Thursday 13 September 2007

PCS reject offer

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 per cent of staff receive nought per cent pay increase next year.
Seventy per cent of those voting rejected the three year pay deal which sees cost of living increases for longer serving staff members of two per cent this year, nought per cent next year and one per cent 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.”