| Unions have fought back against reports the Chancellor is to impose a pay freeze on millions of public sector workers. Rishi Sunak is expected to announce the move in next week’s Public Spending Review. Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy said: “After a decade of pay austerity in the public sector which has seen pay increases lag behind inflation and the private sector, a further pay freeze across the public sector will be seen as an insult and have a devastating impact. “At a time when the economy urgently needs demand and a level of confidence, to arbitrarily rule out even modest increases is economically illiterate. Whether it is responding to the pandemic or dealing with the challenges of Brexit, our members work in the public sector has never been more important. The government needs to rethink. If they want fairness across the economy they should heed our call for an independent pay review body and stop public sector pay being a political football.” UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “Key workers across all public services remain at the heart of the fight against Covid. “Reports of pay restraint for all but frontline NHS staff would be a cruel body blow to other health, care and public service employees working tirelessly to get us through the pandemic. It would also backfire badly with the public. “The government must do what’s right next week and announce the wage rise all staff have more than earned. Anything less risks destroying morale when the entire country is counting on them.” POA general secretary Steve Gillan tweeted: “If the rumours are true it would appear public sector workers are going to be held responsible for COVID 19 with a 3 year pay freeze which will be announced at the Spending Review next week. POA members have kept our prisons safe.” NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “This is the very last thing the economy needs as it tries to recover. Key workers have kept this country on its feet throughout the pandemic. “This isn’t about fairness at all. This is a con job. The government will argue this is about holding down public sector pay because private sector pay has gone down, but it makes no sense economically. Public sector workers spend their pay rises in private sector retail and private sector hospitality. “This is a predictable attempt at divide and rule in the middle of a pandemic. Police officers, prison officers, school support staff, teachers, head teachers, DWP workers, hospital ancillary staff, have all put their lives on the line this year and they all deserve a pay rise. So should the delivery drivers for big supermarkets. We are supposed to be all in this together as working people. “Not so long ago the government was so worried about teacher recruitment that they promised starting salaries would increase. But a pay freeze means recruitment problems will be back with a vengeance after the pandemic. “If Rishi Sunak does end up saying to school staff that their pay will be held down, then it is entirely the wrong moment to say it. This is not levelling up, but levelling down.” PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Civil servants along with millions of other public sector workers have kept the country running throughout this pandemic and the last thing they deserve is another pay freeze. “Our members have been providing Universal Credit, collecting tax, securing our borders and prisons in this unprecedented pandemic and have already suffered 10 years of pay restraint. “Private companies have been allowed to secure lucrative Covid contracts to the tune of £17 billion, yet ministers are not prepared to reward their own staff for all the incredible work they have done this year. “If Rishi Sunak fails to pay public sector workers properly, there will be widespread anger and industrial action cannot be ruled out.” GMB National Secretary Rehana Azam said: “We will not stand by and allow public sectors workers to pay for this crisis with new austerity and a morale-sapping wage freeze. This is a kick in the teeth for those who have been fighting the pandemic. “Workers have lost friends and loved ones. The crisis is still raging. Now they’re being kicked while they’re down. “Our key workers are still feeling the effect of ten years of Tory austerity, pay freezes and squeezes. Rishi Sunak is now poised to add insult to injury for millions of public sector workers. “Ministers are doling out billions in contracts for their chums, and all the while plotting real terms wage cuts for working people on the frontline of the coronavirus response. “On the very day we discover the government is planning a pay freeze for millions of workers, GMB is gearing up to lodge a judicial review against the government decision to swindle public sector workers of their pensions should they leave their employment due to redundancy.” FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “We warned ministers that clapping key workers would not pay the bills – but it seems in government memories are short, and morals in short supply. “It won’t be lost on workers that their wages are set to be cut whilst the government continues to hand out contracts worth billions of pounds to its cronies. If finances really are a worry, the ultra-wealthy and the corporations who have cashed in on this pandemic should shoulder the burden through emergency tax measures. “We are all indebted to our incredible NHS and care staff for their work through this pandemic. And alongside them have been hundreds of thousands of other key workers, in both the public and private sector, keeping this country running – and we won’t stand for these divide and rule tactics from government. “Firefighters have gone above and beyond to respond to the pandemic, from delivering vital supplies, to driving ambulances and moving the bodies of the deceased. But a decade of pay restraint has left them poorer today than they were before the global financial crisis. “It’s brutally unfair to leave key workers to wade through the media rumour mill for answers about their livelihoods. Further attacks on pay would show utter contempt for working people. Rishi Sunak needs to come out and reject those calling for public sector pay restraint.” Speaking after the publication of a report by the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) which said a pay freeze on public sector pay for the next three years could save £23 billion, Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “For the last nine months of the pandemic, public sector workers have kept the NHS running, the schools open and refuse being collected – these are the very same workers who have had their pay held down in real terms during a decade of Tory austerity. “It should not be forgotten that more than an estimated 600 NHS and social care workers, often on low pay, have died from causes linked to Covid-19. “Now the Centre for Policy Studies has the nerve to suggest that the public sector workforce should again bear the brunt of a three-year pay freeze, at a time when it has been revealed that ministers have been casual in the extreme over their stewardship of the public purse in how PPE contracts have been awarded. “We suspect that the CPS is being used as an outrider to pave the way for Rishi Sunak’s statement on public spending next week. The CPS’ analysis is insulting to those public sector workers that have underpinned the fabric of society during this continuing pandemic. “If Boris Johnson’s much-vaunted ‘levelling up’ agenda means anything, he should be telling Rishi Sunak to loosen the purse strings on public sector pay for those workers, many of whom have lost up to £3,000-a-year in real terms during the austerity decade. “We call for a generous financial settlement for the more than five million employees in the public sector and we know that such pay increases will be spent in the local economies boosting the hospitality sector and the country’s beleaguered high streets once the national lockdown restrictions are eased next month. “In the spring, the prime minister was praising NHS staff for saving his life, now, in the autumn, he needs to ensure that his chancellor turns those warm words into hard cash for those that ensure the efficient running of the NHS, schools and colleges, and the myriad of services provided on a daily basis by local councils.” |