Ryan FowlerLocal government representatives of Unite, the UK’s leading union, have agreed to recommend rejection of the local government pay offer, for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Unite is now undertaking the process of holding consultative ballots for its workers covered by both the local government green book agreement (the majority of council workers) and the red book (local authority craftworkers).
The national employers’ pay offer of a £1,290 flat rate, plus 2.5% on allowances, fails to tackle poverty pay or reverse the years of real terms pay cuts experienced by local government workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s local government representatives have rightly called on members to reject yet another pitiful pay offer for council workers. Workers’ incomes have been cut to the bone, by over a decade of below inflation pay cuts and those cuts must be reversed.
“Unite always puts the jobs, pay and conditions of its council workers first and will back them all the way in their battle for a fair pay deal.”
The pay offer has been made against the backdrop of local government workers seeing their pay decrease by approximately 30% in real terms since 2010. This is directly linked to government cuts to council budgets which have seen them fall by 25% during that time.
Unite national officer for local authorities Clare Keogh said: “The national employers know that this is an entirely inadequate offer for council workers and does nothing to meet their needs or expectations. Council leaders need to sit down with the trade unions and negotiate a vastly improved proposal.”
