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Archive UNISON

Unions escalate pay strike action in October

Unison’s NJC Committee met yesterday to consider plans for industrial action, following the strike on 10 July and its earlier decision to follow this with further action on 30 September.

The Committee agreed that maintaining unity between the three local government unions – GMB, Unite and UNISON, other sectors within UNISON and other public sector unions is crucial to achieving an improved pay offer for our members.

The NJC Committee therefore agreed not to proceed with strike action on 30 September and to seek approval from the Industrial Action Committee for all-out strike action on 14 October. This has the agreement of GMB and Unite and will coincide with the week of action planned by the NHS unions over pay.

Please see below for the latest press release:

“Unions representing over a million local government workers – GMB, UNISON and Unite – have agreed to escalate their dispute over pay with a campaign running into the autumn.

The three unions have agreed that their members will run a co-ordinated strike of their local government and school members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Tuesday 14 October.

The strike will be just a few days before the TUC organised national demonstration on 18 October calling for decent pay.

Local government workers have suffered three years of a pay freeze, followed by a below inflation pay deal and have now been offered a paltry 1%.  They have seen their pay reduced in value by 20%since 2010. This resulted in a one day strike on 10 July.

No further talks have taken place since that date, despite the unions offering to go to the Government’s arbitration and conciliation service.

UNISON Head of Local Government, Heather Wakefield, said:

“Employers and Government must be left in no doubt that we are serious in this dispute.  As sister unions, we stand together to make sure that our members are treated with decency and respect. Our members cannot afford to carry on propping up local services through their pay packets.  Many are low paid women who are being forced to resort to food banks and payday loan sharks just to survive.  We need to put the heart back into local government by paying a living wage.”

GMB National Secretary, Brian Strutton, said:

“Our members in GMB, UNISON and Unite expect us to maximise our joint effectiveness and that’s why we are announcing thenext strike together. Our members deserve a fair pay deal and we have to fight together to achieve that. Council leaders should reconsider their parsimonious pay offer and do the right thing by their staff.”

Unite National Officer, Fiona Farmer, said:

Local government workers have had years of real pay cuts, working harder to deliver vital local services while being paid less and struggling to make ends meet. Low paid members unable to afford basis essentials are having to choose between heating and eating. On 1st October the National Minimum Wage will overtake local government pay scales, we need Fair Pay not Poverty Pay.”

Local Government workers taking strike action include care workers, librarians, cleaners, environmental health officers, street cleaners, home carers, parks and recreation workers, teaching assistants and school meals workers and refuse workers. “

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Archive Derby City Council UNISON

Derby City Council Job Evaluation Update – Non Schools

Was your job evaluated under the Hay Scheme?

We realise that there is a lot of stress and tension regarding the lack of information that Derby City Council has sent out in the appeal packs to members on Grade 7 and above.  UNISON Derby City has had lots of our members contact us with concerns that they will not be able to submit an adequate appeal due to this. UNISON Derby City is in full agreement with these concerns.

We have raised throughout the Job Evaluation process what we have seen as a lack of transparency in the whole process.  We know that other UNISON branches have been routinely given information by their employers carrying out a similar exercise but this has not been shared with Derby City Branch despite requests being made. It would seem to us that the Job Evaluation process followed at Derby City Council has been solely driven by the need to save money rather than an attempt to provide an equality-proofed pay system.

We have held several Appeal Workshops for our members that have been very well attended.  We will continue to hold these as necessary to support our members.  At these meetings we have met with a lot of our members who appear to have no idea how their new grades have been arrived at and the more we see of the results given to our members, the more and more we are realising that there seems to be a huge element of inconsistency in approach.

Today I have verbally raised with the employer UNISON’s belief that appeals timescales should be extended until such a time that all relevant information is shared.  UNISON Derby City will be raising this again formally with the employer at a meeting currently being set for next week to discuss the job evaluation process.  We will update our members when we receive a response to this request.

In the meantime it is important that our members complete their appeals to the best of their ability to ensure that they do not go out of current timescales.  If you are not able to put as much information as you believe you require due to it not being shared with you, then you need to write this clearly on the appeal form.  UNISON does not want to be in a position where our members’ appeals are refused because they are out of timescale.  If the employer does agree to UNISON’s proposal of extending the timescales for appeals you will then have the opportunity to add to your appeal when the information is shared and resubmit your appeal.

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Archive UNISON

Second day of strike action announced 30 September

The UNISON NJC Committee met on Tuesday 22 July to review the J10 strike and decide next steps in our campaign.     It has decided to hold a second day of strike action on Tuesday 30 September rather than the earlier dates suggested. 30th September is the last date local government pay is above the National Minimum Wage. On 1 October, SCP 5 will fall below the new NMW of £6.50 per hour.

The NJC TU Side Executive met on 29 July to discuss coordinating second wave action and further information will follow . The UNISON NJC Committee also agreed to set a date for industrial action in October should there be no movement by the Employers.

Political campaign: Talk to your councilors

It is now critical to apply political pressure alongside and leading up to the next strike if we are to bring the employers back to the negotiating table. The LGA needs a mandate to reopen talks from each of its political groups – Labour, Lib Dem, Conservative and Independent. This means we need members to write or attend surgeries held by their councillors and MPs. We need to pile on the pressure and make sure all elected politicians are aware of the impact falling pay and the falling value of pensions is having on everyone working in councils and schools. There is a model letter on the pay campaign page.