REAL LIVES Pay under the Tories MAY’S PUBLIC SE


NHS staff leaving to work in supermarkets proves pay cap must go


A new farce has opened in Whitehall featuring the Prime Minister, several of her cabinet colleagues and spin doctors, giving the laughable impression that the government is planning to ease the crackdown on public sector pay.


Act One opened with a briefing to journalists that Theresa May recognised people were “weary” with austerity, dropping a strong hint that she was preparing to review the 1 per cent pay cap, backed up by comments from other ministers.


Act Two moved swiftly to the Treasury, with whispers that they hadn’t approved any review, moving seamlessly to Act Three, with a Downing Street spokesman saying the policy had not changed.


The Final Act featured Tory MPs cheering and smiling in the Commons as an attempt by Labour to scrap the cap was defeated – an image which will hopefully haunt the Conservatives until the next general election.


But farce turned to anger – especially as the nation continues to marvel at the heroic efforts of firefighters, nurses and other public service workers in dealing with the recent terrorist attacks and London tower block fire.


Unite general secretary Len McCluskey summed up the mood by linking the Prime Minister’s £1bn “bung” to shore up her government, with the way she treats working people.


“How dare the Tories ever again praise our emergency heroes, or look the people who teach our children, clean our streets or tend to our sick in the eye,” he said.


Official figures have shown a deepening wage squeeze, with average earnings falling


compared to a year ago, while the Resolution Foundation has revealed that typical hourly pay for the under 40s is at least 11 per cent lower than before the 2008 financial crisis.


“The Tories have succeeded in creating the longest period of falling real terms of pay since the Napoleonic wars,” added Len. “People are sick of the last seven years of the Tories always taking from those who need it most.”


Rumours persist that the Autumn Budget may include measures to increase the pay of public sector workers, but by then, nurses could be taking industrial action and more health staff will have left the NHS because they are so demoralised by seven years of pay restraint.


Stressed out A recent report revealed that stressed out NHS workers were leaving and finding jobs in supermarkets. Sadly this was not fake news, but a shocking indictment of the government's treatment of public sector workers, sparking warnings of a recruitment and retention crisis which could endanger patient safety.


Unite national officer Sarah Carpenter said the pay cap was causing severe damage to the NHS. “The Tories are wrecking the health service and putting people at risk. How can it be possible to provide adequate patient care when NHS staff are unable to support themselves on their hard earned wages?


“Nurses are using food banks and staff are leaving to work in supermarkets. The NHS is in the midst of the biggest crisis it has ever faced – demand is rising, budgets have been slashed and there are staff shortages across a range of vital occupations,” she said.


10 uniteWORKS Summer 2017


Unite, which has more than 200,000 members in the public sector, is calling on the Prime Minister to honour the Labour Party's pledges on public services, including a pay safety net of £10-an-hour. Since 2010, the pay of the majority of NHS staff has been eroded by 17 per cent in real terms, Unite estimates.


Major anti-austerity marches have been held since the general election amid growing evidence of public support for more spending on services they rely on every day.


The recent annual survey on British social attitudes revealed that eight in 10 people said the NHS should be given more cash while 70 per cent favoured more money for schools and 60 per cent wanted increased police spending.


TUC figures show that workers are still £20 a week worse off, on average, than they were before the financial crash several years ago, and are now being “hammered” by rising prices.


TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady has urged the government to stop the wage slide, saying: “Ministers must focus on delivering better-paid jobs all around the UK, and it’s time to lift the artificial pay restrictions in the public sector. Our hardworking nurses and teachers are long overdue a pay rise.”


As are our hardworking council workers. Unite has joined with other unions, in total representing more than 1.6m local government employees across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, in submitting a pay claim that attempts to narrow the growing gap


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