Public sector workers’ real wages in 2017 are down thousands of pounds a year compared to 2010, the TUC has found, and Stephen Morgan MP is calling the government to act.
A TUC report, published this week, states that prison officers, paramedics and NHS dieticians are all down over £3,800 a year. Firefighters are down nearly £2,900, while nuclear engineers and teachers are down approximately £2,500.
Lifeguards’ real pay is £2,200 lower than 2010, while crown prosecutors’ have seen a pay fall of £4,400.
Workers across the public sector have seen their real pay fall for seven consecutive years, as the result of artificial government pay restrictions.
Stephen Morgan, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, said:
“Thousands of people delivering Portsmouth’s public services from job centres to hospitals, schools to the local council, have seen six years of pay freezes and pay caps that means many public sector workers will have seen their pay cut by over £2,000 in real terms.
I’m really worried about what that is doing to morale, recruitment and retention of workers in many of our most in-demand services in our great city. Public service staff have worked so hard to maintain the quality of services at a time when we’ve seen budgets cuts and resources dwindle.
Public servants are the lifeblood of the essential services in our communities. It is time the government acts and lifts the pay cap”.
A post-election poll by the TUC showed that 76% of voters want to give public sector workers a pay rise – including 68% of Conservative voters.
