The civil service's biggest union has said it will continue pushing for reform of the current fragmented system of pay bargaining for officials as the government's Employment Rights Bill moves through parliament.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said this week that Labour's flagship legislation still doesn't go far enough in giving officials a unified negotiating voice with employers.
Under the "delegated" pay framework, which has been in place since the 1990s, individual departments are responsible for negotiating annual awards with recognised trade unions – within the government-wide annual pay remit, set by the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury.
While the Employment Rights Bill supports sectoral collective bargaining for school staff and adult social care workers, with the creation of negotiating bodies that could determine pay and other terms and conditions, it does not afford the same opportunity for civil servants.
Heathcote told a meeting in parliament that the current system in the civil service resulted in more than 200 sets of negotiations on pay, "vast inequality across departments" and "issues with staff retention".
She told the meeting, which was convened by Labour MP Andy McDonald, that without serious consideration for collective bargaining across the civil service, PCS members would continue to face an uphill struggle on pay.
However she acknowledged "positives" in the bill, including electronic balloting, access to workplaces for trade unions and an end to controversial minimum service levels brought in by the last government.
After the session, Heathcote said there was still time to refine the bill, which has now completed its committee stage and is due to enter the report stage.
"It's our role to provide suggestions and improvements to the bill," she said. "Whether it's on pay, whether its on collective bargaining, whether it's on the terms and conditions that govern us, all of that is covered by the bill. And it's our job to make that as strong and as robust as possible."