The 30 November focus for much of the country is on public sector pensions, and whilst this is quite right such are the attacks on them, we should not forget other reasons we are in dispute with our employer that are leading us to take action on 30 November.
In the Ministry of Defence, as well as the pension attacks, we are facing threats to 32,000 civilian jobs, an assault on our sickness absence and various attacks to travel and subsistence within the department. On top of all of this, we have just started a two-year pay freeze.
Our union has certainly not accepted that this pay freeze is either necessary or fair. In the MoD we sought to use the dispute resolution process, but this was simply ignored by senior MoD management who claimed the pay freeze was Cabinet Office policy.
Over the past three years civil servants have seen their pay increase at only half the rate of inflation. The figures from the Office of National Statistics show that average pay in the civil service is £22,850 compared to £24,970 in the private sector.
What does the pay freeze mean for me?
Energy - Since early June the “big six” - Scottish Power, British Gas, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), E.ON and npower - have announced inflation-busting increases in the price of gas and electricity – many of these double and triple the official government 5.6% inflation figure. These “big six” supply 99% of UK households.
Fuel - Many MoD sites are necessarily in remote locations and members have to drive to work. Whilst members who drive have had some slight respite in the last couple of months, fuel price rises still mean an increase of 16.4% in petrol and 17.2% in diesel in the last year.
Train fares - These will now be rising by about 8%. From next year, tickets will rise by the rate of retail price index inflation plus 3% until 2014, with room for a further 5% increase on some services. With the RPI at 5.6%, MoD commuters face a 13.6% increase on certain routes
Food and drink - According to the My Supermarket website, a typical shopping basket in Britain now costs around 6% more than it did last year but specific foods and key staples are clearly much dearer. Some butter is up 40% in a year, chocolate biscuits 50%, coffee 20% and pasta 29%. Every member will have their own examples of how their weekly shopping basket has gone up in the last year, at a time when their salary has been frozen.
What does the pay freeze means for others?
In contrast, the super rich continue to reward themselves with six-figure salaries, bonuses and benefits whilst preaching austerity and pay restraint to workers. In September the government issued a discussion paper to look at the issue. It comes with the caveat that it will not cap salaries but rather will look at ways in which ‘confidence’ in the current system of executive remuneration can be promoted. It is silent on the issue of the living wage and makes no mentions of the pay of the government’s own employees whether in the civil service or related private sector contracts.
A pressure group called One Society has produced some data on pay differentials, called ‘A Third of a Percent’ and is based on the pay of a low-paid worker in the UK compared to their chief executives (CE’s).
The report found that private firms whose main income came from the public sector paid CE’s far more than the highest paid public sector employee. For example, Serco, which receives over 90% of its business from the public sector, paid its CE an estimated £3,149,950 in 2010 - six times more than the highest paid UK public servant. Serco is currently one of the partners in the two bidders competing for the DBS commercial management contract.
Members will also have seen recent media coverage of the Qantas dispute that grounded the company’s entire fleet. The dispute centered on the trade unions claim for a 2.5% increase for each of the next three years. The Qantas CE, Alan Joyce said unions had an “extreme claim” and were “trashing our brand.” At the same time, he was awarded a 71% pay increase.
What does the pay freeze means for those who caused the recession?
The average annual bonus paid to finance staff in the year to April 2011 was £12,500. The average public sector annual bonus is £180. Public sector employees, who make up 22% of the workforce, accounted for 1.5% of the £35bn bonus payments across the economy.
However even these figures disguise huge disparities in the amounts paid to senior investment bankers compared with retail banking staff outside London and the south-east.
Barclays revealed this year that its new chief executive Bob Diamond got a £6.5m bonus for 2010. In January this year, an unrepentant Bob Diamond faced down his critics at the Treasury Select Committee. He told MP’s that the 'period of remorse needs to be over,' He also told MPs that he "resented" some of their lines of questioning.
Last week it was reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) saw its operating profit climb 15 per cent in the third quarter of 2011 to £2.13 billion. Despite pocketing a personal bonus of £4.5 million this year, chief executive Stephen Hester’s reward for staff was to warn of further job cuts in RBS.
As our union has stated several times; we are in agreement with Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, who said, “The price of this financial crisis is being borne by people who absolutely did not cause it".
Conclusion
One of the most asked questions to union reps is, “What's the point in striking, this government never retreats?' Last week the government retreated on pensions. Not enough, but a retreat nonetheless. Since coming to power they have also taken a step back regarding the coastguard service and over plans to sell Forestry Commission land.
On 30 November you have the chance to show that as well as everything else that is not acceptable, a pay freeze when inflation is at 5.6% and rising is equally unacceptable. Although we probably deserve them, nobody in our union is asking for pay rises above the rate for inflation – follow an old union motto – all we want is a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
