- Conference
- 2012 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2012
- Decision
- Carried
COMPOSITE B
CAMPAIGNING AGAINST GOVERNMENT PAY POLICY
Conference condemns the Chancellor George Osborne’s statement in December 2011 that he was to ask pay review bodies to consider how public sector pay can vary from region to region, and present him with recommendations by July 2012. Additionally he stated that ‘the Minister for the Cabinet Office will review how more local, market facing pay could be introduced in civil service departments. Secretaries of states may then choose to take forward recommendations for their departments’
The Chancellor’s statement to the Commons came as he told MPs that public sector pay would rise by just one per cent a year over two years from 2013, significantly less than the rate of inflation, and following a government imposed two-year pay freeze in addition to Local Government employer’s pay freeze in 2009; this means that many public sector workers have suffered major pay cuts in real terms.
For Local Government members this could follow three successive years of frozen pay under current government policy, during which time inflation has stood at around 5% per annum. With increased living costs, particularly in soaring energy bills, the net effect has been a reduction in disposable income of over 20% in that time. And this comes when real term pay for local government members is at its lowest since 1997.
In that context Conference is appalled by the comments of the Labour Party Leader in January suggesting that public service workers should accept further pay freezes and pay cuts. We welcome the robust rebuttal issued by UNISON on 18 January and look forward to proposals from Labour Link as to how our concerns are raised within the Labour Party.
Conference notes there is no guarantee our local government members will even get the miserly 1% pay increases, given the previous refusal of the NJC national employers to ‘award’ the £250 Osborne so graciously tipped to the lowest paid. Many local authorities are already flagging up that even a 1% increase under the current Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) settlements will be unaffordable at local level without impacting on jobs and services. These, in turn, will doubtless signal further attempts to erode terms and conditions locally. There is a very real prospect that our local government members could be facing a continuous 5-year pay freeze.
Conference notes that in the Chancellor’s 2011 Autumn Statement, he also said: ‘While private sector pay is set in accordance with local labour markets, public sector pay is usually set on a national basis.’ Income Data Services (IDS) states ‘here is a classic example of not comparing like with like. The fact is that most large, multi-site private sector companies have national pay structures. These organisations, among them retailers, banks or telecom companies are not dissimilar to large, multi-site public sector organisations that have national pay structures’.
Arguments for local pay are often underpinned by the false premise that there is a great deal of regional variation in pay in the UK. Official regional earnings data shows that in fact there is much less regional difference in earnings than is assumed. The issue of significant variations in regional costs of living also play a role, but the data shows there is very little variation in the cost of living between different UK countries and English regions.
Conference also notes the parallel aspect of government pay policy with their review into regional pay adjustments. This is aimed at completely breaking up sector-wide pay bargaining with the intention of realising lower wage settlements by making public sector pay ‘more responsive’ to local labour markets. What that really means is a downward spiral of pay value in both the public and private sectors. It will have a particular impact on private sector pay in those areas where public sector employment constitutes a considerable proportion of the overall job market, and in those sectors and occupation types where historically local government pay levels have provided at least a de-minimise threshold that uplifted private sector pay. It will also mean in practice that overall pay values will be more depressed in regions with higher levels of unemployment and slower economic growth.
Conference notes that in many regions, as a result of de-industrialisation, the local authority is often the biggest employer, and the public sector generally plays a major role in the employment market. Further driving down public sector pay therefore has a disproportionate depressive effect across the local economy.
Conference further notes that gender pay gap in the private sector is twice that of the public sector, and that regionalised pay will force down the wages of the lowest paid women local government workers, with the inevitable widening of the gap.
Conference understands that regional pay is part of the same umbrella of austerity measures as pay freezes, pay caps and the CSR cuts. It is part of the transfer of private sector debt and financial market failure onto the public purse and onto ordinary working people and families in all sectors. And asset stripping the public sector so that essential services are provided under a profit motive rather than for the common good. In attacking local government disproportionately this government is also attacking the scope and availability of local public services which in a deep recession are increasingly needed by our communities.
Conference believes that pay and rewards for our local government members needs to be a high priority for the service group. Our members understand the reality of cuts and that aspirations and expectations are going to be lower in a time of recession. However, that does not mean we should accept that ongoing reductions in the real value of our earnings year in and year out are inevitable or justified.
Conference reaffirms its commitment to advocate for the retention of national pay bargaining and calls on the Service Group Executive to:
1) Prioritise local government pay and rewards in the work of the service group at all levels.
2) Develop a high profile campaign in the short and medium term that engages regions, branches and members against this Coalition pay policy, the ongoing pay freeze, pay caps and any imposition of local and regional pay in local government.
3) Ensure that it supports any campaign against attempts by the Local Government Employers to undermine national pay bargaining and introduce regional pay.
4) Ensure that future pay claims address the pay deficit between local government, the rest of the public sector and the private sector.
5) Undertake research and produce guidance into the impact on our members of regional pay in local government, including the implications for worsening economic and social inequality in the UK.
6) Work with other service groups, regions and branches as appropriate in developing research, analysis, case studies and materials.
7) Consult with all local government service group national Sector Committees, and Regions and branches on a proposal to ballot members for a programme of industrial action, as part of our strategic campaign on pay and earnings, over the failure by employers’ bargaining sides to make any or a sufficient pay offer under the umbrella of Government policy on public sector pay; with a view to co-ordinating any ballots arising from this consultation to run concurrently in autumn 2012, where authorised under UNISON’s Industrial Action procedures.
8) Where possible to work with other Local Government trade unions who are prepared to take co-ordinated action.
Newcastle City
NJC Local Government Committee
North West Region
Local Government Service Group Executive
Manchester Branch
National Women’s Committee
Knowsley