Local Councils

Local government members of the GMB union have voted by 67% to accept the local government pay offer in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (£1,925). Unison (the largest local government union) voted 63% to accept in September, and Unite (smaller in local government) 75% to reject. Unite’s calling for a reject vote made the difference. In the Local Government Joint Council the three recognised unions have a custom of going by majority vote and it appears that Unite has conceded. The three unions must start next year’s pay negotiations immediately with a bold claim that fights to win a £15 per...

Transphobic twitter is ablaze with news that a home counties library service has introduced a new mascot: Tala the Storyteller, a brightly coloured alien. Hertfordshire Council (Tory-controlled) confirmed that Tala the Storyteller is a “bright, vibrant creature” and “the star of Hertfordshire libraries” for a series aimed at catching the attention and imagination of toddlers and babies. Tala’s creators, Emma Phillips and Eva Povey, said they were inspired by the children’s artwork at library workshops. “They helped us to understand what children liked best in a creature,” they said in a...

Unison members in local government and schools have voted 64% to 36% to accept the offer of £1,925 flat rate (based on a 37-hour week) for all members. The turnout was 34%, significantly higher than the turnout in the industrial action ballot in December 2021, when only 14% of members took part. Unison nationally made no recommendation. In both the North West and London a number of larger or more active branches called for rejection. Most branches and members in the North West rejected, and a majority of members in London rejected. There were some especially high rejections (over 80%) with...

Local government workers in Scotland should reject the new offer and restart the strikes. Workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland should join them. The last two weeks’ coordinated and targeted strikes by the three local government unions in Scotland (Unison, GMB and Unite) have pushed up the offer from 2% before action was discussed, to 3.5%, then to 5%, then to a differentiated flat-rate offer (but not consolidated), and now to a new offer, consolidated. Targeted strikes of bin and recycling workers rolled out beyond Edinburgh to two thirds of the councils, and the unions planned for...

Local government workers’ strikes in Scotland have already brought some improvements in the below-inflation pay offer from the councils. Before the strikes started the councils upped the offer from 2% to 3.5%. Then, on 19 August, to 5%. On 29 August they shifted further, to (a dodgy version of) the £1,925 flat-rate offered in England. Unite has rejected the latest offer, Unison is consulting members while recommending rejection, and strikes set to start 6 September are still on. As of October, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reckons that the lowest-income 20% will be facing an 18% price...

• Debate here . Ann Field, in her article 'Sharon Graham and Labour: posturing and demagogy in place of struggle?' , builds her argument like a badly constructed dry stone wall: by the time the edifice is finished, it only takes a gust of common sense to bring it down. The stacking of quote upon quote from the press is used by Field to build her argument, but no adequate context is given. For example, Sharon Graham is criticised for her position on the Coventry bin strike, when Unite members were facing a Labour Council that were using their own ‘at arm’s length’ private waste disposal company...

Unite has already stated it rejects the local government pay offer (a flat pay rise for £1,925 for every scale point). The GMB has not made its position clear. Unison has launched a consultative ballot (closing 19 September). The Unison National Joint Council (NJC) committee has made no recommendation to members. We hear that the right wing on the committee wanted to recommend acceptance. Previously Unison had said that the union would move to straight to an industrial action ballot. On receiving the pay offer the union dropped that and went for consultation. Under the rules of the...

After a joint union claim in Scottish local government for £3,000 annual increase for all, the employers offered 2%. Unison, GMB, and Unite have rejected that offer and are balloting workers in school, early years, waste and recycling. The Unison ballot closes on 26 July, and other unions' ballots around then, with action likely in September. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, councils on 25 July offered £1,925 flat-rate (a real-wage cut for all, since the lowest annual rate in local government is £18,300, making £1,925 10.5% while RPI is 11.8%) in response to a joint union claim of £2...

The local government conference of the public services union Unison on 12-13 June was dominated by discussion on how to win ballots for strikes on pay. A ballot on the 1.75% pay offer for the year from April 2021, done between 5 December 2021 and 14 January 2022, fell flat with a turnout of only 14.5%. 50% minimum turnout is required for strike ballots in public services under the Trade Union Act 2016. For the year from April 2022, unions in local government (Unite and GMB as well as Unison) put in a claim on 6 June for £2,000 or RPI-matching increases (around 11%). A response from the...

The public services union Unison has consulted with their members in local government about the NJC (joint unions) pay claim for the year from April 2022 with two options: 10% or a flat-rate £2,000 increase. The consultation went for £2,000. We agree with a flat rate claim, but £2,000 will be a real-wage cut for the vast majority of workers in local government. All pay points above NJC scale point 6 (£20,043 per year) would be worse off with £2,000 than a 10% rise. The GMB and Unite have not yet established what their claim is going to be and have not met with Unison to put a claim to the...