In the light of the government's other recent political difficulties, public pay has been the least of its worries. That may be because the opposition parties broadly agree on the need for restraint and because some of the unions involved in action, specifically the National Union of Teachers, have few political friends. But it looked bad, as on a black Thursday, schools shut and civil servants and coastguards took action. Meanwhile the Police Federation asked for judicial review of the decision to stagger constables' pay and strike action by clerical civil servants is ongoing.
At issue is the government's insistence that pay must not rise by more than 2%-2.5% - in order to damp inflation and to enforce control of public spending. Last year's pay rises for nurses and the police were not only capped but staggered, reducing the real terms increase to 1.9%.
There's dispute about how far public sector pay stokes inflation in the economy at large. The decision to peg public pay to the consumer price index has increased the gap between public and private sector pay. Until December 2003, public sector pay rises were based on the all-items retail price index, excluding mortgage interest. The Treasury now prefers the consumer prices index, CPI, which excludes housing costs and so is typically 1% lower than the old measure. Incomes Data Services says private sector pay is rising at about 4% - double the rate of the public sector.
Parts of the public sector are being capped more strictly than others, just as pay rises for the different groups in recent years exhibited no logic to do with performance or productivity. Pay offers for the Armed Forces, prison officers and teachers in Scotland averaged 2.7% while nurses (in England and Wales) will get 2.75% this year, 2.4% next year and 2.25% in 2010-11. Under the three-year deal, if inflation exceeds expectations, unions can appeal for adjustments to restore purchasing power.
Efforts to appease council workers were criticised as empty gestures. Local government employers increased their pay offer to 2.45% from 2.2% and 3% for the lowest paid, which matches the proposed settlement for teachers in England and Wales.
But Unison claims that even with the extra payment, the lowest earners will still take home less than they could get at Tesco. The union says the lowest payscale for local government is £11,577 a year - £6 an hour, compared to £6.25 an hour at Tesco and £12,182 in the NHS. The GMB union meanwhile pointed out that chief officers' pay has increased by 11% over the past two years.
Discontent is not restricted to England and Wales. In Scotland, council employees threatened to walk out for the first time in nearly a decade, even though their pay offer - 7.5% over three years, equivalent to an annual rise of 2.5% - is higher than their counterparts south of the border. They want 5% or £1,000, whichever is highest, three days' additional annual leave and an extra one-day public holiday.
