Pay consultation starts on 20 October

UNISON members are about to be consulted on the latest NJC pay proposals for local government and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The consultation will begin on Monday 20 October. In line with the consultation procedures agreed by the union's local government conference, UNISON branches are being asked to carry out local ballots of all members whose pay is determined by the NJC, including those who were not included in the ballot for industrial action.
The joint union and management secretaries of the national joint council local government services (the NJC) will meet on Monday (13 October) to agree pay calculations for consultation.
UNISON will make detailed information on their implications for members available after the
meeting.
At a branch meeting today WOlverhampton Branch agreed to write to all members outlining the branch committees view of the office , that it is a very poor offer that comes nowhere our aspirations
for a personal view of the offer see here
In the meantime, an outline of the proposals for 2014-16 is available for members below.

NJC - outline of new proposals  

INDUSTRIAL ACTION TUESDAY 14th OCT
SUSPENDED SUSPENDED SUSPENDED!
following a 'proposal' being made by the employers our national negotiating committee voted yesterday (9th) to suspend the strike in order that members can be consulted on the 'offer'.
further information will be posted as the branch receives it

Unions to escalate pay strike action in October

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. UNISON will not proceed with strike action on 30 September.

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 andconciliation 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.”
 

UNISON vote to strike on Pay July 10th!
along with other unions in local government and the NUT (teachers union) the PCS (civil service union) and the FBU , UNISON members have decided they are no longer prepared to watch their standard of living plummet through years on low pay rises and pay freezes!
all UNISON members should support the strike for more read here

VOTING HAS OPENED , MAKE SURE YOU 
USE YOUR VOTE!!

BRANCH CONSULTATION BALLOT
the result of the recent ballot on the proposal to reject the latest national pay offer

reject offer and take industrial action  67%
accept offer                                            32%

following on from local consultation UNISONs National negotating body met
and decided to ballot 600,000 local government and school members for strike action after 70% of members rejected this year's pay offer in a consultative ballot. 

The pay offer would mean around 50,000 of the lowest paid local government workers receive a rise that is slightly above inflation. However the remainder of the workforce - around 90% - would receive just 1%. 

The ballot  will start on 23 May 

UNISON TO CONSULT MEMBERS OVER MEAGRE PAY OFFER

UNISON is to consult more than 600,000 of its local government and school members over industrial action, following a meagre 1% pay offer made today.   

Around 50,000 of the lowest paid local government workers will receive a rise that is slightly above inflation, while the remainder of the workforce - around 90% - will receive just 1%.   

The 1% offer from Local Government Employers will apply to more than one million workers including teaching assistants, planners, administrators, social workers and engineers.  For these workers, the offer represents a real terms cut in basic pay of almost 20% since the Coalition came to power, following three consecutive years of pay freezes followed by below inflation rises in 2013 and 2014.  

Additional pay-related cuts at local level are now widespread across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

UNISON's Head of Local Government, Heather Wakefield, said:

"It is outrageous that the vast majority of local government workers have effectively been offered another pay cut. 

"Although the long overdue modest rise for the lowest paid workers is welcome, this offer is another slap in the face for local government workers.  

"Just this week we learned of the scandal of cabinet ministers happily approving pay rises of up to 36% for their own special advisors, while condemning thousands of other public sector workers to poverty pay.  UNISON has seen a growing number of workers forced to rely on food banks and in-work benefits as a result of continuous pay freezes."

MEMBERS MEETING
to discuss the proposed
ATTACK ON TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Tuesday 18th March
Britannia Hotel 7pm
non members can join on night

LATEST BRANCH NEWSLETTER

  AVAILABLE HERE   here

READ ABOUT EMPLOYERS PLANS TO ATTACK OUR NATIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

The cost of Government cuts on women

UNISON, the UKs largest union, is launching a nationwide survey aimed at gauging the impact of the Government’s cuts to local services on women and their families.  The timing of the launch coincides with the start of the union’s women’s conference being held in Brighton between 13 -15 February.
Women are at the heart of public services, making up 77% of local government staff.  In addition, women are more likely to use public services than men, so they are the first to be affected when services are cut.
read more and take part in survey here

                                                                               

                                                                               
         STAND UP FOR FAIR PAY!
DAY OF ACTION FEBRUARY 4TH

AS PART OF UNISONs DAY OF ACTION TO SUPPORT THE CALL FOR OUR PAY RISE AND FAIR PAY FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKERS AND TO OPPOSE SERVICE CUTS .
THE BRANCH IS PROPOSING A NUMBER OF EVENTS WHICH CAN BE READ ABOUT IN OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER here