Police are the first to benefit after pay cap on public sector is lifted
They urge members to break the law and join forces – with Shadow Chancellor’s blessing
MiniSTERS will formally abandon the public sector pay cap this week, with tens of thousands of police and prison officers set to benefit.
The 1 per cent limit, which has been in force since 2013, had been due to run for another three years. But following the election, ministers have signalled they will change tack in an attempt to prove they are listening to voters – and to combat problems around staff recruitment.
The Mail understands police and prison officers are set to be first public sector workers to benefit from the lifting of the cap following recommendations by independent pay review bodies.
Downing Street accepts that police forces have been pushed to the brink by a spate of terror attacks this year, which has put a massive strain on the service. Experienced police officers are leaving the service in droves and there is a national crisis in detective numbers.
it is understood officers will either be awarded an across-the-board pay rise of more than 1 per cent or frontline staff will receive targeted bonuses.
The Treasury will also this week issue guidance on next year’s pay round, which is likely to see the cap lifted for nurses, teachers and others among Britain’s five million public sector workers.
The move will also head off a vote in the Commons on wednesday, when labour will try to bring the issue to a head by leading an opposition day debate on nurses’ pay. a no10 source said: ‘in the past few months in particular we have seen our police, fire and nHS staff go above and beyond in response to the most challenging situations our country has faced for a very long time.’
The move will delight many worried Conservative MPs, who had threatened a rebellion that could see the Budget defeated in november.
During Prime Minister’s Questions last wednesday, Theresa May said public sector workers were doing a vital job in often harrowing circumstances.
new analysis by labour found that police officers are thousands of pounds worse off since the Tories came to power. The freeze and cap on public sector pay has left wages failing to keep pace with inflation, leaving salaries falling in real terms. it means the average police officer has seen their wages fall by nearly £6,000 in real terms since 2010.
Public sector workers are typically 11 per cent better than their private counterparts, with average salaries of £25,002, the TaxPayers’ alliance found. State staff also work two hours fewer a week – 35 in total – and took more sick leave.
MILITANT unions yesterday threatened to break the law in order to force Theresa May out of Downing Street.
One hard-Left leader demanded that millions of workers down tools, declaring: ‘They’re not going to lock us all up.’
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union called for a nationwide train strike to bring the transport network to a halt.
And Unite leader Len McCluskey warned he would break strike laws to protect his members’ interests.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell also spoke at the rally outside the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to give Labour’s blessing to a wave of strikes against the public-sector pay cap.
He said his MPs would be on picket lines to show ‘solidarity’ with the ‘struggle’, and appeared to give support to co- ordinated action. The incendiary comments came as it emerged that:
Almost 50 union barons take home salaries topping £100,000;
Unions have given Labour £27million since Jeremy Corbyn became leader;
Allies of Mr Corbyn are set to use this month’s Labour conference to entrench the hard Left’s power over the party.
TUC delegates in Brighton will this week debate a series of motions calling for co- ordinated strikes over publicsector pay. Yesterday militant union barons gathered at a rally outside the TUC organised by the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN).
The meeting was titled: ‘ Fight together to scrap the 1 per cent pay cap and get the Tories out.’
Ronnie Draper, of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, called for laws against turning out to support other unions’ industrial action to be ignored, saying: ‘They’re not going to lock us all up – there aren’t enough jails.
‘We should be balloting for a general strike. We can take part in a general strike that is co-ordinated action. There’s nothing illegal about it. Nothing the Government can do about it.
‘We need something that’s going to be a threat to government. Yes, if it needs bringing the Government down, then all the better.’
Sean Hoyle, of the RMT, pledged a repeat of the first national rail strike. He said: ‘I make this promise to the government: The RMT will have a quasi-national rail strike just like 1911 all over again.
‘We will co-ordinate and we must stop the transport system in this country. Last year I stood here and said, “Any trade unionist with any sense would want to bring down this working class-hating Tory government.” Every union should stand side by side with the RMT union when we march and we say to the Government and the private operators: F*** you, f*** you and f*** you.’
He also branded Mrs May a murderer for pushing through austerity that he said had caused the Grenfell fire tragedy. Mr McCluskey told delegates Unite was prepared to break the law to take on employers and the government.
He said: ‘Unite is proud to be a fighting-back union, to be a union that is afraid of no one. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with any workers in struggle.
‘That is why we took the issue out of our rule book about always acting inside the law.
‘We took that out because we know that if the bosses and the privileged elite want to push us outside the law, so be it. It won’t stop us standing up.’
A Unite spokesman said he was referring to legal changes that mean a union ballot is valid only if turnout is higher than 50 per cent, rather than secondary picketing.
Mr McDonnell told the rally he had toured the country to support strikes including workers from British Airways and McDonald’s.
He told the NSSN that Labour would back industrial action to
‘It is frankly outrageous’
force the Government to overturn the pay cap, saying: ‘We’ll be in Parliament supporting you and we’ll be on the picket line supporting you as well.’
And he vowed to back unions that worked ‘together’ on industrial action – an apparent endorsement of co- ordinated strikes. Labour did not respond to calls asking whether the Shadow Chancellor had been supporting coordinated action.
Tory MP Julian Knight said: ‘It is, frankly, outrageous that John McDonnell is encouraging trade union bosses to shut down public services with a wave of strikes.’
A total of 45 union barons are taking home six-figure salaries while the workers they represent struggle, according to an analysis. The TaxPayers’ Alliance found five union bosses earn more than the Prime Minister’s £150,402.