Unions seek fair wage contracts for PPP staff

10 Oct 02
The unions are to press again for a fair wages resolution in public-private partnerships following the promise of a review into the two-tier workforce last week. But the private sector has immediately cast doubt on the relevance of any new talks.

11 October 2002

Union sources told Public Finance that they will be pressing for a pan-public sector review following furious exchanges over PPPs and the Private Finance Initiative at last week's Labour Party conference.

Unison, the T&G and the GMB will demand that a fair wages clause be inserted into all PPP contracts. This, they maintain, would protect new staff, who are often paid less than workers transferred from the public sector – hence the two-tier workforce.

Privately, most union leaders admit that the government will not move on this point, but they intend to press for fair wage principles. This could include a change in contract wording to ensure that new starters' terms and conditions are 'no less favourable' than those of their colleagues once employed in the public sector. This would also apply to pensions, with the T&G pressing for 'mandatory admitted body' status to occupational schemes for all workers delivering a public service.

The general secretaries of Unison, the GMB and the T&G are understood to be meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair at the end of the month for initial talks. But the government will have to overcome private scepticism from the unions and reluctance from the private sector.

The last attempt to solve this issue was a disaster. The local government review launched at the 2001 party conference failed to reach agreement, and a solution was imposed by the government.

Jack Dromey, national secretary of the T&G, said he would try to build a coalition to support reform. 'The time has come to drive disreputable contractors out of procurement. A fair wages clause is in the best interests of employees and reputable contractors,' he told Public Finance.

But Norman Rose, director general of the Business Services Association, said the review would not achieve any major changes. 'I would be less happy if they accepted the wording of "no less favourable",' he added. 'That would mean that terms would have to be at least as good as the public sector, which is going for mirror image and would put us in a straitjacket.'

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