Public and Commercial Services Union

Union Anger at Budget "Double Whammy"
 

Civil Service union PCS reacted with sadness but not surprise at the Emergency Budget speech by Chancellor, George Osborne.

Among the wide ranging plans to reduce the national deficit, Osborne announced:

• A pay freeze for public sector workers earning more than £21,000 per year and £250/year rises for those earning less than £21,000

• A reduction in departmental budgets of up to 25%

• An increase in VAT from 17.5% to 20%

Commenting, Peter Middleman, PCS North West Regional Secretary said, "Members in the civil service will be hit with a double whammy. Pay has been cut by almost 4% in real terms since 2007 and we've already lost 100,000 jobs since 2004.

Now, with inflation running at over 5%, most members will be hit with a pay freeze and even the lowest paid will see pay rises limited to 1.25%. At the same time, the VAT increase will cost the average household an extra £425 a year. If that wasn't bad enough, the cuts to departmental budgets could equate to one in four job losses". He went on, "Far from being all in this together, the Tory millionaires in the Cabinet and their Lib Dem apologists are turning the clock back to the 1980's".

PCS is one of a number of unions which has vowed to resist cuts in the public sector by coordinating a campaign of resistance.