The Socialist 8 July 2008

Striking back against low pay

The working class needs its own party

CNWP conference: Wanted - a new mass workers' party

UK economy sliding into recession

Rich get richer: Why should we pay the price!

MP backs student fees campaign

Bonuses for chiefs, pay restraint for civil service workers

Government lies on public-sector pay

High farce from Boris Johnson

G8 leaders' 'world hunger' banquet

On the other side of the financial divide...

Defend the NHS!

Property deals threaten private nursing homes

Cancer vaccines: who decides?

Terry Fields: A socialist voice that rocked Whitehall

Marching against homophobia & racism

Argos warehouse workers vote to strike

DWP strikes bring talks

National Shop Stewards Network Conference: Organising migrant workers

A day in the life of a call centre worker

Call centre charter: A framework for workers' rights

RMT conference discusses crisis of political representation

Socialist stands for Usdaw general secretary

Previous issues, etc

Print this issue




Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/541/6252

Google search the site	Printable version	email to friend

Home | The Socialist 8 July 2008 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Bookshop

Bonuses for chiefs, pay restraint for civil service workers

WHILE GORDON Brown's 'pay restraint' policy eats into real wages for civil service workers, his government has given big bonuses to top civil servants, including those in charge of family tax credits and benefits for the poor.

This is part of a package to encourage the most senior civil servants to meet government targets, including cutting tens of thousands of civil service jobs.

Brown's pay policy is to hold down rises for the average civil servant to 1.9%. The Department for Work and Pensions has imposed a 0% pay rise for 40% of its staff this year. Such attacks led to the one-day strikes organised by the PCS civil service union.

The average bonus for already well-paid senior civil servants was £7,000. This is chicken feed, of course, compared to bonuses at the top level of private industry such as the £753,000 a year bonus paid to energy company Centrica's boss Sam Laidlaw. But this deal, designed to cut civil service workers' jobs and wages, could be explosive. If they can afford to indulge the civil service tops, they can afford to pay a decent, living wage to ordinary civil servants.

In this issue

Striking back against low pay