TUC Congress: PCS calls for investment in public services

Composite motion 14 moved by Christina McAnea of Unison, highlighted problems in the NHS, the civil service, education, local government and across the whole public sector cause by 13 years of Tory cuts.

“After 13 years of Tory government, there is not a single part of our public services that have escaped Tory cuts,” she said. “Let’s lay the blame squarely at the door of the Westminster government run by the Tories.”

She said that workers across the public sector can see how “austerity fractures and smashes our economy.” She said we must build strong public services.

Seconding the motion this afternoon (10), Mark said: “Britain is broken and this is a crisis rooted in austerity from 2010 but also from our collective failure to adequately resist austerity from 10 years ago. And we are now seeing the consequences.”

Mark explained that some of the consequences of austerity were a justice system in crisis and in HMRC where £45 billion in tax could be collected by our members but it isn’t because of a lack of resources. He highlighted another consequence - 80,000 civil servants who only earn the National Minimum Wage. He called for radical action and praised all those who had been on strike in the past 12 months. He urged support for union members currently striking, including PCS members at ISS, the Pensions Regulator and OCS.

Mark said Congress must send a message to Labour that they should value public services and invest in them and “not pursue policies of fiscal conservatism”.

Annette Mansell-Green of the BDA told Congress that a “society is only good as its public infrastructure and ours is broken. And therefore so is our society.”

She explained that public sector wages haven’t kept up with inflation for 13 years.

She called for radical change across the public sector with proper investment.

The motion, which was carried, called on the TUC to urge all political parties to commit to needs-based funding for all public services, ensuring fair wages for those who provide them.

The TUC General Council was also urged to co-ordinate action between unions, give full support to public servants taking industrial action to fight back against cuts, and campaign for above inflation pay rises for public service workers, as well as proper recognition of the important role local government and the civil service plays, and the funding and powers to fulfil its potential.

The motion also called for a campaign for the Labour party to commit to funding pay increases for public sector workers that at least match inflation and provide for pay restoration.

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You can watch debates live through the TUC feed.

Find out more on the Congress website and you can follow the motions through a TUC Congress mini site.