Unison members back July strike action over pay

24 Jun 14
Unison members in local government and schools are to strike on July 10 after 58% of workers voted to take industrial action following a 1% pay offer.

By Richard Johnstone | 24 June 2014

Unison members in local government and schools are to strike on July 10 after 58% of workers voted to take industrial action following a 1% pay offer.

The union said yesterday that the day of action across England, Wales and Northern Ireland was likely to be joined by other unions in local government, with both Unite and the GMB also holding ballots following the offer.

Three years of pay freezes from 2010, followed by 1% increases in both 2013 and 2014 meant local government pay had been reduced by almost 20% in real terms since the coalition government came to power, Unison said.

‘Many of our members are low-paid women earning barely above the minimum wage, who care for our children, our elderly and our vulnerable and they deserve better treatment than they have had at the hands of this government,’ Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said.

‘The employers must get back into talks immediately to avoid a damaging dispute.’

Nearly 50,000 workers voted to take action, around 58.7% of those voting, compared to just over 35,062 against.

Responding to the announcement, a spokesman for the Local Government Association, representing council employers, said it was disappointing that Unison members would be proceeding with strike action.

‘Local government staff have worked wonders while councils have been tackling the biggest funding cuts in living memory and we have no doubt that many will still be at work on the day of strike action,’ he added.

‘The pay offer we have made would increase the pay of most employees by 1%, while the lowest paid would receive an increase of more than 4%. This is the fairest possible deal for our employees given the limits of what we can afford.

‘This strike will not change the pay offer we have made, but it will mean those who take part lose a day’s pay.’

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