19 September 2003
Local government's much-heralded Pay Commission could be a damp squib when it reports back next month, after it emerged that union-employer infighting has left the body with little chance of reaching a consensus.
The firmest indication yet of problems emerged this week when the chair of the independent LGPC, Linda Dickens, told Public Finance that she merely 'hoped' agreement could be reached, which would 'provide useful pointers on the way forward'.
But Dickens, the public sector academic at the apex of the five-strong commission, which also has two representatives each from council employers and the trade unions, remains 'optimistic' that a unanimous report of some sort will be published in October.
PF sources close to the discussions acknowledged that, while the report may be a useful tool in future pay discussions, it is 'unlikely to be endorsed wholeheartedly' by either side.
Dickens is expected to say that some of the unions' concerns regarding public sector low pay do not stand up to scrutiny when compared with other sectors.
That will irk the likes of Unison, the GMB and T&G, the three unions that led the national strikes across councils last summer.
But Dickens could back the unions over claims that employers have unnecessarily avoided implementing the Single Status Agreement of 1997 – aimed at placing all local government employees on a single, more equitable, pay spectrum.
Privately, employers' representatives admit that councils have been reluctant to implement the agreement because it would be too costly.
Despite a year of evidence-gathering and discussion, the commission – set up in the wake of last year's strikes – is also struggling to reach agreements on flexible working practices and regional-national pay bargaining.
Dickens will make an eleventh-hour attempt to generate consensus when she convenes a commission meeting on September 23 and 24.
Commenting on the broader pay dispute, Jack Dromey, the T&G union's national organiser, told PF: 'We hope for a sensible, negotiated solution. Full implementation of the Single Status [Agreement] will be crucial.
'A tripartite dialogue would be necessary because we can't solve problems without central government playing its part. That would necessitate more cash from the government.'
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