United Action To End Low Pay, Stop Job Cuts and Defend Public Services

United Action To

  • End Low Pay

  • Stop Job Cuts

  • Defend Public Services

THOUSANDS OF workers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are
striking against low pay on 29 and 30 July. The starting salary at the DWP
is a scandalously low £10,300. Many DWP staff have to claim the very
benefits they are processing, just to get by.

Alison Hill

So what is the government, through the DWP management, doing about this
low-pay scandal? They’ve imposed a divisive bonus scheme (PDS), designed
to keep pay low and are refusing any meaningful negotiations over this
year’s pay round, which was due to be paid on 1 July.

Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) members in the DWP are being
balloted about their opinion of senior management. Most expect a massive
no confidence vote to be returned.

But low pay and PDS is on top of Gordon Brown’s announcement of over
a hundred thousand civil service job cuts, many in the DWP, with the
closure of 500 benefit office functions and ten pensions centres.

They won’t be cutting the number of ministers and their costs –
travel, drinks, cars conferences etc though – one Whitehall civil servant
told the socialist last week about the £8,000 spent on jetting his
minister to a meeting for just one hour!

This is part of a wholesale attack by the government on the entire
public sector. These job cuts must be fought, not just by the civil
service unions or even just the public sector unions. This all-out assault
needs an all-out response from the whole trade union movement. As a start,
the PCS will be calling for a one-day public sector strike at this year’s
TUC.

Janice Godrich, president of PCS told the socialist: "We now have
over 310,000 members in PCS. We will maximise the strength of our members,
campaigning politically and industrially. National civil service-wide
action cannot be ruled out."

  • Prepare for a one-day civil service strike.
  • Organise all public sector unions in a 24-hour public sector
    strike in defence of jobs and services.