The Government is to repeal legislation introduced nearly 40 years ago by Edward Heath requiring it to negotiate with Whitehall trade unions and prison officers over pension rights and redundancy payments.
A clause slipped into the Superannuation Bill by Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, just before the bill is approved by the House of Commons, goes further in weakening the rights of trade unions in Whitehall than Margaret Thatcher was prepared to do in her 13 years in power. The decision – coming while civil servants face cuts in redundancy and severance payments as Whitehall faces its biggest job losses for a generation – will let ministers impose whatever terms they like to sack civil servants.
The clause repealing the provision of the 1972 Superannuation Bill was tabled during the Tory Party conference – after the Commons committee had ended detailed scrutiny of the bill. It came after talks broke down between ministers and the Council of Civil Service Unions over the terms of a new cap of redundancy pay by as much as two thirds. Labour this week tried to repeal or change the clause to allow Parliament rather than the Government to have the final say over redundancy terms. A briefing note by the Public and Commercial Services union warns that the clause gives “the Government the right to unilaterally impose worse terms and remove accrued rights from civil servants.”
The Cabinet Office confirmed that the effect of the legislation would be to remove ministers from being obliged to come to an agreement with the unions over redundancy terms.
A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: “Although the amendment removes the ability of a union to block reform of the compensation scheme, the Government will still be required to consult the Council of Civil Service Unions before making any changes.” But such a change reduces the power of the unions since ministers will only have to consult rather negotiate any detailed changes.
The Cabinet Office is trying to blame the PCS for having to take such action – saying that five of six Whitehall unions agreed under Labour to a change in the scheme aimed at saving the Government money. The union refused and won a judicial review forcing ministers to revert to the original scheme.
