Public Sector Pay – Lobby of Parliament 17 October 2017
A practical guide to the lobby of Parliament for UNISON members
The government has held down pay artificially for seven years in the public sector despite rising rents, bills and inflation.
That is why the government should fund a pay rise for all public sector workers in the budget in November.
Any pay rise should not cherry pick one group over another, public services are provided by a team.
A pay rise must be funded properly and the cost cannot fall on overstretched public services already struggling with their finances.
Please make sure you read the section of this guide called ‘talking to your MP’ before you get to the meeting.
This is your chance to show your MP that the Pay Cap has a detrimental impact on everyone who lives in their constituency.
UNISON at this lobby wishes to target Conservative MPs in England and Wales to put pressure on the government but some members may wish to lobby MPs of other parties too.
In this guide:
Before the day
On the day
Talking to your MP
Contacts
Pay cap: key facts
Before the day
Try to arrange a meeting with your MP before the day.
You can write to them by post at the House of Commons. Put your post code in the box on this website: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ to find out their name if you don’t know it, then send it to House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA. Or use their published e-mail address.
You can also phone via the House of Commons switchboard on 020 7219 3000 to speak to your MPs office.
If you do not hear back from your MP about the meeting you can still queue up from 2pm and try to arrange an appointment (there is further information on how to do this below).
If you hear back and your MP is not able to meet you, please try to meet them in your constituency.
Please bear in mind that no banners, posters, or T shirts with slogans on are allowed in the Houses of Parliament.
On the day
Arrive an hour before your appointment with your MP and if time go to the William Sangster Room, Central Hall, Westminster, Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London, SW1H 9NH. The room opens at 1pm.
There will be a UNISON table and UNISON staff will be there to answer any questions about what to say to MPs.
No banners or placards should be taken into Central Hall.
2pm: Lobbying starts
The lobbying in Parliament will start from 2pm and throughout the afternoon groups will go over to the House of Commons to meet with their MPs to explain why they should support a decent pay award.
Please join the queue outside the main entrance to the House of Commons at least 30 minutes before you appointment is due. You will need to enter through a ramped entrance (the Cromwell statue entrance) to the left of the St Stephen’s entrance to the Commons. Any police officer will tell you where this is.
UNISON stewards will be available to assist.
Remember - no banners, posters, or T shirts with slogans on are allowed in the Houses of Parliament.
If you don’t have an appointment it is always worth trying the switchboard whilst queuing to book your appointment on 020 7219 3000.
When you get inside
You will have to go through ‘airport type’ security to gain access to Parliament - on a busy day this can take at least 30 minutes and possibly longer.
It is recommended you take as little as possible with you in terms of bags through security.
If you have an appointment with your MP make your way to the agreed meeting point.
If you do not have an appointment you will be directed by the House of Commons’ police and staff to the Central Lobby where you can ask to see your MP. This is known as the ‘Green Card’ system.
Go to the desk and ask for a ‘green card’. Enter your name and address and the purpose of your visit as “to highlight concerns about the public sector pay cap”. You should say on the green card that, if it is not possible to meet on the day of the lobby, you would like to meet them in the constituency.
This is important because if you do not meet with your MP, the card is then sent on to the MP’s office.
Then you have to wait for your MP in Central Lobby.
If your MP has been found and has arrived your name will be called out. If you do not know what your MP looks like, you might have to listen out for your name. You may find that Central Lobby can be quite noisy and crowded.
If MPs do not appear within half an hour or so of the green card going in, it is unlikely that they will come at all. Sometimes they will send their staff on their behalf if they are caught up in other meetings.
Alternative locations to meet your MP
To help ease congestion in the main central lobby, an upstairs Committee Room has been booked in the main House of Commons. These rooms are located on the Committee Corridor and are accessible via the Central Lobby staircase.
Stewards will advise on which Committee Room has been allocated.
Disabled access
If you are disabled, telephone the Sergeant-at-Arms’ office at the House of Commons, who will advise you procedures for entering the building (phone 0207 219 3000 and ask the switchboard officer to put you through to the Sergeant’s office), the Sergeant’s office do allow some parking where it is required by disabled people, but individuals will need to verify this with the office. It is usual for one of your MPs’ staff to accompany you once you enter the building. This needs to be arranged in advance.
Talking to your MP
It is best to be as brief, clear and courteous as possible. In particular have in mind what you actually wish the MP to do. You should try to ensure you:
• Thank him or her for taking the time to see you;
• Establish how much time they have;
• Seek to make a maximum of three points briefly – but remember to allow most time for questions and discussion;
• Most importantly ask them what they are prepared to do, such as:
Ø Speak or write to the relevant Minister or Chancellor
Ø table written or oral Parliamentary questions
Ø sign relevant Early Day Motions or seek an adjournment debate.
Ask them to get back to you with the results of any activity they undertake.
If your MP is a Conservative this is a real chance to make them realise the negative impact of the Pay Cap, especially in their own constituency.
If they are not Conservative they are likely to be supportive of us but you can tell them about these issues and ask them to talk to Conservative MPs that they know.
Rally in Parliament Square
6.30pm – 8.00pm
Speakers include Dave Prentis, General Secretary.
Full details at tuc.org.uk/payriserally
Contacts
The following are the regional pay contacts who will know who else from your region is travelling to Westminster.
