UNISON members in public services have suffered a pay squeeze for far too long – and the government had proposed another five years of austerity and caps on pay levels. But since the general election, the government is weaker than ever and has no mandate for further austerity measures.

Already there has been talk of freeing up the pay review bodies to allow them to recommend higher awards – but that only applies to some of our members. UNISON is determined to spend the summer building up the pressure on public service pay – for all our members.

Whether you work in local government, the NHS, police, education or any other public service – you need a pay rise. But they won’t pay up unless we speak up.

So from now until the budget in November, we’ll be making a lot of noise on pay. In addition to our sector pay negotiations and campaigns, UNISON will be running a high-profile, public campaign to put pressure on politicians to support three key demands: ending the pay cap; putting money aside for an immediate rise for all public service workers, and restoring normal PRB and bargaining arrangements for all our sectors, free of political interference.

Look out for campaign  materials and actions you and your members can take to drive the campaign forward and make sure the government has to Pay Up Now!