The Socialist 20 January 2016

Unite the fightback

Unite the fightback: Coordinated strikes needed

United workers' action can save NHS

Water firms' £1.2bn in profit off human need

Political policing: Met spy targeted socialists

Trident debate: socialist programme needed

Housing crisis reaches level of 1960s

Civil service: £1bn on consultants

Outrageous attacks on Corbyn for 'sexism'

Them & Us

1986 Wapping strike - Defeat of the print unions

People's Budget meeting success

Carmarthenshire Unison campaigns against council cuts

Unite the Union local government committee votes for no-cuts budgets

Preparing a no-cuts people's budget

Momentum and democracy in Hackney and beyond

Angry Labour meeting puts councillors under fire

Gateshead carers oppose respite centre closures

Celebrating Eleanor Marx's birthday

Nationalise Tata to save steel jobs!

Tube workers to strike again to defend jobs and conditions

Reinstatement victory for John Vasey

Shop workers lobby council against Sunday opening

Workplace news in brief

USA: Fight the billionaire class!

China: Financial turmoil spreads fear across global markets

Northern Ireland: Defy anti-abortion laws

Letters to the Socialist

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/885/22059

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 20 January 2016 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook

Civil service: £1bn on consultants while cleaners on minimum wage

Dave Semple, PCS union rep (personal capacity)

A National Audit Office report contains further proof that austerity is working out fine for the bosses.

The civil service is shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs - needed to pay unemployment benefit and collect tax. Meanwhile, 47 consultants were paid more than £1,000 a day as part of a £1.3 billion splurge on consultants and temporary staff by the Tories.

Many will be from huge firms such as Deloitte, KPMG and PwC. While soaking up huge contracts to 'advise' senior civil servants, they were condemned last year in Parliament for being part of a "tax avoidance industry".

In contrast, many cleaners working for the civil service are paid the minimum wage.

Campaigns

Ongoing campaigns fought by public sector union PCS have seen breakthroughs in individual departments. The Department for Work and Pensions now pays a "living wage". And in November 2015, the Department for Education conceded a pay rise of up to 23% for low-paid staff.

However, employers are still determined to hold wages down. Last October, outsourcing giant Interserve threatened disciplinary action against its cleaners at the Foreign Office for campaigning against low pay. The whole point of the Tories' Trade Union Bill is to restrict our ability to strike - in order to support the profits of these huge corporations.

Socialist Party members in different unions played a crucial role in getting the Trade Union Congress to officially demand £10 an hour as the minimum wage.

A strike campaign by all unions representing the lowest paid could turn this into a reality. Especially if tied to anti-austerity candidates running on this platform in local and national elections.

In this issue

Socialist Party news and analysis

Unite the fightback: Coordinated strikes needed