Public — private sector pay question


The government can no longer claim that public sector workers are “overpaid” to justify its crippling 1% pay cap after its own statistics revealed that they earn less than their private sector counterparts, the GMB general union has claimed.


Treasury figures obtained by the GMB show that public sector workers are paid on average 0.6% less than private sector workers in similar positions.


The Treasury had initially rejected a freedom of information request and only released the figures after GMB threatened to report it to the Information Commissioners’ Office watchdog, the union claims.


The figures have been reinforced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which says public sector pay is 5.5% lower on average than jobs in similarly sized private firms.


Rehana Azam, national secretary for public services at the GMB, hit back at the government’s previous claims that public sector workers are “overpaid” in light of the shocking figures.


“This is nothing short of an attempted cover-up,” she said. “But it’s no wonder that ministers fought tooth and nail to cover up these damning figures.


“The Tories can never again claim that public sector workers are ‘overpaid’ when the Treasury’s own assessment proves otherwise.


“The average local government worker is paid about £20,000 while teaching assistants are paid just £12,000, and all public sector workers have lost thousands due to a planned decade of real-terms pay cuts.”


www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-d476-Official-stats-quash-Tories-pay-myths