A petition has been signed by 50,000 civil servants from nearly all government departments and agencies, demanding better pay.
It will be presented to Cabinet office minister Hilary Armstrong later today at the House of Commons by MP John McDonnell.
The petition calls for an end to the “huge pay differences that exist across the civil service between people doing broadly similar jobs”.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which organised the petition, claims there are 200 different sets of pay negotiations that cover the service.
The petition calls for the government to introduce national pay bargaining to establish common standards and minimum requirements on pay and conditions.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said the size of the petition demonstrated the anger felt by many civil servants at the current system of pay.
“With inflation running at over 3%, the chancellor’s intention to drive down pay in the public sector will only serve to increase pay inequality in the civil service and lead to a real-terms pay cut for tens of thousands of civil servants who deliver services we all rely on,” he said.
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Chancellor Gordon Brown has vowed to limit public sector pay rises to 2.25% in an attempt to keep a lid on government spending.
