Local government and school support workers suspend strike on 14th October

The three unions which represent more than 1.5 million workers in local government and schools – UNISON, GMB and UNITE – have today (9th October) decided to suspend strike action planned for 14 October and consult their members on new proposals put forward by the Local Government Association as the best achievable by negotiation.

The proposals cover the period from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2016.

In doing so, all three unions have made it clear that they want to strengthen the collective bargaining machinery covering local government and schools and move quickly to jointly tackle important issues facing their members with the Local Government Association. Members covered by the National Joint Council for Local Government have the lowest pay in the public sector and have suffered significant attacks on their conditions of work in recent years.

The unions will now move forward together to consult their members.

UNISON Head of Local Government, Heather Wakefield said:

“These have been tough negotiations, in a tough financial climate for local government and our members. It is right that those members - who are keeping councils and schools going in tough conditions - will now have the chance to make their voice heard by voting on the LGA’s proposals.”

NJC Pay - Outline of new proposals

Here are the final proposals on NJC pay for 2014-16, which UNISON’s NJC committee considered on Thursday 10 October and agreed to consult on. The final bullet point on the outline of the propsal is an additional proposal.

We will be issuing the detailed implications of the proposals for members on Monday 13 October, following an NJC joint secretaries meeting at which we will agree pay calculations for consultation.

The intention is to ensure that the three unions and the LGA consult on exactly the same basis.

Consultation

The consultation on the pay proposals will begin in the week beginning 20 October.

It will be carried out in accordance with the local government service group’s pay consultation procedures agreed at local government conference.

We will be asking branches to carry out local ballots of all members covered by the NJC, as far as possible.

Regions will be asked to support branches in the consultation process.

All members whose pay is determined by the NJC will be eligible to vote, including those not balloted for industrial action.

Proposals

•£1,065 (8.56%) on Spinal Column Point 5 with effect from 1 January 2015
•£1,000 (7.93%) on SCP6 with effect from 1 January 2015
•£800 (6.19%) on SCP7 with effect from 1 January 2015
•£550 (4.13%) on SCP8 with effect from 1 January 2015
•£350 (2.55%) on SCP9 with effect from 1 January 2015
•£325 (2.32%) on SCP10 with effect from 1 January 2015

•2.20% on SCPs 11 and above with effect from 1 January 2015

•Removal of SCP5 with effect from 1 October 2015

•£325 non-consolidated payment on SCPs 5, 6 & 7 to be paid in December 2014
•£150 non-consolidated payment on SCPs 8, 9 & 10 to be paid in December 2014
•£100 non-consolidated payment on SCPs 11-25 incl to be paid in December 2014
•0.45% of proposed new salaries on SCPs 26-49 inclusive, of which £100 to be paid in December 2014 and the remaining balance to be paid in April 2015

NJC future work

Both sides recognise that local government is undergoing a period of unprecedented change.

The way that public services are designed and delivered is evolving at a rapid pace and against this background the NJC agrees that councils and their workforce need collective agreements that:

•reward employees fairly and recognise the diverse needs of the workforce;
•attract, retain and train people with the skills needed for the future;
•enable local service providers to react more quickly to changing circumstances;
•facilitate effective partnership working and collaboration across organisations;
•remove or modify existing barriers to ensure employees can move more easily between different public sector employers.

The NJC remains committed to national collective bargaining and aims to ensure that the bargaining machinery can reflect and support new ways of working.

The NJC will focus on producing outputs that are relevant, fair and beneficial to both employers and those employed to provide public services