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From The Socialist newspaper, 4 April 2007
Anger on Newport picket line
PCS REPS on the picket line in Newport expressed their anger at the imposed below-inflation pay increase.
Members working on the evening shift are losing their extra allowance for working unsocial hours so will have even more of a real pay cut.
One of the reps said she thought it was bad under Thatcher but this government is just as bad. She was due to get £172 increase in pay but the new tax changes announced in the budget mean that she will have to pay an extra £172.99 in tax so won't even get any pay increase at all!
This is at the same time that inflation is running at 4.4% and bills and cost of living are going up.
Whilst Passports and Defence PCS members were on strike, Gordon Brown is pushing to enforce further below-inflation pay restraint on all public-sector workers.
So we have a battle on our hands to fight for a decent pay increase for this year, as well as to increase the pressure on the government for a return to national pay scales.
Katrine Williams
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Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 4 April 2007:
Children suffer in low pay Britain
Socialist Party editorial
Iran - Sailors fall victim to imperialist policies
Socialist Party news and analysis
Blair: No solutions to crime or crowded prisons
Waltham Forest protest - more memorable than Prince Charles!
Commemorating the abolition of the slave trade
Socialist Party reviews
Education
Take national action to defend education
Labour's market policies damage education
Privilege and privation in our schools
NUS leadership abandon fees fight
PCS takes industrial action
London strikers close passport office
PCS members take industrial action
Campaign for a New Workers Party
How to stop the BNP: Build a political alternative
Campaign for a New Workers' Party
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Ammanford home care workers march
Asylum
Leicester protesters challenge Home Office
Workplace news and analysis
Trade union leaders heckled over inaction
Action needed as Ford bosses close Leamington plant
Greenwich: "We've got to strike"
Burslem postal workers strike again
Northern Ireland
British government and local parties retreat on water charges
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