workers’ contribution, fiscal discipline and controlling inflation.
But unions described the awards as “pitiful”, suggesting that the government had not gone nearly far enough to prevent them consulting their members on strike action.
Britain’s railways are already embroiled in the biggest strikes in a generation, partly over pay, and workers at BT and Royal Mail have voted for industrial action over what they regard as inadequate wage rises.
The government’s pay offer for schools means salaries for experienced teachers will rise by 5 per cent in the next academic year.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said teachers would not stand for “another huge cut” to the real value of their pay during spiralling inflation.
“Given this very poor pay proposal, we will look towards consulting our members in the autumn,” he added. “This will be the largest ballot of teachers for a generation.”
In the NHS, the government said there would be a flat £1,400 pay rise for hospital nurses, paramedics, midwives and porters, equivalent to 4 per cent on average. There would be an average 4.5 per cent increase for doctors and dentists, and a 3.5 per cent rise for senior NHS managers.
Christina McAnea, general secretary of the union Unison, said the government had made a “big mistake” with a pay deal for NHS workers that “fails on every front”.
She added: “Fed-up staff might well now decide to take the matter into their own hands. If there is to be a dispute in the NHS, ministers will have no one to blame but themselves.”
Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said the government had delivered a “kick in the teeth” to public sector workers and the “so-called wage offer amounts to a massive national pay cut”.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said the deal was a “grave mis-step” that would push nurses out of the profession, adding that the union’s members would vote and say what they want to do next.
Armed forces personnel have been offered a pay rise of 3.75 per cent by the government.
Police officers will have a flat £1,900 pay increase, amounting to 5 per cent on average.
The flat offers for some public sector workers mean many lower-paid staff will secure a higher pay rise in percentage terms. For example, hospital porters will receive 9 per cent.
There are also higher rises for some new recruits such as starter teachers, whose pay will rise by 8.9 per cent.
Official data released on Tuesday showed UK private sector pay grew almost five times as fast as the public equivalent.
Source: Economy - ft.com
