26 September 2008To: All Members (1:10) MoD/MB/41/08
cc: Group Executive Committee
Dear Colleagues,
National pay ballot – Letters from PUS and Cabinet Office Secretary
Many members will have been sickened (but unfortunately not surprised) to have received letters from our Permanent under Secretary, Sir Bill Jeffrey and the Cabinet Office Secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell regarding the current PCS national pay ballot. Although they fall short of asking members not to support our union’s call for action, they also fall short of offering any solution to the problems we face.
Sir Bill and Sir Gus both have warm words about the contribution and value of civil servants to defence. Unfortunately, though no doubt genuinely meant, these offer little comfort to members struggling to make ends meet and often working two or three jobs to provide for their family.
Our leaders fail to understand that pay offers which fail to keep pace with inflation, let alone basic food and utility bills, do not indicate to staff that they are valued. And our pay claim is hardly demanding film star wages, or even film extra wages!
Sir Bill recognises that our pay implementation date is now long gone, but fails to recognise that delaying any award until 2009 will have serious consequences for staff who face rising bills and hard choices now.
Sir Gus believes that civil servants continue to enjoy terms and conditions which provide a substantial level of security both in work and retirement. He forgets to add that these were only secured and defended by concerted action from the trade unions and that further threats to both job security and pensions are on the horizon.
The streamlining and PACE proposals will see a further 10,000 jobs lost within the MOD over the next three years (on top of 13,000 lost in the last three years), with the Public Value Programme to be announced in November threatening thousands more. Meanwhile Sir Gus’s own Cabinet Office proposes ending the current civil service redundancy scheme to save money!
Both Sir Bill and Sir Gus believe that now is not the right time to take industrial action, with negotiations about to commence. However both know that the hands of their negotiators are tied by the Treasury, who will not allow the MOD to offer any pay increase that exceeds their 2% pay cap.
However, we recognise that calling for industrial action is a last resort. We have been campaigning and lobbying for fair pay. We want a negotiated settlement, as we understand the consequences of taking action on support to the front line. But talks, which have been ongoing since February, have so far not produced a positive response.
In his speech to the Labour party conference, Gordon Brown said his job would be worthwhile if it helped one person, one family or one community. He now has an opportunity to put these fine words into practice.
The government must recognise the damage that their unfair pay cap is causing to millions of hard working public servants, their families and their communities. Having found the money to bail out reckless financial institutions and city speculators, he must now relax his unfair rules on civil service pay to avoid an industrial dispute that no-one wants.
Unlike Sir Bill and Sir Gus, we believe that members understand that by negotiating, campaigning and taking action only where necessary we have defended our pensions, our sick pay arrangements and our job security. Now we need to do the same on pay, by voting YES in the ballot.
Chris Dando MoD group president
Dougie Brownlie MoD communications officer
