Mcdonnell to back public sector pay strike

JOHN MCDONNELL is to give a speech that will support public sector workers who are calling for coordinated strike action for higher pay.

The shadow chancellor will speak at a “Fight Together for a pay rise!” meeting organised by the National Shop Stewards Network outside the Trades Union Congress annual conference in Brighton tomorrow.

Thousands of public sector workers are already preparing to attend a rally outside Parliament organised by the TUC on October 17.

Frances O’grady, Britain’s most senior union leader, warned that it would be a “mistake” for the Government to offer public sector workers a pay rise of less than 2.6 per cent.

A 1 per cent pay cap was introduced by George Osborne, the former chancellor, in 2010. Philip Hammond, his successor, is understood to be planning to lift it in the Budget this Autumn.

In a briefing note about the rally, the shop stewards warned ministers that unions will not accept pay “split into ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ public sector workers. We all need a pay rise”.

It said: “In any case, these rumours should give us the confidence to build a real movement that can inflict a serious if not decisive defeat on the Tories and their austerity. Tomorrow’s rally brings together militant union leaders and John Mcdonnell with workers involved in calling for strike action.

“We will be lobbying TUC Congress delegates to support the pay motions that call for the action that is needed – a national Tuc-led demonstration and coordinated strike action across the public sector and reaching out to workers in the private sector.”

Mr Mcdonnell will speak alongside union leaders including Len Mccluskey, the Unite leader, and Mark Serwotka, the PCS union chief.

Ms O’grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said public sector workers wanted an increase of a least 2.6 per cent – the CPI inflation rate – every year for several years starting in April 2018. “Ministers would be making a mistake if they think a cost of living increase is enough,” she said.

“Any government that is as vulnerable as this one needs to start listening to voters – and we know there is huge public support for lifting that pay cap and giving people a fair pay rise.

She said it would be unacceptable just to give an increase to “popular workers” such as firemen or nurses, or try to give pay rises on a regional basis. “We would always say that public service workers are a team,” she said.