Unions Accuse Government Of Reversing Pay-Rise For Low-Paid Workers

PA/The Huffington Post UK  |  By   |  Posted: 1/04/2012 06:54 Updated: 1/04/2012 07:49

Union leaders have accused the Government of "fooling" hundreds of thousands of low-paid council workers out of a promised £250 pay rise.

Unison said carers, school dinner ladies, cleaners and teaching assistants in Wales, England and Northern Ireland would not be receiving the money in the new financial year.

The union pointed out that Chancellor George Osborne promised more than a year ago that public sector workers earning less than £21,000 would receive a £250 pay rise.

But local government workers have not received the money, Unison complained.

National officer Heather Wakefield said: "It is a disgrace that George Osborne has tried to fool local government workers and the public into believing he cared enough about the hardship of low pay to announce he would cushion the impact of the Government pay freeze.

"Hundreds of thousands of low-paid, mainly women workers - who every day care for people in our local communities - the carers, cleaners, cooks, teaching assistants and many more, have been fooled out of the £250 promised by George Osborne."

Council workers have suffered a 15% pay cut in three years and now earn a "shocking" 10% less in real terms than in 1996, said Unison.

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Union leaders have accused the Government of "fooling" hundreds of thousands of low-paid council workers out of a promised £250 pay rise. Unison said carers, school dinner ladies, cleaners and tea...
Union leaders have accused the Government of "fooling" hundreds of thousands of low-paid council workers out of a promised £250 pay rise. Unison said carers, school dinner ladies, cleaners and tea...
 
 
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03:01 AM on 04/02/2012
WHAT IS NEEDED HERE IN THE UK NOW IS A NATIONAL STRIKE, A VOTE OF NO COFIDENCE IN cMORON HIS TORY TROOPS AND HIS LIB DEM LACKIES, A PROTEST FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE UK AGAINST TORY & LIB DEM THEFT FROM THE PENSIONER, THE DRIVER, THE SMOKER THE COUNCILL TAX PAYER, THE LIST GOES ON AND ON, THE SAVAGE ATTACKS ON THE NHS, THE CALLOUS ATTACKS ON THE SICK AND DISABLED ROBBING THEM OF THEIR BENEFITS, THE PASTY TAX, THE HOT CHICKEN TAX, TV LICIENCE THEFT ETC, ALL THESE RICH TOFFS ARE GUILTY OF THESE AND COUNTLESS OTHER THEFTS AND ATTACKS ON THE UK PEOPLE, AT LEAST DICK TURPIN HAD THE DECENCY TO WEAR A MASK, IT IS NOW TIME TO GET THESE ROBBERS AND BULLIES OUT OF PARLIAMENT AT THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE CONVENIENCE, THE TRADE UNIONS HAVE THE POWER TO GET THEM OUT, FOR HEAVENS SAKE I WISH THEY WOULD STOP MOANING AND DO SOMETHING AND DO IT QUICK.
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
03:14 PM on 04/02/2012
x2
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Mickey Mouse 1
There are no lies or deceit on a chess board.
06:40 PM on 04/01/2012
According to the media, Unison has paid £5m to Milipede and Labour Party in the last 18 months.
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Mickey Mouse 1
There are no lies or deceit on a chess board.
06:37 PM on 04/01/2012
The Union Boss of Unison is on +£150,000 per year, plus perks, while the membership live on baked beans and toast.
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
03:25 PM on 04/02/2012
I don't hear many calls to ditch these union boss'es from their members though'...People have to option whether to remain with their unions or not...Remember it's not compulsory to join either.Therefore for a non union member'...Where is the beef..?...Also why does the heads of Utities' award themselves record bonuses' While pushing prices through the roof'..People have no real choice there at all.
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Mickey Mouse 1
There are no lies or deceit on a chess board.
07:47 AM on 04/03/2012
I think you will find that some public sector union members are also members of the Labour Party.

Household power bills are going through the roof because of government green taxes. Who do you think is paying for wind farms and the like, the general public, thats who.
05:51 PM on 04/01/2012
Big Domino Falling or Black Swan?

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=204172

Germany’s Bundesbank is the first of the 17 euro-area central banks to refuse to accept as collateral bank bonds guaranteed by member states receiving aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund,Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

The Bundesbank won’t lend to banks against bank debt guaranteed by Greece, Ireland and Portugal from May, the newspaper said, citing unidentified officials. The Frankfurt-based central bank currently has less than 500 million euros ($667 million) of those bonds on its balance sheet, FAZ reported.

That ought to the end of the "fungibility" argument for Euro-area debt.

Or how about a new "household tax" being assessed in Ireland?

Wait.... a tax for being alive?

That sounds like Obama!

Oh, I forgot to tell you that the flat tax is being replaced next year by a progressive tax that will assess some people with as much as 10 times the current liability (oops!)

Maybe you can all explain to me why the Irish people should pay for the profligacy and intentional bad lending decisions made by Irish banks?