Region / Contact Officer / EmailNorthern / Clare Williams / Paul Foy / /
Eastern / Chris Jenkinson /
Scotland / John Gallacher /
North West / Lynne Morris /
Cymru/Wales / Dominic MacAskill /
South East / Steve Brazier /
South West / Lisa Youlton /
East Midlands / Barbara McKenna /
West Midlands / Simon Holder /
Northern Ireland / John Patrick Clayton
Anne Speed /
London / Nick Turnbull /
Yorkshire & Humberside / Tony Pearson /
The following are contacts on the day:
Colin Derrig – Chief Steward (outdoors) – 07903 023975
Keith Birch – Parliamentary Officer (in central lobby) – 07710 756362
Sampson Low – Policy (in Methodist Central Hall) – 07944 119552
Liz Chinchen – Head of Press - 07778 158175
Public Sector Pay: Key Facts
Haven’t the government already scrapped the pay cap?
No. Whilst the government has made pay offers in excess of 1% for police officers and prison officers, the pay cap remains in place for all UNISON members and the vast majority of public sector workers.
Additionally, the government has so far failed to provide additional funding for those proposed pay rises, which are also below inflation. That means employers are forced to make further cuts to afford rises which are still real terms pay cuts.
What is UNISON asking for?
We want to see an end to the public sector pay cap, with fully-funded, above-inflation (real terms) pay rises for all those working in our public services. After nearly a decade of public sector pay cuts, those working in our communities, caring for our loved ones and helping our children to learn can’t wait a moment longer.
Longer term, UNISON believes that the government must deliver (and fund) pay rises for all public servants that are above inflation, with the aim of restoring public sector pay to pre-financial crisis levels in real terms.
UNISON rejects any plans that seek to cherry pick pay rises for just some public-sector workers. We don’t want to see pay rises only for those in uniforms – we believe that the pay rises should be uniform.
In some sectors, UNISON has made specific pay claims already.
For example, in health, UNISON believes that workers deserve a pay rise in line with inflation and an additional £800 payment per individual, to restore some of the pay lost over the past seven years. In local government, UNISON and the other unions have submitted the pay claim for 2018/19. We are demanding a 5% pay increase, and for the foundation living wage to become the lowest pay point on NJC pay scales.
How has the 1% pay cap affected public sector workers’ wages?
· A public sector worker, paid the median public sector wage in 2010 and subject to the two year pay freeze followed by the 1% pay cap ever since, has seen the value of their wage drop by £3,875. That’s more than the cost of feeding the average family for a year. [1]
· The Treasury’s own inflation forecasts suggest that if the cap remains in place until the end of the next parliament, a public sector worker on median wage in 2016 will see their pay drop by at least another £2,202. [2]
· A report by University College London for the government’s own Pay Review Bodies (PRBs) studied pay growth among the 10 largest occupations whose pay is set by those bodies (nurses; radiographers; physios; midwives; occupational therapists; doctors; nursing auxiliaries; teachers; police officers; prison officers). It found that median real gross hourly occupational earnings between 2005 and 2015 fell on average by 10.1%. [3]
How have public sector workers fared compared to the private sector and top bosses?
· Since 2011, average pay settlements in the public sector stand at 0.7%. Pay rises in the private sector have been running over three times faster, recording an average of 2.5%. [4]
· The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that if the public sector pay cap continues for another four years, public sector wages could be reduced to their lowest level relative to the private sector since at least the 1990s. [5]
· The cap means public sector workers received a pay increase of just 4.1% between 2010-2016. In stark contrast, top bosses’ pay increased by over 32% in that time. [6]
How is the cap affecting the workforce and their family lives?
· The pay cap has been cited as one of the reasons nurses have been leaving their profession in droves. Nearly 40% of the full-time vacancies advertised on NHS Jobs in March this year were within the nursing occupational group. [7]
· The Local Government Workforce Survey revealed that 71% of councils are currently having trouble recruiting and retaining staff, with pay in local government and schools cited as one of the main drivers. [8]
· UNISON’s survey of members working in the NHS revealed that increases in food, transport, utility and housing costs are all having a serious impact on their cost of living. Alarmingly, two-thirds of respondents have had to access financial products or assistance to subsidise their income: 73% had to ask family and friends for financial support, 20% used a debt advice service, 17% pawned possessions, 16% used a payday loan company, 23% moved to a less expensive home or re-mortgaged their house and over 200 respondents said they had used a food bank in the last 12 months. [9]
· Due to inflation, the value of police staff salaries buys workers 13% less than it did in 2010. This was reflected in UNISON’s survey of police staff, which found that 39% of respondents were struggling to make ends meet. 74% of police staff had had to cut back on their spending on food and 80% had cut back on general living costs. [10]
How has the government tried to justify the cap?
· Some have attempted to justify the pay cap on the basis that it is somehow necessary to address government debt. Yet since the cap was introduced, government net debt has grown by around 50%, to reach £1.7 trillion in May this year. [11]
Can we afford a pay rise for public sector workers?
· The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has estimated the cost to central and local government of increasing public sector pay at the same rate as the private sector. Employment costs (including pension and national insurance) would be £6.3bn in 2019-20. [12]