Forestry Commission Trade Unions - www.fctu.org.uk
What's Wrong with our Pay?
What we could lose!
If the Government's policy of restricting pay rises is implemented across the Forestry Commission, then the real value of our salaries will fall by hundreds of pounds over the next year!
Pay Band |
Annual Loss |
|---|---|
PB7 |
£439 |
PB6b |
£549 |
PB6a |
£665 |
PB6aop |
£781 |
PB5 |
£777 |
PB5op |
£937 |
PB4 |
£1004 |
PB3 |
£1217 |
PB2 |
£1500 |
PB1 |
£1845 |
Due to the policies of the current Government, pay rises across the Civil Service - including those for us in the Forestry Commission - are being capped at 2.0%.
This is at a time when official inflation is running at more than twice this figure - 5.0% (RPI in July '08); and many household bills are rising much faster than this.
Over the last year the average price of food has risen by 10.6% and petrol prices are up by 24%. (source: BBC News)
Impact on FC Staff
We are currently waiting for news on the FC's pay offer for 2008, but if it is in-line with the Government's policy - which we fully expect it to be - then it will have a serious impact on our pay.
The table to the right show how the real value of our pay will fall if the 2.0% cap is imposed on FC staff. For example long serving staff in pay band 6b earning £18,271 will need a pay rise of £914 just to keep pace with inflation. However under the government's policy they will receive just £365 - a loss of £549.
Loses on this scale will cause real hardship and difficulty for some FC staff and that is why we believe that everyone in the FC should join a union and that all of us should join colleagues right across the Civil Service and campaign against the Government's unfair policy and in defence of our pay.
As public servants we deserve to be treated better than this - we are the victims not the cause of inflation.
Union Campaigning Works
Thanks to the hard work of trade union members in the FC working alongside colleagues across the Civil Service we can demonstrate that standing together against unfair policy DOES WORK even if you are in a small or rural location.
Since 2004 we have been successful in:
- protecting our pension scheme,
- securing a protocol to avoid compulsory redundancies,
- stopping attacks on our sick pay, and
- winning agreements on privatisation.
By acting together we have shown that campaigning works and we now need to stand together on pay.
Two-thirds of staff in the Forestry Commission are members of a trade union but if you're not, now is the time to join up and help defend our pay. You’re affected by the government’s pay restraint whether you like it or not—support your colleagues and fight for a fair deal.