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PCS conference: union pledges 'outright opposition' to local pay plans
23 May 2012
Speaking in a debate about pay, delegates from across the UK expressed anger at proposals that could see some in the civil service put into local pay bands as early as this year.
The move would institutionalise low pay in already depressed local economies that are desperately in need of investment, delegates said, merely impoverishing these communities further.
Reports at the weekend that the Cabinet Office has drawn up a map that shows all of Wales and most of England - including the south west, the south coast, and most of the midlands and the north - in the lowest pay zone added fuel to the debate.
Delegates voted to launch a campaign of "outright opposition to any government local pay policy", and pledged to help build "strong alliances with other public sector unions, local communities, academics and other civic groups".
The vote also restated the union's opposition to the current public sector pay freeze and cap - which has been exacerbated by the imposed increase in pensions contributions - and reaffirmed PCS's policy to campaign for the restoration of a national civil service pay system.
Earlier in the day, delegates voted in favour of a further joint-union national strike at the end of June against cuts to pensions, pay and jobs.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Our local economies that are already suffering from the government's cuts are crying out for investment, not more cuts.
"On top of the pay freeze, this would mean pay permafrost for hundreds of thousands of public servants across the UK. We will resist this crude, but calculated plan to drive down wages when all the evidence is showing that austerity isn't working and what communities most need is investment."
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