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Pay Claim - 2007

Strike ballot (15 Oct 07)'Fair Play Fair Pay'.

 

Due to industrial action by the Communication Workers' Union, UNISON members may experience a delay in receiving their ballot papers.

If you are eligible to participate in the ballot and have not received your ballot paper by Wed 17 October - visit the national UNISON Pay Claim website for guidance (external link, opens in new window).

Say No to the Pay Offer - Vote 'Yes' for Strike Action (Sep 07)

The Employers' Final Offer

It's six months since UNISON lodged the 2007-8 NJC pay claim for a 5% or £1000 increase on pay and improved conditions. The employers have now made their final pay offer this year of 2.475% on scale points 5 - 49, with no staging, and 3.4% on scale point 4 to give a minimum rate of £6 per hour. The offer included a joint proposal to "a review of the way that local government pays and rewards its workforce, with nothing ruled in and nothing ruled out".

Vote YES for strike action

The UNISON "National Joint Committee">NJC has considered the offer and decided to reject it. UNISON is now calling on you to do the same by voting 'Yes' in the ballot for strike action.

850,000 in UNISON - We can do it!

It won't be easy. For our campaign to succeed you will need to be prepared to take part in all-out, escalating strike action, starting with a 2 day strike in November. But as UNISON we are strong. 850,000 members will be in the ballot and if you all vote 'Yes' and join the two-day strike we can make the employers and the government think again and improve their offer.

Get Active!

We need every UNISON member to vote in the ballot. All our members covered by the Green Book in all sections of the workforce - councils, fire and rescue services, national parks and the private and voluntary sector must vote and vote 'Yes' in the ballot. You can help to make this campaign a success:

The ballot opens on 5 Oct 07 and closes on 26 Oct 2007.

If you have not received your ballot paper by 17 Oct 07, please call 0845 355 0845. Requests for ballot papers must be received by noon on 23 Oct 07.

For more information contact the Branch Admin Office

To get an improved pay offer, vote 'Yes' to strike action.

Gordon Brown: "and now local government workers want a decent pay rise! But someone's got to pay for the war in Iraq." Pay - decision to ballot members (7 Sep 07)

The UNISON NJC committee met on 4 Sep 07 and decided to seek authorisation for an industrial action ballot over the employers' final offer of 2.475% plus £6 per hour (3.4%) on scale point 4.

Branches have been asked to make urgent preparations for a ballot and a campaign. More details - see the latest pay circular (opens in new window).

'Have A Heart: Fair Pay Call By Local Government Unions - 14 Feb 07

'Have a Heart': Pay Claim for 2007 being submitted.

As fuel bills soar and inflation rises, UNISON, TGWU and GMB public service unions today submited a local government pay claim to employers covering some 1.3 million workers. This will be a crucial year for public sector pay, given that the Chancellor wants a 2% ceiling. Local government unions will be warning of the folly of sticking to such a pay ceiling.

UNISON National Secretary for Local Government, Heather Wakefield, said:

'During the past few years local public services workers pay has fallen well behind inflation, fuel and housing costs. This has got to stop. We urgently need a fair deal which keeps pace with living costs and alleviates some of the financial distress and low morale of, particularly, our lower paid members.'

Peter Allenson, T&G national organiser for public services, said:

'Our members pay over the last three year deal has not kept pace with either the cost of living or the rise in average earnings. It is time to put that injustice right. It is time for local and central government to properly reward the army of low paid and mainly women workers who are delivering the 'continuous improvement' demanded of local councils.'

UNISON South West Head of Local Government, Bill McMillan, added:

'Love actually is not enough for local authority workers, they need fair wages and conditions if they are to continue to provide effective essential public services such as social care and education.'

The claim to put to employers includes:

  1. One year only
  2. 2. 5% or £1,000 whichever is the greater
  3. To ensure a £6.30 underpin on the minimum hourly rate
  4. An increase annual leave of 1 day for all employees
  5. An increase in basic annual leave entitlement to 25 days per year as the minimum entitlement for all employees
  6. A reduction in the standard working week to 35 hours, without loss of pay
  7. To increase in the night shift allowance over a 3 year period from a time and a third, to time and a half, to time and three quarters, to double time in the final year.
  8. An increase in the sleep-in allowance to £60

Workers covered by the pay claim include many groups, such as care assistants, cleaners, teaching assistants, librarians, refuse collectors among others, that are among the UK's poorest paid workers with the worst annual leave entitlements.

Over sixty per cent of those covered by the National Joint Council pay claim earn just £15,825 or under annually, some £8,000 less than the national average. Seventy five per cent of these workers are women.

A MORI Poll of 10,000 members in local government carried out by UNISON in 2005 showed work morale to be low, with more than half (57%) of members saying it had worsened over the last year. This was on top of declining morale in previous years.

And between 2004 and 2006 pay in Local Government rose by only 8.9%, falling behind the rise in national earnings and the huge increase in fuel, housing and living costs. Householders now have to pay on average £20 a week for electricity and gas - £9 more than in 2003. And the Inland Revenue panel of experts expect average earnings growth to run at 4.3% during 2007.