Union will not shy away from collective action in pursuit of cost-of-living pay increases

November 19th: Unite, which represents members in a range of public sector employments, today (Sunday) said that public sector workers have demonstrated over the past year that they will not shy away from collective action in a bid to defend and improve their living standards.

Officers of the ICTU Public Services Committee, of which Unite is a member, are preparing to meet the government in the coming days for talks on a successor to the ‘Building Momentum’ public sector pay deal.

Unions are seeking assurances that the infamous ‘Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest’(FEMPI) legislation introduced in 2009 will be scrapped ahead of talks where the union side will be focusing on pay increases to meet ongoing cost-of-living pressures, an agreed process to deal with sectoral issues and measures to ‘future-proof’ quality public services and public sector jobs.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

“The workers who deliver the essential public services on which we all rely paid the price of austerity. Now they must see real cost-of-living pay increases as well as the final unwinding of the coercive austerity-era legislation.”

Unite regional coordinating officer Tom Fitzgerald said:

“As they prepare to meet union negotiators, the government needs to remember that thousands of public sector workers – including water workers, firefighters and healthcare workers – were prepared to take action this year to defend and improve their terms and conditions. It is clear to Unite that public sector workers will not shy away from collective action to secure real cost-of-living pay increases.”