Increasing wages in the public sector will also have a positive influence on the economy

Back in 2010 George Osborne used a myth that low pay was only a problem in the private sector, that all pay in the public sector is pretty good as justification for his announcement of a public sector pay freeze in his first budget. He used the same line again in 2011, when he announced a further pay cap, saying he was being “tough but fair to those who pay their taxes to fund public sector pay increases”. Then again, in 2012, he also used this argument to argue for regional pay in the public sector.

The government of course gets loads of support for its pay policy from the media. Type public sector pay into the search box on the Daily Mail website and you will see blatant propaganda that uses individual examples to attack the millions of public service workers in the UK:

• ‘Public sector staff still get pay rises and hefty redundancy handouts’
• ‘Revealed: £1,000 pay premium for public sector staff that costs taxpayers £6.3 billion’
• ‘Public sector pay gravy train gets rolling again: pay freeze for private firms continues as state wages rise’

Last week the Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that British workers have suffered more financial pain since 2008 than in any other five year period in the modern age. This week, new research for UNISON sets out exactly how public sector workers and their families will be many thousands of pounds worse off in 2015 compared to when the coalition took office.

Landman Economics modelled a number of scenarios for UNISON, factoring in the prolonged pay freeze & squeeze, VAT increase, social security/tax credit changes, and inflation to see how these changes hit various occupations since 2010 and showing how hardworking families will have been robbed of up to 50% of their household earnings by the end of this parliament.

The lowest paid workers have faced the hardest hit; a single healthcare assistant with two children earning £15,194 in 2010 will lose more than 50% of their income when adjusted for tax and benefit top ups, the pay freeze, service cuts and inflation. Over the same period of time, a care assistant earning just £16,393, with two school aged children and a partner working in the private sector will see 30% or £8,806 wiped off their income. For a teaching assistant in a couple with two school aged children the financial hit is 20% or £7,901, whilst the average single-parent paramedic with two school aged children will see their family income decline by a massive 27%, or £6,563, since 2010.

These figures give us a clear picture about what austerity means for workers across the public services. The squeeze on pay and incomes is economy wide and the ‘public vs private’ debate over pay simply fuels a race to the bottom for all of us. However, a recent polling exercise carried out by YouGov suggested that people don’t see increasing pay in the top five measures that would make an immediate difference to their finances. Tax cuts were seen as far more likely to make a difference. Changing these opinions will not be easy.

UNISON is campaigning alongside the Labour Party and the scores of charities and other community based campaigns to urge the government to end the squeeze on pay, to look again at the tax and benefit changes that are hitting those on low and middle incomes so hard. But we also need to ensure that the debate over alleviating poverty and economic hardship does not focus solely on the living wage or controlling the price of train tickets, petrol and electricity.

Hardworking families are coming under heavy fire from the coalition. They did not cause the financial crisis, but over the course of this parliament they will pay a huge price for it. Given that nearly half of all households have more than one public sector worker, it is time that we recognise that increasing wages in the public sector will also have a positive influence on the economy.

Dave Prentis is the General Secretary of Unison. This piece forms part of our coverage of Unison conference, which is taking place in Liverpool this week