Wage Inflation vrs. HPI

Andy_L · 14 February 2010 at 10:25AM

Cleaver wrote: »

Not quite sure why the NHS is getting this rise when most people are taking paycuts or at the very least not getting a payrise.

There in (the last year of?) a multi-year pay deal agreed in 2008 when things were different

Graham_Devon · 14 February 2010 at 10:42AM

Cleaver wrote: »

Not quite sure why the NHS is getting this rise when most people are taking paycuts or at the very least not getting a payrise.

Brown thought he was being a genius by blackmailing a 3 year pay deal a couple of years ago.

He didn't want to pay the actual rate of inflation, and it caused so many arguments, NHS workers were not getting rises until 8 months after they were supposed to. Same with police. It basically meant that your below inflation pay rise was worth even less 8 months later. This was when inflation was rocketing.

So they came up with this 3 year deal, which the unions accepted, so long as they could re-open the negotiations within the first year if inflation continued to rise.

The unions did try to re-open negotiations, but Brown was having none of it and basically went against his obligation to reconsider the deal. He just simply denied there was that option, even though everything said the option was there. If he had of re-negotiated the NHS workers would not have been getting a 2.25% rise this year.

As it stands, because Brown knows best and broke the contracts, NHS workers are sitting pretty for this year.

The whole idea was to give a below inflation 8% rise across 3 years and halt all the problems. NHS workers knew where they stood, they got their pay rise on time, and Brown got away with 8% over 3 years, when inflation in one single year was 5%.

Then it came and bit him on his butt. Of course, it's the public sector workers who get it in the neck for having a pay rise. But they were sold up the river at the time.

wolvoman · 14 February 2010 at 7:50PM

My PA is on well over £40k and she can't even type as fast as I can. It's just not what you need in a PA these days.

silvercar · 14 February 2010 at 7:59PM

Many in the public sector are on a banded pay scale, each year they get the negotiated pay rise and move up a point on the band. OK the bands may only have say 8 points, but that is 8 years of a pay increase on the band as well as an inflationary increase to the band. People in the public sector also get promoted.