I for one, am not holding my breath to hear what the Chancellor has to say in his Budget tomorrow.
This year the Treasury has been more tight-lipped than usual about what is likely to be in it, but I am not expecting any good news for public service workers. What’s more I am not expecting any measures that will tackle the growing gap between the rich and poor.
In contrast UNISON’s Budget – Investing in the future: jobs, public services and growth, sets out a clear alternative strategy aimed at injecting some fairness into our increasingly divided society. A range of measures that are fully costed and which calls for an immediate end to the cap on public service pay, a moratorium on job cuts and a pay rise to match inflation in 2014/15.
I share the growing anger and frustration of members who have been singled out for worse treatment by this Coalition. Last week’s assault on NHS workers was the last straw. What a disgrace to see 60% of NHS workers including nurses, healthcare assistants, therapists, cooks cleaners and paramedics denied a pay rise. A Government that thinks nothing of reneging on its own pay cap of 1%.
And local government employers waiting to see what the new minimum wage rate would be before coming forward with a pay offer – and we are still waiting. Since when has local government pay been linked to the very least they can get away with?
I’m tired of hearing the Government spinning the myth that we are all in this together. Just this week we learned that government ministers have been quietly approving pay rises of up to 36% for their six figure salaried so-called special advisers, while the rest of the public service are being told they’ll face another year of one per cent or nothing. That doesn’t prove to me that we are all in this together.
But while we are waiting, we are not sitting on our hands. We are currently carrying out a root and branch membership data exercise, cleansing our records so that we are ready to take action and move to a ballot without any delays.
Without some change of heart – if this Government has one – in tomorrow’s Budget, it is time to say enough is enough. Enough of job cuts, enough of seeing vital services closed or rationed, enough of zero hours contracts and low pay, enough of the City bonus culture, the widening gap between rich and poor and north and south.
If the Government continues to square up to public service workers they need to be warned they will get the response they are looking for.
