16 April 2004
The prospect of town hall strike action drew closer this week as local government pay negotiations ground to a halt.
At a meeting on April 14, employers refused to modify their offer of a 7% pay increase 'with strings', prompting angry reactions from union leaders.
Peter Allenson, national secretary for public services at the T&G, warned that the frustration of workers in town halls up and down the country could easily spill over into strike action unless employers adopted a more 'realistic' attitude towards the pay claim.
'The employers know that the current 7% offer over three years with strings has been comprehensively rejected by the union side,' Allenson said. '[Employers] must be more realistic on pay for this year so we can negotiate for a sustainable future, not prepare for the picket lines.'
Unison national secretary Heather Wakefield agreed that strike action now looked increasingly likely. 'I cannot see a way forward unless the employers rethink their penny-pinching approach. At this rate we cannot rule out industrial action this summer,' she said.
The unions refuse to accept a proposal to make the implementation of the third year of the pay deal dependent on councils conducting an equal pay review and the removal of premium payments for overtime and shift working from the national agreement.
'In the wake of the 2002 dispute and the positive report from the Local Government Pay Commission we would have expected the employers to recognise the link between fair treatment of the workforce and service improvement,' Wakefield said.
But employers' chair Brian Baldwin said it was the unions who refused to engage with the commission's recommendations. He said the employers were disappointed that the unions continued to avoid dealing with the key reforms to the national pay agreement.
'Their claim takes no account of affordability and ignores the severe pressure local authorities are under to keep council tax levels low,' Baldwin said.
Employers and unions are due to meet in early May to review their respective positions.
PFapr2004
