The
Transport and General Workers’ Union is calling on ministers in the Ministry of
Defence and the National Health Service to follow the lead from local
government last week and end the two-tier labour market in defence
establishments and hospitals.
At
a meeting in York today (Tuesday) T&G National Organiser Jack Dromey
announced an initiative by the six unions representing 90,000 civil servants in
the MoD.
Dromey
will press the MoD to put an end to new starters being taken on by contractors
on inferior rates of pay and with poorer pensions than those who transfer from
the MoD to the private sector. The union will then press the Secretary of State
for Health, Alan Milburn, to do likewise.
Dromey
said, "The Government has moved to stop contractors in local government
from cutting the pay and pensions of new starters to make a profit. The MoD and
the NHS should now follow that welcome lead.
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"The
two-tier labour market should be confined to the dustbin of history," he
added.
