UNIONS are set to push the government for above-inflation public sector pay rises at next month’s TUC Congress.
A Public and Commercial Services (PCS) motion on the final agenda calls for pay restoration to be a “a key feature of our campaigning with the new government.”
PCS has said that 650 of its Border Force members working in passport control at Heathrow would strike between August 31 and September 3 and then work to rule until September 22.
The British Medical Association is also holding a ballot until mid-September on Labour’s 22 per cent pay offer over two years for junior doctors.
GPs in England are taking separate industrial action, capping at 25 the number of patients seen a day over the last government’s decision to increase their budget by only 1.9 per cent.
Aslef train drivers are also voting on a near 15 per cent pay offer following two years of strike action.
A month before the Autumn Budget, delegates will also vote on lobbying ministers to make sure collective bargaining and full employment rights are available to migrant workers.
They will debate calling on the TUC to make the case for a more progressive taxation system, including equalising capital gains tax in line with income tax so that all income is taxed equally regardless of whether it comes from wealth or work.
A motion by Unite would urge Congress to demand a wealth tax on the richest 1 per cent to raise £25 billion per year for public services and the NHS.
It also calls for a plan to close the £500bn public investment gap “through responsible borrowing — to rebuild Britain’s crumbing public infrastructure and deliver a real industrial strategy.”