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We will resist attack on public sector pay and pensions

21 June 2010

Responding to the increasing attacks on public sector pay and pensions, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said:

“The coalition government’s arbitrary timetable to cut the budget deficit is leading to the flawed reasoning that low-paid public servants should pay for a crisis caused by financial speculators.

“This is no more viable economically than it is morally. The recession, which followed an economic crash caused by failures in the banking sector, has already had a damaging effect on our communities.

“Driving down the living standards of low-paid workers, whether in the private or the public sector, will undoubtedly make this worse. It is also a disgrace that people receiving welfare benefits look likely to be targeted.

“Far from being unaffordable and unsustainable, public sector pay remains low and pensions are modest by comparison with the platinum-plated payouts that senior executives in the private sector continue to award themselves.

“Any gap between average public and private sector pensions is the fault of private sector employers retreating from making decent provision for their workforces. It is not the fault of low-paid public servants, who will retire on a low pension.

“With the average pension in the civil service being just over £4,000 a year, it would be counterproductive economically to degrade them further because it would force more people into claiming state benefits in retirement – this cost would have to be met by future taxpayers and would be more expensive. This is the real pensions time-bomb.

“The government has trailed the idea of introducing a ‘pensions levy’ for the public sector, which essentially means a pay cut. But increasing pensions contributions in this way will do nothing to deal with the deficit in the long term.

“We are deeply concerned that the government is attempting to railroad the public into agreeing to a short-term attack on the public sector, when actually there is the serious risk this would cause further harm to our economy.

“Rather than just the opinions of vested interests, we need to get some facts into the debate about the long-term liability of public sector pensions, which the National Audit Office recently said were sustainable.

“With the country still feeling the effects of the worst recession in living memory, we need investment in the public sector to help the economy to grow – there is no evidence that cutting back on the public sector will stimulate growth in the private sector.

“The government is gambling with people’s lives on the ideological assertion that the public sector is a drag on the wider economy, rather than planning for our future based on sound economics.

“We also need to start addressing the tax gap which means that around £120 billion in revenue is lost every year through tax evasion and avoidance, and because Revenue and Customs doesn't have enough staff to collect it.

“PCS members will not stand idly by while their jobs and livelihoods are attacked, and their communities driven into ruin. We are committed to working with other trade unions and campaign groups where we can to help organise the widest possible opposition to this government’s programme of despair.”

 

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