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Together we will smash this pay freeze

June 19, 2012 6:48 pm

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Dave Prentis

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Having smashed through a block of ice in the shape of a pound sign earlier in the day, I was more than ready to take our challenge to the Government onto the conference floor this afternoon.

The pay freeze has been devastating for public service workers and their families. Times are hard. A depressing glimpse of breadline Britain was laid bare in our recent survey showing that three quarters of our members have been forced to cut down on food. One in four say they are struggling just to survive. That is why I am determined that we break this damaging pay freeze.

I said to delegates that we must be out there campaigning for a fair pay deal. And one thing I’m sure of, the issue of pay will be our battle ground – it will explode.

The pay challenge means working together with our sister unions, making our case in workplaces across the country. I see the simmering pressure when I visit our branches and regions and the hardship caused by three years of no pay rise in local government and two in health.

And the damage caused to local economies is palpable. You only have to walk down our high streets to see boards going up and businesses closing. Is it any wonder when people are too frightened of losing their jobs, to spend what little money they have left after they pay for basics like food, energy and fuel.

That is why I called on the TUC to organise a national demonstration on October 20 and I told delegates that we have got to work together to make it bigger than last March – it must be massive. Building a movement, an unstoppable momentum an alliance of unions, community groups and the public taking on this Government’s austerity agenda. I want it to be the biggest campaign this union’s ever seen. The demo will be just the beginning as we campaign and battle through the autumn and winter into next year.

We have a task ahead with attacks on our public services from so many quarters. Employers sprinkling redundancy notices like a shower of confetti. 625 public service workers jobs gone for every day this Coalition has been in power. A year that saw elderly and disabled care budgets slashed by £900 million, throwing our care system into crisis.

But as I told conference we can fight back. Already the public turned with a vengeance against Osborne’s austerity plan. The Coalition took a hammering at the polls in May in councils across the land. People are seeing that that Government’s no hope, no growth agenda is taking the country back into recession. All the pain for no gain.

It is time to show the Government the power of unity. Together we will smash this pay freeze.

Dave Prentis is the General Secretary of Unison. This post forms part of our coverage of Unison Conference 2012.

http://twitter.com/robertsjonathan Jonathan Roberts

How would you pay for it?
- http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone
  
  Austerity will be far more expensive – how will you pay for that?
  - http://twitter.com/robertsjonathan Jonathan Roberts
    
    Technically we’re not in austerity. We are spending and borrowing more this year than we did last year, and the year before that. As a result, it’s difficult to answer your question.
    
    But do you not think it’s reasonable to ask him to come up with some facts and figures for how it will be affordable?
    - Peter Barnard
      
      “We are spending and borrowing more this year ….”
      
      Not sure how you arrive at that conclusion. Take borrowing first :
      
      2010/11 : £137 billion *
      2011/12 : £124 billion *
      2012/13 : £92 billion forecast **
      
      * Public Sector Finances, table PSF7
      ** Budget 2012, table D.6
      
      Spending :
      
      Departmental spending 2011/12 : £358 billion (current and gross capital combined).
      
      Ditto 2012/13 : £364 billion (ditto)
      
      (From Budget 2012, table D.4)
      
      However, £358 billion in 2011/12 is equivalent to £368 billion in 2012/13 after application of the GDP deflator.
      
      In 2010/11, departmental expenditure was £370 billion. After application of the GDP deflator, this is equivalent to £388 billion in 2012/13 – a real terms reduction of £18 billion.
      
      Finally, total managed expenditure was £688 billion in 2010/11 ; it is forecast to be £683 billion in 2012/13. That’s cash terms. After application of the GDP deflator, RPI it is quite obvious that we are spending less this fiscal year than we did two years ago.
AnotherOldBoy

Obviously the answer to all our troubles is to treble the pay of all Unison members!

Pure genius from Mr Prentis.

No need to worry about where the money to pay for this will come from. That’s not Mr Prentis’s problem.
jaime taurosangastre candelas

The picture of a union baron destroying the symbol of one of the world’s oldest currencies is fairly strong. Let us hope it is not a prediction of the impact of his demands, but it is not a good start. I have a feeling that Mr Prentis will regret this photo opportunity.
- treborc1
  
  http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2012/04/27/north-east-ambulance-service-directors-get-179-pay-rises-61634-30849636/
  
  http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16097985
  
  http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Council-chief-s-163-26k-pay-rise/story-12456977-detail/story.html
  
  Well in the end of course it’s easy to accept a pay freeze when your getting £170,000 and to tell people that your going to get a freeze after you have just had a £26,000 pay rise which was to tide you over though the bad times coming.
  
  We are not all in it together the pay rises for the bankers are still going on the pay rises for the poor are being attacked.
  
  yep we are in it together.
  - jaime taurosangastre candelas
    
    treborc1, may we make a bargain? I will respond to your comments when I believe I have something to add or to counterpoint to the logical thrust that your argument makes, and of course in a respectful manner. May I ask you to also do the same for any of my comments that catch your eye, rather than using them as a hook for a completely unrelated thought of yours expressed repeatedly several dozen times a day in “cryptic” one line remarks? Thank you.
    - treborc1
      
      Listen if I have something to say your your Tory right wing crap I will. OK.
      
