19 April 2002
Members of Unison, the T&G and the GMB all turned down the 3% pay offer made by the councils' representative, the Employers' Organisation, in February.
If, as expected, a meeting of union and EO officials on April 22 fails to produce a last-ditch deal, the unions will ballot their 1.2 million local government members on strike action.
The T&G said 95% of members who responded to its consultative ballot had rejected the pay offer, while the GMB reported a 90% result. T&G national organiser Jack Dromey told Public Finance that the responsibility to avoid strikes lay with the employers.
'The ball is firmly back in the employers' court. If they dig in and refuse to improve their offer, it is highly likely that we will be balloting our members for strike action,' he said.
Unison, the largest local government union, said its members had rejected the 3% offer by three to one. 'We are calling on the employers to meet with unions to revisit this pay claim. If that doesn't happen industrial action looks certain,' a spokeswoman said.
But the employers insisted that they would not be offering any more money when the two sides meet. 'It is our best offer, we don't have any more money available. It is still more than double the rate of inflation,' an EO spokesman said.
'Staff can have the extra money in their pay packets now, or they could lose money by going ahead with strike action.'
PFapr2002
