12 April 2002
Unison, the GMB and the T&G will wrap up their consultations with members by the start of next week. They will then meet with the Employers Organisation.
All three unions, who together represent 1.2 million people working in local government, have recommended their members reject the 3% pay rise offer and believe it is a foregone conclusion that they will do so. The unions are calling for a 6% rise, or £1,750, whichever is the greater.
A GMB spokesman said: 'We expect our members to overwhelmingly reject it. We will then sit down with the employers and expect them to come up with another offer closer to ours.'
These sentiments were echoed by Unison, which added that it was sounding out its members on what action to take to press their claim. 'We are taking the temperature of our members and seeing if they are interested in taking the issue further, although we are not going to make the decision for them,' a spokeswoman said.
But the EO is making clear that the employers' offer is final and will not be upped, leaving the way wide open for a summer of strikes.
EO spokesman Jim Chrystie said: 'Three per cent is our best offer. We will not be increasing it. But we will continue to look for ways of resolving this dispute.'
The two sides are due to meet on April 16.
PFapr2002
