Labour spads working for the government’s new ministers have joined the FDA – the union for senior civil servants.
Advisers working at No.10 and for cabinet ministers are unhappy with pay levels and have signed up to the union "en masse", according to reports.
The aides held a vote on which union to join and picked the FDA over GMB due to concerns about the optics of GMB, a union linked to the Labour Party, being in a an industrial dispute with the government, according to The Times. The FDA said government spads have been members of the union in the past and that it continues to represent them.
The newspaper reports that spads have raised concerns about being paid less than the Conservative advisers from the last government and less than their salaries as Labour staffers. But it said the Cabinet Office has agreed to review their pay scale and informal talks between the government and union representatives are “amicable with no threats of strikes”.
Spads are political appointments who are hired as temporary civil servants to support ministers, giving party political advice and support that would be inappropriate for permanent civil servants. They have their own pay scales and spads' salaries ranged between £40,500 to £145,000 a year in 2022-23.
However, some Tory special advisers are believed to have negotiated individual deals higher than the published scales, according to The Times, which also said Sue Gray, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has argued that spads should be allocated to the right pay bands.
A source told the newspaper: “We’re earning much less than the Tory spads were, and it’s really denting morale. There’s a feeling Sue should have been more on our side.”
The Cabinet Office has been approached for comment.