      Why the hell your on this site is mistifying
      - Stuart Smith
        
        Anyone who wants to can come on this site. Prentis dropping his trousers to try to get attention might play well with people like you, but rest assured, most people are left wondering what planet he lives on.
Holby18

Well now – should they not be pleased they are in work. Many of my friends in the private sector have had wage cuts and many are on short time. I know that you must act in the interests of your members but you live in cloud cuckoo land if you think the public will support you. Further, it is not really a pay freeze for those in the public sector – what about all those increments many of your members enjoy. An increment can be worth many thousands a year depending on the job. Look at budgets for police forces – pay freeze in existence but million set aside for wage rises because of increments.

So you want the country to borrow more money? You will increase our debt, the markets will lose faith and interest on government borrowing which is already will increase. We will lose investment – lose our credit rating and goodness knows what else. What about your members then. Yes job cuts are around – not that many though – no change in services in my area. If we follow your cry to stop pay freezes then your members will fall. We will have to get rid of more public sector workers as we will have less money – interest on government loans and debt will rise.

We are getting back to reality. The public sector grew too fast and unnecessarily in the past decade. Many of us despaired at the nature of some of the jobs and indeed the remuneration offered. Wages increased far greater than in the private sector. Lest you think I can not substantiate that then I suggest you look at the LSE site which provides academic research into private v public pay and pensions.

You do not live in the real world Mr Prentice – I do.
- treborc1
  
  Yes he does. if we are all in it together then of course we should be getting no pay or wage increases bankers should not be getting large bonus payments and people should not be avoiding tax, and the Tories with Cameron should not be saying we will put out the red carpet for anyone to come to the UK to avoid paying Frances higher taxes.
  
  we are not all in it together.
- Dave Postles
  
  By contrast, look at the Incomes Data Service report which critiques the other reports for not comparing like with like and where meaningful comparisons can be made, the pattern is much more complex.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Barker/1546990341 Paul Barker

Together you will waste lots of your members money, damage the labour brand & get squashed.
- treborc1
  
  Labour does not need any help damaging the brand Brown did that for everyone. But it’s time that the Union did tell the Government if we are all in it together prove it.
- derek
  
  We are the party! We are the power! We are the people! and power to the people!!!!!!
  - Lembit Opik’s Lovechild
    
    Actually the party is around 220,000 members. The rest of the electorate is around 40,000,000. You gained 29% of the votes at the election.
    
    If you’re the power then you’re a 40W lightbulb at best
    - derek
      
      And you’ll be the receipt?
      - Dave Postles
        
        He looks more like the LibDem moth still fluttering around Clegg’s candle.
      - derek
        
        He’s dimmer than the average dem!
    - Dave Postles
      
      Unlike Willetts, most of us here can change our own light bulbs, be they 40 watt or higher. What sort of person can vote for an idiot who cannot change his own light bulbs? He’s your sodding minister for Higher Education.
      - Lembit Opik’s Lovechild
        
        Not sure Brown could actually sit the right way on a lavatory seat and he was your preferred PM. Go figure.
      - derek
        
        We’re thinking you’ll have problems fitting the average lavatory seat.
Lembit Opik’s Lovechild

So, how much did that ice sculpture cost, who paid for it, and how much energy did it take to make, all for a very very empty gesture. And politicians wonder why the public don’t listen any more.

Pay freeze? One pay rise of 1.5% in the last 5 years; and a private pension plan that was completely f*cked by brown and his pension pot raids. Welcome to the real world.
- treborc1
  
  Join the gang I saved into a pension pot since my first days work, Brown mess lost me 75% of my pension pot.
  
  But I will still back the Unions if the top can get paid extra it’s time for the bottom, it’s easy saying we are all in this together if your getting 65.000 it a dam harder on the min wage.
  - Lembit Opik’s Lovechild
    
    Brown Mess. Sums it up nicely
derek

800,000 children thrown on to the breadline countless families struggling with the choice to heat the water or feed the tummies. Angry! absolutely raging and together we will smash this pay freeze.
http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

The pay freeze is part of the austerity drive and we all know that austerity isn’t working. There is and will not be any recovery derived from austerity. Spending cuts in a depressed economy only make the depression worse so three cheers for Mr Prentis and his realism – it’s not easy to break from the orthodoxy but burying your head in the sand does not constitute a recovery programme.

Continuing with a failed strategy is not sensible. And if anyone thinks that austerity works then name one country where it is working.
- Winston_from_the_Ministry
  
  Define “working”.
- hp
  
  Yet again, it is dishonest to use the word ‘austerity’ to describe our current public expenditure position (deficit). Replace the word ‘austerity’ with the phrase ’economic reality’ in your comment then we get an honest version of the argument that you are making.
  - Trudge74
    
    Austerity in the sense that there have been attempts to cut budgets up and down the country, speak to the army, police and local gvt for a start. The problem would seem that as predicted these actions are only making things worse leading to more costs elsewhere and less income. The electorate were sold austerity hardly labour’s fault if the gvt have failed in their plans.
    
