Trade unions are set to demand above-inflation pay hikes that could set the country back tens of billions of pounds should Labour cave in yet again.
The Trade Union Congress’s annual conference this September is set to see hardline unions pressure the government to spend up to £50 billion on restoring real-terms public sector pay to 2011 levels.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is the main force behind the hard-left plot, pushing a conference motion that argues: “Pay levels have fallen by an average of 1.5 per cent per year since 2011”.
“Pay restoration in the public sector should be a key feature of our campaigning with the new government.”
FBU leader and TUC president Matt Wrack sounded bullish about the planned cash-grab demand, telling the Financial Times he expects that the motion will pass.
In order to meet the terms of union demands, should the motion pass, Labour would be forced to offer increased pay of 20% on average across the board.
Economists estimate that each percentage point increase would cost hard-pressed taxpayers £2.5 billion.
Rachel Reeves has already been blasted for giving into multiple union pay demands since entering No. 11 Downing Street in July, all the while claiming there is a huge financial ‘black hole’ she needs to fill.
Amid claims she is robbing pensioners of their Winter Fuel Allowance to meet the demands of her party’s union paymasters, Ms Reeves will present her first Budget to the Commons on October 30.
Since Labour entered Government, ministers have already handed over £14 billion to rail staff and junior doctors in an attempt to end strikes.
However both these unions have since announced or threatened further strikes, leading to the Government being branded a “national embarrassment” by Tories.
TUC chief Matt Wrack says he believes the motion will pass (Image: Getty)
However both these unions have since announced or threatened further strikes, leading to the Government being branded a “national embarrassment” by Tories.
Days after Wes Streeting agreed a multi-billion pound pay offer to junior doctors, leaked messages showed senior figures in the BMA telling colleagues there will be another “window of opportunity” for striking within 12 months.
Robert Laurenson, co-chairman of the junior doctor committee on the union, said health patients will have to deal with yet more delayed appointments “when Labour’s honeymoon period ends”.
Last week Labour were humiliated just 24 hours after agreeing to a 14% with Aslef, the traindrivers’ union, only for the militant body to announce weeks-more strikes on the East Coast Mainline between August and November.
Ms Reeves presided over a £3.1 billion increase in Government borrowing last month, £1.8 billion higher than last July.
Far from being able to blame this on the Conservatives, the Office for Budget Responsibility said that spending by Government departments was £5.8 billion above their forecasts, something they attributed to “strong growth in public sector pay”.
Responding to today’s reports about the TUC’s pending pay demands, the Conservative’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott warned: “By delivering ‘no strings attached’ pay deals that are in some instances more than ten times the rate of inflation – Labour are now in an out of control union bidding war on pay, and it is the taxpayer who will have to foot the bill”.
“Labour promised over 50 times during the election campaign not to raise taxes on working people. The British people will not forgive the betrayal when they do.”