That's the key question, you see. The ability to shift responsibility after the fact for bad decisions while pocketing the money for good ones (and even for bad ones!) is commonly known as slavery or despotism.

It is the sort of thing that has, in the past, led to revolution, especially when enabled and combined with official corruption.
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
03:40 PM on 04/02/2012
Put simply'..Do you mean that Irish rate of exchange would not be equal to the eurozone rate of exchange..Confused.com..?
03:44 PM on 04/01/2012
I am so sick to death of hearing about pay rises from the Unions for their members. I am a Care Worker for a private company, and I get paid a damn sight less than those Carers who work for the Government. My work partner, has been working for the same company as me for EIGHT years, and has NEVER had a pay rise. She is still trying to make ends meet with the wages she earned 8 years ago. So please, shut up and stop moaning about your so-called 'lows' wages...!!!
02:10 PM on 04/01/2012
the labour party in thirteen years created more low paid workers then maggie thatcher ever did
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stevesheff
12:05 AM on 04/02/2012
The growth in the number of low paid workers was only because the previous Conservative goverments had made it possible: (1) they scrapped the Low Pay Commission, which wasn't very effective but could have had its poweres increased, (2) weakened trade unions, and (3) they forced local authorities to hive off some care services they provided e.g. such as home care and residential care, to the private sector.

Carer workers were never well-paid but they benefited from belonging to the same unions as many other local authority employees and benefited in terms of pay and conditions and training. When their jobs were tranferred to the non-unionised private sector they lost this link

Today those workers such as Chayira work for relatively small, non-unionised firms whose owners have an personal interest in keeping down wages, pension and training costs and the workers suffer accordingly.

Labour's Third Way didn't do anything to improve the situation but it was the Conservative's blind faith in market forces that started the problem
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
03:43 PM on 04/02/2012
But you have forgotten Tax Credits' which boosted their income'..Which the Tories are scrapping for people who work less than 24 hours.
02:07 PM on 04/01/2012
Can anyone see the point in trying to relate 'low income' on people that just have never been there. Except when in uni and working for Friday night money.
I bet neither of the Camerons have ever swept the path of their homes before they met.
They would have low paid staff to do it.
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vividrick
I came, I saw...I had a cup of tea!
12:43 PM on 04/01/2012
Tories never have, nor will ever relate to low paid workers, it's not in their make up.
01:49 PM on 04/01/2012
Oh, and labour did what? They buggered this country financially, allowing the banks to get away with murder, causing many many workers to be laid off. They also set up manufacturing to collapse and for jobs to be taken abroad and given to even lower paid workers. Labour also allowed the floodgates to be opened up to let immigrants in to take what jobs were left. No government is really interested in the commoner, the blue collar worker. Look how Ed Miliband had a go at Mr Cameron about selling dinner spots with himself, and then it turns out he does it himself. But, because he does it with the unions he says that's alright. Red Ed aligns himself with the unions who just love bringing the country to a standstill for the most stupid of reasons.
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vividrick
I came, I saw...I had a cup of tea!
10:44 PM on 04/01/2012
Don't blame immigrants, they're doing a lot of jobs many people here wouldn't do. My comment was anti-Tory yes, but certainly not pro-Labour!!!
03:49 PM on 04/01/2012
You seem to forget, there are just as many millionaires in the Labour Party as there are in the Conservative Party. Amazing how people only ever comment on the millionaire Conservatives, but forget about all those millionaire champagne socialists, who are supposedly 'for the people'. What a joke! Governments are the same the world over, in it for themselves, they couldn't care less about the 'man in the street'...no matter which Party they represent.
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vividrick
I came, I saw...I had a cup of tea!
10:33 PM on 04/01/2012
I've never suggested for one moment that Labour, specially in it's 'New Labour' re-packaging, fulfilled their promises for being the 'people's party', they were drenched in hypocrasy too & responsible for many of the country's problems. You only have to see Bliar's millionaire lecture tours to see that. My comment was anti-Tory yes, but not for a moment pro-Labour.
09:34 AM on 04/01/2012
I think this is called ''stating the bleedin obvious''
While ever we have Daves toffs at the helm , then the poorer in society can get ready for more misery. Robbing the pensioners is only the start .
09:03 AM on 04/01/2012
Ordinary folk can't, and shouldn't, ever trust the Tories. They represent only 'the haves' and intend to keep the poor poor, while advancing the cause of the well off!
09:35 AM on 04/01/2012
The sad thing is they do as the Sun tells them.
Shame on anyone who voted for the OAP muggers
09:05 AM on 04/02/2012
A strange irony , isn't it?
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casual agent
Advocate for social justice
04:00 PM on 04/02/2012
Yet some of these OAP's are OAP's theirselves'...George Young and his Tory Cronies'...By the way'..how did he weedle his way back on the front bench' after his outrageous outbursts last year?