Dear colleague,
We are writing to urge you to support the one day national strike on November 10.
It is always a hard decision to take industrial action, especially when money is tight. But PCS members would lose much more in the coming years unless we stand together now for fair pay.
We have been campaigning, alongside other unions, against an unfair government pay policy that caps pay deals below the level of inflation.
Importantly, we are also trying to end the double disadvantage for PCS members. For most of us, unlike the rest of the public sector such as Education and Health, progression up pay scales is funded from within annual pay settlement budgets. This makes the situation worse because there is even less money for basic pay. This unfairness must stop.
An agreement on these issues is achievable. Our demands can easily be afforded. Fair funding of progression would only cost approximately £300 million, about 2% of the total national paybill. That’s a drop in the ocean compared to the billions spent bailing out City bankers, the millions wasted on consultants, and the millions spent on five figure bonuses for the most senior civil servants.
We are making every effort to talk to Ministers and senior officials to find a solution to the dispute. The more united and determined we are on November 10, the greater the pressure on the employer to sit down with us and work out an agreement. The one day strike will be followed by a national overtime ban. If necessary our campaign will continue.
Since 2004 we have protected pensions, won agreements on avoiding compulsory redundancies and on privatisation, and stopped attacks on sick pay. By acting together we’ve shown campaigning works. We now need to stand together on pay.
Mark Serwotka General Secretary
Janice Goodrich President
