Public and Commercial Services Union

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that our pay award will not be paid until 2009!!

The cat was let out of the bag in the MOD ’60 second digest’ where MOD stated that they have made “progress” meaning the pay award might be paid in “early” 2009. How this represents “progress” was not made clear.

The causes of the delay are clear – MOD incompetence and the disgraceful public sector pay restraint policy imposed by the government. Hundreds of PCS MOD members have already contacted their union to make clear their anger at this appalling news – and their determination to do something about it.

At a time of rising prices (inflation has hit 5.2%, while food, utility bills and fuel are increasing by over 10%) the stark reality is that many of us are struggling to make ends meet. Ministers and the senior mandarins responsible for this disgraceful delay should hang their heads in shame and offer to compensate members affected by the delay (but won’t).

The MOD role in delaying your pay

The MOD remains wedded to bureaucratic methods of putting together its business case on pay, without the resources to deliver. Our union has consistently warned that the department pay timetable was in reality a fiction and that timescales were slipping badly.

The department has also dithered for far too long over the content of the business case – despite our union submitting our pay claim six months ago and making it clear what staff want from the 2008 pay award.

The Treasury role in delaying your pay

However the bulk of the blame for the delay in our pay award should be laid at the door of the Treasury.

A key delaying factor has been the government policy of limiting public sector pay increases to well below the rate of inflation. Gordon Brown intends to apply this policy for 2009 and 2010 too – and wants to force department to impose three year below inflation awards on all civil servants.

The Treasury insist on strictly monitoring all pay offers. In MOD they have insisted on agreeing the award with the department in advance of any meetings with our union.

They have instructed MOD that the pay award cannot be altered without their permission. The Treasury require any pay offer to be worth less than the rate of inflation, making nonsense of the concept of genuine negotiations between management and our union reps.

What is PCS doing about it?

We are making clear the anger of members at the highest levels of the department and we continue to make this point at every opportunity.

PCS is seeking national solutions on pay, and meetings with the Cabinet Office, Treasury and Ministers are taking place. Today, 54% of those taking part in the national pay campaign ballot backed union plans for industrial action, which includes national civil service wide strikes, targeted strike action and overtime bans.

Finally, we have signalled to MOD management that our union will co-operate and do whatever necessary to expedite proceedings. What this could mean will be become clear over the next period, but we want every member to know that we will do whatever we can to get the final award into pay packets.

What can I do about it?

It is clear that MOD senior management have been stunned by the level of anger of our members at this unacceptable delay. We need to continue to make our voice heard. If Gordon Brown can find £500 billion of our money to bail out the bankers and the city fat cats then he can afford to pay us fairly! Support the campaign:

1. Write to the Secretary of State, John Hutton protesting about low pay and job security. His address and some helpful facts about MPs pay will be available early next week on this part of the website.

2. When we finally get an offer on MOD pay, our union will be balloting members on this offer. Please ensure your ballot address is correct and that you vote in the ballot. The department may autocratically impose things like pay on you, our union will always let members democratically decide our policies.

3. Support the forthcoming action called by our union – it’s time to say no to low pay and unfair pay across MOD.

• 20,000 staff earn less than an £8 per hour.
• On 1 October 2008 1,496 MOD staff woke up to find that they were once again earning the national minimum wage!
• On 1 October 2007 over 1,500 MOD staff had to get an emergency payment to reach the national minimum wage!
• This year at least six other civil service departments have had to again make emergency payments as disgracefully this government has failed to increase civil service pay and allowed this ddisgraceful situation to be repeated!

4. Talk to your friends and colleagues and ask them to join PCS – the more members we have, the stronger we become and the more MOD has to negotiate with us to achieve fair pay. Application forms are available on our website or from your local representative.

5. Get active – we need more distributors and people to help us win on pay and job security.