30 January 2004
Storm clouds were gathering over local government pay this week, with unions set to lodge a 4% pay claim, despite warnings that employers are determined to keep to the Treasury's inflation-only limit.
As Public Finance went to press, both sides were due to meet at the National Joint Council (January 29) for the first official pay talks in two years. The three public service unions, Unison, the GMB and the T&G, appear to have swept aside employer calls for a longer-term pay and conditions package. PF understands they will table a claim for a 4% across-the-board pay increase for 2004/05 plus an extra £200 added to each pay point.
Both sides are privately prepared for a tough round of negotiations that will have to reflect government pressure to keep costs down, the recommendations of last year's Local Government Pay Commission and the expectations of 1.5 million workers. The spectre of the 2002 industrial dispute also hangs over the talks.
Unions have already conceded that their claim will be 'more complicated' than in previous years, pressing for the early introduction of commission recommendations and looking to central government for extra funding.
They will be asking for both equal pay audits and Single Status to be completed within two years, plus additional ring-fenced funding to achieve this. 'We want recognition from central government that local government can't meet this from existing budgets,' said Heather Wakefield, Unison's head of local government.
The unions are also asking for the completion of the workforce training and development strategy, which employers have already signalled they are willing to resume.
The claim also includes five extra days holiday, taking local government workers to 25 days per year, an increase in maternity pay, two weeks paternity leave, paid adoption leave and the deletion of the bottom three pay grades to increase salaries for the poorest paid.
Wakefield said the pay claim was modest to allow the employers 'headroom' to take forward commission recommendations.
But the employers, unusually pre-emptive, have already warned unions not to lodge an 'unrealistic' pay claim. 'The unions have to understand that this year resources are very tight,' said Brian Baldwin, the employers' chair. 'The government's target is only 2% and we need to link pay negotiations to reform.'
PFjan2004
