We are asking our civil service and public sector members to vote ‘Yes’ in a ballot to support our campaign for a fair pay rise, including a strike with other public sector unions on 10 July.
On 12 June ballot papers will be sent out consulting members about potential coordinated strike action to break the public sector pay cap and force the government to negotiate with us on pay and other national campaign issues.
We all need a pay rise
More than a million union members in the public sector in England and Wales are preparing to take strike action on 10 July as part of a campaign to break the government’s pay cap.
Our members have seen their pay fall by an average of £2,300 as a result of 4 years of pay freezes and caps, which have limited cost of living rises to a total of 2% over 4 years. They are facing the tightest living standards squeeze for nearly a century.
The government has announced that the pay cap will continue in 2014 and 2015 and possibly beyond that time. Pension contributions for many have increased, further reducing take home pay.
Back our pay claim
We have submitted a pay claim to the Cabinet Office, which seeks:
a £1200 or 5% pay increase.
We have sought central talks on our claim. Unless we are able to force the government to end the pay cap, there is no chance of real negotiations on this claim.
Consultative ballot
We balloted members in March 2013 to take action to force negotiations over our national campaign demands on pay, pensions, job cuts and other issues. This ballot gives us the legal mandate to take action.
During the summer of 2013 we consulted branches about the next steps in the campaign and branches told us that we should continue with our campaign. We now plan to consult members about our campaign plan, which includes taking part in joint action with other unions to break the pay cap. Our plan will also include the launch of a levy to support targeted strike action aimed at putting pressure on our employers to have meaningful negotiations on pay, and other national campaign issues.
Day of activities
To launch our pay campaign we are asking branches to organise a "We all need a pay rise" day on 12 June, including workplace activities such as members holding "We all need a pay rise" red cards and using our new pay squeeze calculator, where members can see what their level of pay should be if it had kept pace with inflation, available at www.pcs.org.uk/pay
As part of the pay campaign we will be continuing to work on ensuring our financial independence from employers by collecting direct debit mandates.
Sign up for direct debit.
We need a serious challenge to the government's pay policy. Our members need a pay rise.
#WeAllNeedAPayRise
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