29.09.14
LGA council pay offer still in the balance
Local government unions are to meet with employers and the Local Government Association (LGA) this week – following a new pay proposal.
In a letter to local authority chief executives and finance directors last week, the LGA’s head of workforce, Sarah Messenger, said the organisation was willing to propose a pay offer that would give council workers a 2.2% pay increase, in return for abandoning next month’s strike action on 14 October.
Under the proposals, the long-term pay deal would start from 1 January 2015 (not backdated to 1 April 2014) through to 31 March 2016. It would also mean a 2.2% increase for the majority of employees and the introduction of a new minimum hourly rate of £7 per hour.
But, at the time, she added that the LGA was “extremely disappointed” that UNISON’s National NJC Committee said that it was not prepared to put the proposal to its wider membership and that it intended to push ahead with the strike planned for 14 October.
This was despite GMB and Unite having said that they would have been prepared to call off the strike and consult their memberships if UNISON had decided likewise.
PSE has now been told by Unite national officer for local government Fiona Farmer: “Unite and the other local government unions are meeting the employers, the LGA on Thursday 2 October to respond to the new set of proposals that the LGA has put forward.
“Unite won’t be commenting further until after Thursday’s meeting,” she added.
PSE has asked GMB and UNISON for a comment on the pay offer and discussions, but at the time of publication had not received a reply.
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