19 December 2003
Whitehall's biggest union is on collision course with the Treasury after it voted heavily in favour of a return to a national pay framework for civil servants, despite Gordon Brown's support for regional settlements.
The 290,000-member Public and Commercial Services union, which represents white collar staff up to middle management, told Public Finance it will now lodge a national pay claim for 2004/05 and 'expects a battle with ministers' at the Treasury and Cabinet Office next year.
In a ballot result announced on December 16, union members voted 55,580 in favour of national pay bargaining, with 4,257 voting against.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said the arrangements for pay in the civil service were 'increasingly inefficient and riddled with inequalities, with more than 200 different sets of negotiations each year.'
Brown recently reiterated the government's support for more regional flexibility in pay, which could mean many public sector workers' settlements were either frozen or kept low in areas outside London.
But the PCS claimed that Brown's support for regional flexibility operated within the context of national pay frameworks – such as the one that exists across local government.
'The chancellor should now practise what he preaches. Whitehall wants pay claims settled in the context of a national "spine". Although we are wary of any regional flexibility, there is perhaps scope for it within that national framework,' a PCS spokesman said.
The Cabinet Office was, however, quick to play down calls to return to a national structure for civil servants. A spokeswoman said: 'There are no plans to move in that direction – the government has been very specific about allowing departments individual flexibility.'
Privately, mandarins are also waiting to assess the impact of the Gershon and Lyons reviews, which will call for more efficient use of departmental funds and the relocation of Whitehall personnel away from London – both factors that would have an impact on pay policy.
Senior PCS staff also met this week to discuss 'Scrooge-like' pay deals offered to Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions staff. Members overwhelmingly rejected the offers and, as PF went to press, the union's executive were discussing their next move – which could include co-ordinated strikes next year.
In this week's national ballot, the PCS also rejected government plans to raise the public sector pension age from 60 to 65. Serwotka said staff feared their futures were 'being torn up in front of their eyes'.
PFdec2003