    As to pay freeze in public sector, keep it for those earning more than 35k but an in line with inflation for those below. Technically that is actually a pay freeze in real terms anyway.
http://profile.yahoo.com/QDMFX65KM5STSAFHAC4FOLFTO4 fran

I think it’s great symbolism and a refreshing symbolic action given the paralysis of so many who say they speak for the ‘people’. What a visual contrast with the tale of two Britain’s coming out of today’s broadsheet news stories – The Guardian talks of ‘Breadline Britain’ and the plight and pressure of the working poor who are seeing their standard of living relentlessly attacked. Over to the Times for the story of Jimmy Carr and the money millions lost to the Treasury by persistent tax avoiders. Smash the freeze because we are not all in it together and let’s stop pretending we ever were.
- derek
  
  Well said Fran! and they can give the millionaire club a tax cut of £40,00 each.
  - John Phelan
    
    £40 each? That’s not much.
    - derek
      
      LoL! 40 thousand each, sorry John, I really do need to have a second look before I hit the post button.
Winston_from_the_Ministry

Is Dave Prentis getting a pay freeze this year?

Is he “in it together” with his members?
hp

It is plainly dishonest to describe the current budget deficit as ‘austerity’.
Please stop it and we can have a proper discussion regarding our economic future.

The unfortunate fact is that to deal with our £1,000,000,000,000+ public debt, we need to reduce the number of workers in the public sector. As valuable as they may be, those paid throgh govt spending are not contributors to the public finances. Govt. spending can only be financed by the productivity of workers in the private sector. And that is the real private sector, not so-called private businesses that get their income through govt. contracts. We need as many shoulders as possible to carry, then reduce, the burden of debt.

So, up the workers! We are the ones who can and will fix this mess. But, sadly, not all of those in the public sector. One way or another, many of you will have to join us in the cash-contributing sector.
Hugh

Smashing the pound is a fairly apt image for the consequences if Prentis were successful.

I’m not sure that photo-op was much better thought through than the campaign it seeks to publicise.
retundario

If you are paid through public funds and earn over £100k, you should get a 12% cut in your earnings phased over a year or two years (there are over 40,000 people earning more than £100k on the public payroll). Pay cuts, decreasing in percentage terms, should be brought in down to those earning £25,000 (say 0.5% cut for those on 28k per year).

The money accrued through this and a tax on bankers bonuses and CEOs whose pay increased during the last two years should then be used to fund a tax cut for private sector employees earning under £40k a year. Those workers support the country and get the worst deal.The Union’s demented defence of the public sector is selfish and immoral basically!
Bill Lockhart

Is this one of Mark’s caption competitions? If so, my entry is:

“Labour’s Economic Policy in One Picture”
MonkeyBot5000

If you want a pay rise, work harder or find a different job – that’s the way it works for the rest of us.

Working harder has the additional benefit of your members paying my invoices in a reasonable time instead of me waiting 2 months or more for the money I’m owed.
- Alan Mitchell
  
  I think Monkey doth protest to much.
  
  The problem is the Tory govenrment want s to set ordianry people against ordinary people against ordinary people. Workers in this sector have had THREE CONSEQUTIVE pay freezes preceeded by THREE SUBSTANTIALLY BELOW inflation pay awards. Result? Staff in this sector already struggling are now 15% where there need to be just to KEEP UP with the cost of living.
  
  This isn’t fair.
  
  Monkey you are Sooooooooooooooo wrong. It’s not about working HARDER!! This sector already does more unpaid overtime than any other PLUS give their all Monday to Friday for naff all.
  
  If the poor need to pay for the mistakes of the powerful and wealthy than say so…….but they don’t.
  
  Never ever post comments on this site without having knowledge about the people you are condeming……..unless secretly you are supporters of the current Tory attempt to crush ordinary and poor people and hand power back…finally and forever……to the likes of Bob Diamond……
  - MonkeyBot5000
    
    “Never ever post comments on this site without having knowledge about the people you are condeming.”
    
    I have worked for the civil service. They didn’t work particularly harder than anyone I met in the private sector but they quite often thought that they did.
    
    Also, the particular department I had in mind when I posted that claims that they will pay their invoices in 30 days, but take an average of 6-8 weeks. If they paid them as quickly as we pay our own invoices, I wouldn’t be going to the Job Centre to sign on next week.
    - PeterBarnard
      
      I’m sorry to hear that, MB5000 (your last sentence).
      
      I hope things improve for you and quickly.
      - Dave Postles
        
        I echo that sentiment. Large companies and the government are acting poorly in this respect. It’s noticeable that large companies have declined to subscribe to the current proposals for due payment. Under the 1998 Act, you should try to charge the interest on late payment.
    - Charles Brooker
      
      Never mind. You’ll’ soon be working harder for less money like the rest of us, most likely in a part-time minimum wage jobs miles away from your home. It’s life but not as we know it,Jim.
- Honest John
  
  Try saying that to doctors and nurses when their pay deals and pensions are “renegotiated”.

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