Budget shuts public sector workers out of the recovery

Budget shuts public sector workers out of the recovery

Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget Statement today (Wednesday) Ravi Subramanian, UNISON West Midlands Regional Secretary said:

 

“Capping wages at a miserly one per cent for four more years for public sector workers will hasten the reluctant exit of many dedicated staff from our hospitals, schools and local councils.

 

The economy is growing yet public servants remain shut out of the recovery.

 

Despite bearing the brunt of austerity, they are to keep paying the price for the reckless behaviour of the banks.Britain won’t have public services fit for 21^st century needs, unless wages for public servants are high enough to attract the best recruits.

 

Pay austerity might be over for MPs but it’s set to continue for many more years for everyone else in the public sector.An hourly rate of £7.20 is not a living wage. George Osborne’s announcement might look attractive at first glance but as tax credits are cruelly snatched away – leaving many workers £1,200 worse off – he’s simply giving to the low-paid with one hand and taking away with the other.

 

An independently set living wage already exists, and its higher rate assumes the full take up of in-work benefits. Renaming the minimum wage will mean fewer employers will feel obliged to pay staff any more than the law requires them to.”