Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have overwhelmingly rejected a below inflation pay offer which would see approximately 40% of staff receive 0% pay increase next year.

76% of those voting rejected the three year pay deal which sees cost of living increases for longer serving staff members of 2% this year, 0% next year and 1% in the final year.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “The rejection of this pay offer sends a clear signal that the people who have delivered the lowest unemployment in a generation, pension credits and the New Deal aren’t prepared to accept below inflation pay and pay cuts in real terms. With a quarter of the civil service earning less than £16,000, the government needs to wake up and recognise that hardworking civil and public servants won’t stand for being used as an anti-inflationary tool."

Solidarity’s Tommy Sheridan said: “Public sector workers are facing pay cuts while the bosses have never had it so good. The average directors pay of FTSE-100 companies topped £1 billion in ‘wages’ for the first time with an average pay rise of 28% for the year 2006-7. Executive bonuses reached a record £14 billion in the City of London and £26.4 billion nationally. If these double standards were not bad enough, under Browns watch one in three of Britain’s top 700 companies paid no corporation tax last year and another third paid less than £10 million each. Solidarity is proud to stand with millions of public sector workers and will be giving 100% support to low paid civil servants, local government workers and others workers the imposition of pay cuts and fighting against these unfair and unjust policies.” 

National Shop Stewards Network conference

Saturday 1 December
Central Hotel Glasgow.
11am
Speakers include Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT and Janice Godrich, National President of PCS.