Civil servants warn job cuts will stop reform

Wednesday, 8 June 2005 12:00 AM

The Government's plans to cut 100,000 civil service jobs could seriously derail plans to reform public services, according to the leading civil service union.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS, told his union's annual conference that if ministers pressed ahead with job cuts, key reforms were in danger of failing.

And, Mr Serwotka said there could be further industrial action over the plans. November's strikes were "merely the beginning of the campaign" he said.

Ministers believe that the job cuts are necessary to create a leaner and more efficient governing structure. Aside from the job cuts, Labour is keen to push ahead with creating more flexible public services and giving the public more choice.

But Mr Serwotka said: "As jobs go but the work remains and departments scrabble around to meet politically driven cuts, the fear is yet more outsourcing and more privatisation hitting services we all rely on.

"Key government reforms are in real danger of failing and large sections of its own workforce, faced with growing job insecurity and continuing low pay have or are on the verge of losing confidence in the government as an employer."

He added: "We may now have meaningful engagement and a set of redundancy measures in place, but crucially there have been no assurances from the government that there will be no compulsory redundancies.

"Be under no illusion we will continue to stand up for civil and public servants and the services they deliver. Using everything in our armoury and if necessary industrial action both on a national and departmental level we will continue to campaign against such savage job cuts and for decent publicly run public services."

The PCS's other major concern is the level of pay in the civil service. They published an ICM poll today showing the "myths that civil servants are well paid and mainly work in London prevail".

Seventy-one per cent of those questioned believed that the average starting salary for the civil servants was £15,000 or more, whereas the union puts the average at £11,770 with a quarter of civil servants earning less than £15,000.

Mr Serwotka said: "Civil servants work up and down the country at the heart of communities and in a range of jobs we all take for granted, from driving licences to the New Deal as well as ensuring that the government have the revenues to run the country. It is time for the misconceptions to be broken down and for the government to recognise and value the important work its own workforce do touching people's lives from cradle to the grave."

Tags: