07 September 2001
The body, which represents councils in pay talks with the unions, has blamed the comparatively generous deals promised to teachers and nurses for forcing councils to offer more than the 3% increase anticipated in their budgets.
The EO said it will now push the government to make the public sector pay review bodies work together more closely in future.
Bob Mayho, the EO's assistant director of communications, told Public Finance the issue urgently needed to be addressed. 'The 3.7% given to other public sector workers became totemic for the unions during the negotiations. We want to see a much more systematic approach, with better ways of keeping us informed, and better co-ordination between the pay review bodies,' he said.
A deal was finally thrashed out in May after months of stormy negotiations. But a subsequent internal review found that authorities had been 'placed in an awkward position by government decisions in respect of other bargaining groups'.
The review concluded that the 3.5% bottom-loaded pay deal 'exceeded the ability to pay of many authorities… in some councils it will lead to damaging cuts in jobs and services.'
The review also identified tactical blunders made by the negotiators, who had been instructed to strike a 3% deal. 'A 3% opening offer was most unlikely to result in a 3% deal,' it found.
PFsep2001
