According to The Guardian, the government is planning substantial pay cuts across the whole of the UK’s public sector. They are planning to enter talks with the relevant trade unions on a new pay settlement.
Ministers want to limit pay increases to around the current rate of inflation- around two per cent, which would be paid into wage packets over three years.
Why is the government doing this? Is it now because after ten years of living beyond its means, they’ve realised now that they have to make savings…. which will be at the expense of an often low-waged workforce, some of whom have to care for the most vulnerable people in the country. The pay settlement, when you consider that after you pay for increased income and council tax, increased fuel bills, and essential items becoming more expensive, will effectively mean a pay cut.
Don’t buy the ministers’ spin! The unions should reject the pay round and start to campaign, through industrial action if necessary, to secure a decent living wage for the hard work that they do.