NASUWT: Government submission on local pay high on rhetoric but short on evidence
Commenting on the Chancellor's submission to Pay Review Bodies on local and regional pay for public services, published alongside the Budget statement on 21 March, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers' union, said:
“In common with the majority of documents published by this Government, this submission is short on evidence but high on rhetoric.
“It is predicated on the belief that workers in the public sector are paid too much, despite the necessary and important work they do and despite their dedication to serving the British public.
“In its submission, the Government has sought to privilege the views of a small handful of researchers, whilst choosing to ignore the overwhelming body of national and international evidence which already exists and which demonstrates that national pay frameworks are vital to the delivery of world class public services.
“The Government must be made to face up to the reality that its ideological view does not match the reality of working lives of public sector workers and is out of touch with the reality of employment practices in the private sector.
“The NASUWT will be impressing on the School Teachers' Review Body the facts and I trust that the Review Body will guard jealously its tradition of independence and act on the wealth of robust evidence and research available and which the Government is conveniently ignoring.
“The arrangements for teachers' pay already provide considerable scope for local flexibility within a national framework, giving schools the opportunity to respond to local labour market circumstances and needs.
“The unavoidable truth is that the Government intends to instigate a race to the bottom on teachers' and other public service workers' pay that will make public services ripe for speculative privatisation and profiteering.”
ENDS
Stuart Gannon
NASUWT Press Office
Tel: 020 7420 9681
Mobile (and out of hours contact): 07966 198894
Address: 5 King Street , Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8SD
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