Hutton review on fair pay is ‘missed golden opportunity’ says Unite

15 Mar 2011 04:13 PM

Will Hutton has missed ‘a golden opportunity’ to inject a strong element of fairness into public sector pay, Unite, the union has said. 

Unite said that the Hutton review on fair pay in the public sector was ‘hugely disappointing’ and would allow the ‘fat cat’ pay bonanza to continue, while thousands of low-paid  public sector works were losing their jobs and having their retirement pensions slashed. 

Unite said that the proposals, such as the top 2,000 public sector bosses losing 10 per cent of their salaries if they failed to meet key objectives, were ‘ineffectual window dressing’ and the recommendation that there should be no cap of top executives’ pay was ‘spineless’.  

In its submission to the review, Unite had argued that trade union representatives should have ‘a say’ on how much senior executives are awarded in pay rises. This followed the furore over the vast disparity between what top bosses get paid in the public sector and the lowest paid bringing up families on as little as £13,000-a-year.

Unite was also critical as to why the review was not investigating the pay in such organisations as the Royal Mail, the BBC and taxpayer-supported nationalised banks, where the government aspiration of a 20:1 ratio between the chief executive and the lowest paid appeared to be exceeded. 

 

 

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NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:  

 

The Unite submission to Will Hutton Review is available at
http://www.epolitix.com/fileadmin/epolitix/stakeholders/Unite_Fair_Pay_Review_Response_final.pdf

Gail Cartmail, Unite Assistant General Secretary was Unite’s representative in discussions with the Hutton review team. 

 

 

For further information, please ring: 
Gail Cartmail,  07768 931 305

Shaun Noble, Communications Officer  020 7420 8951  07768 693 940