01 March 2002
As Public Finance went to press, employers' representatives and unions were sticking to their guns in advance of the meeting of the Joint National Council due to take place on February 28.
The stalemate raises the spectre of a damaging campaign of industrial action by English and Welsh local authority staff, in what is an election year for many councils.
The meeting was the last chance for the two sides to reach an agreement and prevent this year's negotiations from breaking down. No more meetings have been set up, and there was a consensus that no further discussions would be scheduled unless progress was made.
Unison, the GMB and T&G are demanding a pay rise of 6% or £1,750, whichever is the greater, for their 1.2 million local government members. This would mean a 20% increase for those at the bottom of the scale. The employers have offered a 2.5% flat-rate pay rise.
A spokesman for the Employers Organisation, which represents councils, said the union's demand amounted to 12% in practice, and prospects of reaching agreement were bleak. 'This is so much above anything they have previously asked for, I can't see where the meeting of minds can come from,' he told Public Finance.
If no agreement can be reached, the unions could ballot their members on industrial action. Council leaders will be especially keen to avoid this happening, as elections are due in May in key areas such as the London boroughs and the northern metropolitan authorities.
Alternatively, either side could force the other to go to arbitration with Acas. If that happens, the two sides' current positions will set the parameters and arbitration will aim to find the middle ground. This is likely to mean the employers having to fund a more generous settlement than they have budgeted for.
But the EO spokesman would not reveal what the employers' tactics would be if the talks broke up without agreement.
PFmar2002
