23 May 2008
The government is facing the threat of renewed strikes over pay across the public sector as unions gear up for a summer of discontent.
Unions declared their readiness to take on the government over its public sector pay limit at a series of conferences, after a meeting with chief secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper earlier this month.
The Public and Commercial Services union conference in Brighton on May 21 voted to ballot all 280,000 civil service members for strikes – an escalation of its action in April, which involved 100,000 workers. The Prospect union, representing 40,000 specialist civil service staff, passed an emergency resolution committing it to an industrial action ballot where staff receive offers of less than 2%.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'At a time when the Labour government is at its least popular, it is further alienating its own workforce with its policy of pay freezes and pay cuts in real terms.'
The PCS also welcomed a speech by Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, whose 250,000 members took strike action alongside civil servants in April against their own 2.45% offer. The NUT executive has reaffirmed that it will ballot members for further action and is committed to working jointly with other unions.
A bulletin from the NUT executive notes that a joint union public sector liaison group, co-ordinated by the Trades Union Congress, will be 'meeting more frequently' as the pay campaign intensifies.
A TUC lobby of Parliament over public sector pay on June 9 could be boosted by a strike by 7,000 members of the lecturers' University and College Union. London members will take action unless a 2.5% offer – rejected by all six unions representing 250,000 further education staff – is increased in talks with employers on June 5.
The scale of the discontent in the public sector was signalled by the Police Federation, which released ballot results showing 86% of officers wanted the right to strike – a sign of their anger over the government's refusal to backdate a 2.5% rise to September, reducing its value to 1.9%. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was accused of 'betrayal' and given a rough ride at the federation's conference in Bournemouth on May 21.
Firefighters also backed a resolution to consider a national strike if the longstanding formula used to calculate their pay rises is abandoned. Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack warned that the formula was under threat from the government's pay cap.
Local government employers have now been officially notified of industrial action ballots by the Unison and Unite unions, which have rejected a 2.45% offer. Unison said action was 'likely to start with a two-day all-out strike in early July, and be followed by a sustained campaign of escalating action, involving strikes of more than two days'.
In the NHS, Unison has begun a ballot of its NHS members on a three-year deal worth around 8% in total – an offer that has already been rejected by a number of other health unions, including Unite. Meanwhile, junior doctors began a programme of lunchtime hospital protests against the loss of free accommodation for first year medics, which is seen as an effective 20% pay cut.
PFmay2008
