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Local Government is UNISONScotland's
biggest service group. Its remit covers a range of employees including
those of all of Scotland's councils, Direct Labour and Direct
Service Organisations, Trusts, Joint Boards, voluntary and related organisations
and private companies.
‘It’s time for fair pay’ say unions as they lodge pay claim
for local government workers
‘It’s time for fair pay’. That was the message from Scotland’s
local government unions today (Tuesday, May 8) as they lodged
their annual pay claim on behalf of council workers in a bid to
end the continued pay freeze. Click
here for press release
Briefing for branches
Following UNISON's Scottish Local Government Conference on 23rd
April agreement has now been reached with Unite and GMB to submit
a pay claim for local government workers for the period 1 April
2012 - 31 March 2013.
The claim is as follows
- A single year claim
- £1,000 flat rate payment
- The introduction of a Living Wage with a minimum hourly rate
of £7.20
- Encourage Community and Voluntary organisations, ALEO's conditioned
to the SJC to implement any settlement agreed.
It is not enough however to simply lodge the claim and hope that
negotiations will prevail! We have to win the hearts and minds
of our members as to why pay matters more than ever at this time.
Workers in local government are the poor relations of the public
sector as we enter the second year of a pay freeze. Our employers
have already told us that they have no intention of engaging with
the trade unions on pay this year.
If we are to change this we need to ensure that our members are
ready to stand up and fight for Fair Pay, it is no more than they
deserve. A Fair Pay campaign timetable and plan is being developed
in order to gauge and encourage support among our members across
the three trade unions.
A Fair Pay campaign logo and theme are being worked on to give
the campaign an identity that members can relate to.
Resources such as members leaflet, workplace posters, Myths/FAQ's,
campaign briefings, template press releases for use in branches
and model letters for elected members and chief executives seeking
support for our claim will be available for branches.
Branches will be asked to identify key spokespeople (Pay Champions)
within branches, similar to Pensions Champions during the Pensions
Dispute, to coordinate the campaign locally.
A Pay Seminar will be organised for Branch Secretaries and Pay
Champions to ensure a consistency of approach to the campaign.
Further details will follow.
Political lobbying will be a key component of our campaign, both
locally and nationally. In the short term branches will be encouraged
to raise the issue of pay with candidates in the Local Government
Elections on 3rd May.
The campaign will also be launched online using existing social
media networks, to achieve this the SLGC Facebook page will be
revamped and a Twitter page created and linked into Facebook and
Twitter feeds.
However the key to a successful campaign to burst the pay freeze
will be to ensure the members help us win wide support to raise
public awareness of the contribution UNISON members make to local
communities and the pressures they face.
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Demand fair pay for local government workers
Questions to put to candidates standing for election on May 3
 Local
government workers have been doing ‘more for less for too long.
Pay rises have fallen below inflation for several years and we
are now in the second year of a pay freeze – a real terms pay
cut – while inflation continues to rise. The forthcoming local
government elections give you the opportunity to challenge council
candidates on what they plan to do to change this.
Please find below a list of questions that you should ask candidates
standing for election on May 3.
" Do you support the case for the living wage being introduced
for all public
service workers?
" Would you support a campaign for fair pay?
" Do you agree that low pay in local government needs to
be tackled?
" Would you pay local government workers the £250
that both the UK and Scottish governments said should be paid
to low-paid public service workers?
" Do you agree that there should be an end to the current
pay freeze – a real-terms pay cut – for local government workers?
Please circulate these questions to as many people as possible
and urge them to put these questions to their local candidates.
It s time to put politicians on the spot over local government
pay.
For more information on what is being done to tackle local government
pay, please talk to your local branch. Keep a look out for information
on our upcoming campaign to tackle pay in local government.
Posted by Trisha Hamilton at 4:20 PM 0 comments
Report
to Scottish Council April 2011
- All
service groups report to Scottish Council in February, April and
December each year. This is the most recent report.
Update Feb 2011
UNISON to meet with Joint Trade Unions
to discuss a pay claim to tackle low pay
Following a consultation with all Scottish local government branches,
the meeting of branches on 4th Feb 2011 (Scottish Local Government
Conference) agreed to discuss with GMB and Unite, a proposal to
submit a 2011-12 pay claim which will tackle low pay.
The proposed claim, for a single year, would focus on a flat
rate to benefit lower paid workers and would press for employers
to introduce a Living Wage.
Dougie Black, UNISON Regional Organiser, said, "Although CoSLA
has imposed a pay freeze for 2011-2013, the meeting took the view
that we should continue to press the employers to address the
issue of low pay in the public sector, especially at a time when
a pay freeze means a pay cut in real terms.
"As the costs of food and fuel rises and the VAT increase begins
to bite, we must do what we can to protect and improve the circumstances
of our low paid members, who are bearing the brunt of a financial
crisis not of their making," he added.
UNISON will now discuss this proposal with GMB and Unite and
will seek to agree a joint claim.
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Scotland's
biggest public service union
