'Kick in the teeth'

Responding to the government’s public sector pay offer which was announced on Tuesday (July 19), Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “The government promised rewards for the dedication of the public sector workforce during the pandemic. What they have delivered instead, in real terms, is a kick in the teeth. The so-called wage offer amounts to a massive national pay cut. We expected the inevitable betrayal but the scale of it is an affront.

“During the pandemic, public sector workers were correctly lauded as heroes. They were sent out to deal with the pandemic and did so despite the imminent dangers they faced. Now they are being asked to pay for the crisis with this national pay cut.

“Unite will stand 100 per cent with our public sector members. We will defend them and we will fight for them, in all and every action they wish to take.”

Stay tuned on UniteLive tomorrow (July 20) for more detail on the pay offer and reaction from our Unite officers in different sectors.

By Ryan Fletcher