A pay ‘proposal’ so bad it’s unbelievable

#njcpay2014 UNISON has called on the employers side of the local government National Joint Council (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) to reconsider their current pay proposals and come forward with ‘improved ones which begin to tackle the hardship facing all of our members.’
http://www.unison.org.uk/news/lga-urged-to-reconsider-on-pay-proposals

Why public service workers are taking strike action

#J10strike Today's strike by public sector workers is a 'manifestation of the anger and frustration they feel about the sustained attack on pay and pensions that has played havoc with their living standards and seems to have no end in sight', says the TUC Touchstone blog. For a list of events today see the TUC website here and the UNISON website here.

WHY STRIKE TOMORROW? #J10strike

• Because Local Government workers are chronically underpaid.

• Because our inadequate pay levels have been subject to a freeze, meaning a pay cut of 20% since the coalition came to power.

• Because our employers seem happy to leave millions below the living wage level, rather than pay wages that would take them off benefits

• Because low wages and salaries leave local government workers facing food or fuel bills they cannot afford. Eat or Heat should not be a dilemma we face.

• Because local authorities are sitting on reserves of £18 BILLION

• Because local government cuts mean that as redundancies bite, the remaining workers face an uphill struggle to keep services running.

• Because further cuts to services are just around the corner with consequent increased workload for the remaining staff

• Because privatisation, outsourcing and restructuring are disrupting delivery of services

• Because the democratic accountability and character of public services is being undermined by current government policies, such as the Council Tax cap and the provisions of the Care Act;

• Because the services that our communities rely on, from care for the elderly, to family services, from education to food hygiene, from bin collection to museums and libraries are being decimated.

• Because politicians, both local and national, have washed their hands of local democracy

• Because if no one else will stand up for well paid, well resourced, locally accountable democratic services, local government workers must.

STAND UP FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT – TAKE ACTION TOMORROW

Jane Carolan

The case for an improved pay offer in local government is unanswerable

#J10strike 'What has motivated our members to take strike action this year when they were reluctant last year and the one before that? Quite simply – that ‘nothing to lose’ feeling and the growing realisation that if they don’t act now, they might soon be paying councils for the privilege of having a job at all! We have done the sums on their pensions too and the results don’t make pretty reading. Unless a stop is put to the decline in their pay, they will spend the rest of their lives on even lower pensions than the pittance most were in line to receive anyway. And the state will have to foot a larger bill for their retirement' UNISON head of local government Heather Wakefield writes on the Public Finance blog:
http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2014/07/a-pay-offer-council-workers-must-refuse/

All systems go for July 10 national pay strike!

#J10strike Enormous momentum is building for next Thursday's NJC pay strike in England, Northern Ireland and Wales with UNISON being joined by GMB and Unite in a united front that has often proven elusive in recent years. Many UNISON branches are reporting high levels of recruitment since last Monday's call to action. Membership confidence has been lifted by decisions this week by the FBU, PCS and NUT to strike and make 10 July a very welcome day of co ordinated action. Each of those long running disputes are broader than the NJC pay strike involving pensions and workload issues but the root cause is of course the same - austerity and the offensive launched against public sector workers launched by the Con Dem government since its first spending review in October 2010:
https://www.unison.org.uk/at-work/local-government/key-issues/local-government-pay/home/

Labour's chance for a Sea Change in Local Government

Whilst the impact of UKIP splitting both the Conservative and Labour vote is still rippling through politics at large the Local Government Association (LGA) is busy assessing its own structural make-up, with the much anticipated swing back to a Labour led LGA. It is a strange world indeed for the umbrella governance of local authorities. More often than not the LGA is out of sync with the colour of the national government and these latest changes will be no exception to that rule. One might be tempted to say that these means Mr Pickles is about to stop listening to the LGA but the truth he is didn’t anyway - even whilst under Tory control. And to the credit of Sir Merrick Cockell he at times has been a far more effective opponent of cuts to local government than the frontbench team of Ed Miliband.
http://www.local.gov.uk/web/guest/media-releases/-/journal_content/56/10180/6209503/NEWS

Pay disputes converging for UNISON's big battalions?

Over the last 7 years or so of public sector pay restraint there have been many references to ‘coordination of pay campaigns’ in motions and speeches at UNISON and TUC conferences. Yet (unlike in the 2011 national public sector pensions dispute) conditions for synchronisation of pay disputes have not materialised. Until now that is. In the last 10 days there has been universal anger amongst health workers at the 'coalition’s clear contempt for NHS staff in refusing to implement the PRB recommended pay increase and this week local government unions rejected a 1% offer with all three unions now consulting members on the possibility of industrial action.
    Convergence of pay campaigns in these enormous bargaining units and unity in action of all TUC health and local government unions could see a long overdue challenge to Government public sector pay policy. There could be no more effective trade union response to the much talked about cost of living crisis being suffered by millions of workers in these sectors.

Time to stand firm on local government pay

#njcpay2014 Last Friday, the Local Government Employers excelled themselves by cancelling a meeting with the Joint Secretaries to make this year’s pay offer for local government and school support workers. With 1 April as the date for a pay rise, they suggested a meeting on 1 May, after the announcement of the new National Minimum Wage (NMW), which takes effect from October! They also hinted at a 1% pay ‘envelope’, from which they would have to pay the NMW before thinking about a rise for anyone above the lowest pay point!

Town Hall pay squeeze - enough is enough

#NJCPay2014 Today local government workers will be holding local protests across the UK to highlight the effects of a long term squeeze on pay and the catastrophic impact of austerity cuts on local services. Heather Wakefield UNISON head of local government, writing on the TUC stronger unions blog, said: 'The key aim of our Day of Protest is to draw attention to the 18% drop in basic pay faced by our members in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 2010. That's the consequence of a unique three-year pay freeze and below-inflation settlements in eight of the last sixteen years:
http://strongerunions.org/2014/02/03/fair-pay-in-local-government-local-public-servants-are-worth-it/

UNISON Cymru/Wales stands up for fair pay in local government

#njcpay2014 UNISON branches across England, Northern Ireland and Wales are gearing up for next Tuesday's (4 February) day of protest in support of fair pay in local government. First out of the blocks yesterday were UNISON local government activists in Wales who lobbied a meeting of the Welsh employers in Builth Wells. The union's head of local government in Wales Dominic Macaskill said: "local government workers cannot be expected to and cannot afford to continue to subsidise local government services. Enough is enough, it is time they are paid fairly and we are calling on the WLGA to recognise this and support our pay claim."
http://www.unison.org.uk/news/articles/unison-lobbies-welsh-lga-over-local-government-poverty-pay