“There is a cost to not settling, a cost of further industrial action”. So said new Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves when she made the current round of public sector pay offers.
As explained in the editorial these offers have opened up a debate among reps and activists. In many of the unions involved, Socialist Party members are active in their workplaces, and elected to leading bodies at local, regional and national level.
Where possible campaigning alongside others, Socialist Party members argue that while the offers are above the current rate of inflation, they are not enough. None of them go anywhere near restoring the real pay lost through years of austerity and the cost-of-living crisis, and in most cases they come without adequate funding to cover them, meaning there will be further cuts.
Reeves’s statement illustrates the potential power of a serious campaign of action to win more.
Civil service
The Labour government has set the civil service pay remit, allowing government departments to increase pay by 5% on average, with no extra funding to cover it.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) have elected a campaigning National Executive Committee (NEC), including Socialist Party members and the Broad Left Network. The new NEC majority has submitted motions to fight on pay and cuts, rejecting the 5% remit and preparing a strategy to campaign.
But this has been blocked by the general secretary and president, backed up by the unelected union apparatus. There is growing support in the union for a Special Delegate Conference to allow reps and members to debate the way forward.
Local government
The Tories offered local government workers £1,290. Starmer’s Labour government has not increased the offer. The GMB union has accepted it, but Unison and Unite have not.
Unison is running a national disaggregated ballot for strike action, from 4 September – 16 October. Unite’s ballot began on 30 August. *
NHS
Junior doctors in the BMA have until 15 September to vote whether they accept the offer of around 22% over two years; the BMA is recommending acceptance. While this is still a way from restoring lost pay, many workers draw the conclusion that the doctors got this offer because they were prepared to take strike action, even up to the general election.
Other NHS staff were offered 5.5%. Socialists on the Unison health service group executive, including Socialist Party members, argued to reject, but the leadership recommended acceptance. The results of consultations in the health unions are due as we go to press.
The leaderships of Unite, GMB and the Royal College of Nursing have made no recommendation but Socialist Party members campaigned for reject.
- See ‘Despite right-wing leadership, socialists in Unison say: Reject NHS pay offer’
- See ‘Unite NHS workers: Branches should campaign to reject pay offer’
Schools
The Labour government has awarded teachers the pay review body recommendation of 5.5%. The National Education Union (NEU) leadership is recommending acceptance in a ‘snap poll’ in September, but Socialist Party members are campaigning for reject: the 5.5% is not fully funded, and it is not enough. Support staff are part of the local government offer.
Further and Higher Education
Academised sixth-form colleges are part of the teacher award, but non-academised sixth forms have been offered nothing. NEU is opening a ballot for strike action on 14 September.
Further Education college workers are still waiting for an offer, but they have been told there will be no extra funding to cover it.
Union members in universities are waiting to hear what offer has been made by the employers following negotiations. Socialist Party members in UCU are arguing for a serious fight for a pay rise that starts to restore lost pay and for full funding.
* While the Tory 2016 anti-trade union law is still in place, unions have to reach a turnout threshold of 50%, and disaggregation means that areas that reach the threshold can still take action even if the union misses it on a national basis.
