With Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spring statement offering no more money to public services last week, the prospect of long and hard wage battles seems certain as the cost-of-living crisis escalates. The prospect of wage differences with the public sector is another major headache for Sunak, whose net acceptance rating has dropped to a record low of minus 4 points (down 15 from two weeks ago), according to its latest poll. Opinium. Prior to this week, its lowest net approval was plus 7. Last night, the country’s largest union, Unison, which represents health, education and other public service workers, said that if members did not receive “inflation-cutting” increases, staff would leave for better. paid work in the private sector. Unison will provide data to the NHS payroll review body on Tuesday and will also highlight this week how many mainstream employers, including supermarkets, cafes and logistics companies, are among those offering higher than lower wages. hourly charges in the NHS. One of the leading educational associations, NASUWT, has already submitted evidence to the payroll review body asking for multi-year pay for teachers, starting with a 12% bonus from September this year. The union says consecutive years of wage and bonus freezes mean that teachers have been eroded 19% in real terms since 2010. The analysis of official data by the TUC shows that the average wage in real terms in the public sector decreased by 81 £ per month in January 2022 compared to a year ago. In addition, forecasts along with the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) spring statement indicate that the average real wage for all employees (public and private) will be reduced by 2% in 2022. Preparing the ground for a confrontation with the government, TUC Secretary-General Frances O’Grady told the Observer that public sector workers had worked during the pandemic “during the busiest days of their working lives”. He added: “We had meetings of public sector employees with their MPs. Many of them could not hold back the tears as they talked about how hard it was at work and how hard it is at home to try to get over it. “The danger now for the whole nation is that we are at a tipping point. Many public sector employees in services such as health, education and social care say they do not know if they can afford it anymore. If they do not receive at least a proper salary increase and do not help reduce the workload, it will be the last glass. A mass exodus would shock every community and hurt our economy as well. Ministers need to be much more vivid in this danger. “They can not let that happen.” Teachers’ pay has been eroded for many years and unions are now calling for increases above inflation. Photo: Peter Titmuss / Alamy Public sector remuneration recommendations are made to ministers by independent payroll review bodies (PRBs) who receive feedback from unions and employers. Ministers determine the competence of PRBs and can accept or reject their recommendations. Union sources said it was vital that ministers take action now to give the PRB a clear signal that wages must go hand in hand with inflation to avoid a recruitment crisis. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Financial Studies, said the fact that the chancellor did not announce any more money for public services in the spring statement “is almost certain to lead to heavier real pay cuts for nurses, teachers and other public servants.” sector. “. He added: “This will come in addition to a decade of cuts during which public sector wages have gone even worse than in the private sector. It looks like a problem ahead. “ Unison’s general secretary Christina McAnea said: “If the government does not achieve wage increases that wreak havoc on the public sector, staff will leave for better-paying, less stressful jobs. This would leave the services unable to cope. “Mainstream businesses pay more to retain and attract the staff they need. This is what the public services should do, but the wallet is the government “. Poll The latest Opinium poll for the Observer showed that 68% of people believe ministers should do more to address the cost-of-living crisis, while only 18% said they did what they could. About 57% believe that the economy will deteriorate in the next 12 months, compared to 19% who believe that it will improve. 49% believe that their personal finances will deteriorate in the next 12 months compared to 14% who believe that they will improve. Dr. Patrick Roots, Secretary-General of NASUWT, stated: “Non-competitive pay levels contribute to the deterioration of the teacher supply picture. The data show that by 2020, more than 40% of those who had entered the teaching profession 10 years ago were no longer teaching. “Our survey of teachers’ pay in 2022 shows that 70% of teachers have considered quitting their jobs in the last 12 months and that 49% of teachers said that their pay had a large or large effect on their intention to leave. the profession. “Adding to the pressure on teachers is the rising cost of living, which is leading to more and more financial difficulties. Our survey shows that two thirds of teachers are “somewhat worried” about their financial situation and 22% are “very worried”.
