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 | | Thursday, 21 February, 2002, 06:40 GMT Public sector 'mutiny' warning  Tony Blair says the government must do more on pay Tony Blair has been warned that criticism from politicians is the biggest cause of discontent among staff in the public services. In an open letter to the prime minister leaders of public sector workers, including the police and nurses, say the low esteem in which staff are held is damaging morale and recruitment. They complained that despite professed support for public services, statements and policies from ministers often suggested they were badly managed and needed a lesson from the private sector.
Mr Blair has already responded insisting that public service workers were the UK's "lifeblood". The six leaders behind the letter include Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens and Royal College of Nursing general secretary Dr Beverly Malone. In it they ask Mr Blair to mount a "major and sustained campaign championing public servants" and the "complex and responsible" jobs they do. "Without the support of a stable, well-trained, well-motivated work-force the government's efforts to modernise public services, no matter how determined, will have limited success," they warned. The letter also called for: In his reply, Mr Blair said public service workers were the "key to this government's ambitions for Britain".
"These ambitions rest on first-class public services and I know these can only be delivered through the efforts, skills and commitment of those who work in them," he wrote. "It angers me when people run down the contribution to our society of our dedicated public servants. "Every day in London and across Britain, they perform miracles in our hospitals, our classrooms and on our streets. "Their dedication and talents are the lifeblood of our country." Mr Blair said the government had made "a real start" on addressing public sector pay, with rises now running ahead of the private sector. But he conceded: "We have to do more."
"Unfilled nursing and teaching vacancies are symptoms of professions where targets and paperwork have taken precedence over pupils and patients," he said. "Having promised so much, and delivered so little, the prime minister is guilty, at best of incompetence, and at worst of perpetuating a cruel hoax on the voters and public sector workers." Other signatories of the letter were London Development Agency chairman George Barlow, London Borough of Camden chief executive Steve Bundred, Industrial Society chief executive Will Hutton, and Rabbi Julia Neuberger chief executive of the King's Fund independent health think-tank. | |
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