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Local Government pay offer 2004 out for consultation(click
here for claim details)The Scottish 2004 Pay Offer for local government
employees is being sent out to branches in a Scotland-wide consultation exercise.
This follows what the employers claim is their first and final offer. Joe
Di Paola, Scottish Organiser for Local Government said, “We want branches to hold
meetings in the workplace, and to ballot members to supplement meetings in order
to consult as widely as possible with members regarding this offer”. The
offer is to cover a two-year period (from April 2004 - March 2006) and is a straight
percentage offer of:- • 2.95% on all spinal column points, on all scales,
with effect from 1 April, 2004 • 2.95% on all spinal column points, on
all scales, with effect from 1 April, 2005 It is likely that this is the
best offer that can be achieved through negotiations. Branches are asked
to consult with a closing date of 2nd July, 2004 Branches should add
together the total numbers voting for and against however the numbers are gathered.
Joe added, “It is vital that each branch consults on the same question and a circular
has been sent to branches outlining the question to be put.” Branches should
only consult those members who directly benefit from any pay offer, that is those
who are directly conditioned to the Scottish Joint Council for local government
employees (former manual and APT&C staff pay scales). Whilst this will
include staff in the voluntary sector and services contracted out on Scottish
Joint Council pay scales, it will exclude those covered by other agreements such
as Colleges of Further Education, Police Authorities, Chief Officials and Craft
Workers. Nor should members on locally agreed pay rates or on individual contracts
not directly related to the SJC be consulted. If branches have any difficulty
in deciding who should be consulted, they should seek advice from their Regional
Officer, Joe Di Paola, Bill McAllister or Stephen Palmer at Douglas House on tel
- 0845 355 0845. The results should be returned to Joe Di Paola by 2 July
2004. A similar process is taking place in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
There, the offer is of 2.75% in the first year followed by two offers of 2.95%
for the following two years. The last year is underpinned by a guarantee of RPI. At
the Scottish Joint Council meeting held on 7th June, 2004 the employers
responded to the trade union side’s pay claim with a first and final offer as
set out below:- - 2.95% on all spinal column points, on all scales,
with effect from 1st April, 2004
- 2.95% on all spinal column
points, on all scales, with effect from 1st April, 2005
The
settlement to run till 31st March 2006. The Trade Union Side
of the Scottish Joint Council agreed to consult with those members conditioned
to the Scottish Joint Council’s National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service.
The view of the trade union side is that the above offer is the best offer
that can be achieved by negotiations. topLOCAL
GOVERNMENT PAY CLAIM 2004TRADE UNION SIDE OF THE SCOTTISH JOINT
COUNCIL FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SCOTLANDBACKGROUND TO TRADE
UNION CLAIM This is the second claim under the new separate Scottish
bargaining machinery and the Scottish Executive’s financial arrangements. The
fifth and final stage of the current pay settlement expires on 31 March 2004.
The Trade Union Side of the Scottish Joint Council submit to the Employer’s Side
this claim for the revision of the hourly rate of spinal column (SJC/14) and the
existing annual and hourly rates last revised by circular (SJC/9). This
year’s claim is lodged against the background of the implementation of the Single
Status Agreement’s job evaluation exercise and assimilation to the new spinal
column of hourly rates, expected to be completed by 1 April 2004. (SJC/13) The
trade union’s claim from is straight forward and realistic. It seeks to maintain
living standards and address the problem of low pay within local government. TRADE
UNION CLAIM The trade union’s claim is in two phases, it seeks:
- A flat rate increase of £1000 per Annum on all Spinal Column Points, underpinned
by a Minimum Wage of £6:00 per hour with effect from 1st April, 2004.
- An
increase of 5% on all Spinal Column Points with effect from 1st April 2005.
The
settlement should run for a period of two years from 1st April, 2004
to 31st March, 2006 in accordance with the Scottish Executive’s financial
settlement timetable for local authorities. The flat rate element of claim
is aimed at addressing the problem of a large number of low paid employees in
local government and is underpinned by a minimum wage of £6:00 per hour by 1st
April, 2004. The of the claim is required to help restore and maintain
living standards of all employees covered by the NJC who have seen their pay eroded
considerably in comparison with those in both the public and private sectors. The
Trade Union Side believe that the claim is realistic, modest and fair. The following
pages expand on the main points and give justification for them. It is hoped that
the Employers' Side will give our claim full consideration and respond favourably. LOCAL
GOVERNMENT PAY Recent local government pay settlements have seen local
government workers fall behind other public sector occupations (see below) and
behind the median of private sector settlements (CBI Pay databank). The
following tables illustrates this:
| Year |
L/Govt. | Teachers |
Police | Fire |
Nurses | | 1993 |
1.5 | 1.5 |
1.5 | 1.4 |
1.5 | | 1994 |
2.4 | 2.9 |
3 | 2.2 |
3 | | 1995 |
2.2 | 2.7 |
3 | 3.5 |
1.5 | | 1996 |
2.9 | 3.75 |
3.5 | 4.4 |
2 | | 1997 |
2.82 | 3.3 |
3.5 | 4.8 |
4.1 | | 1998 |
3 | 3.8 |
4 | 5.6 |
3.8 | | 1999 |
3 | 3.7 |
3.6 | 2 |
4.7 | | 2000 |
3 | 3.3 |
3 | 3 |
3.4 | | 2001 |
3.6 | 3.7 |
3.5 | 3.9 |
3.7 | | 2002 |
4 | 4. |
3 | - |
- | | Average |
2.8 | 3.3 |
3.2 | 3.4 |
3.1 | - Source: Pay and
workforce strategy for local government. ODPM/EO Sept, 2003
Local
government pay has been hit by successive years of public spending restraints.
This has meant that local government workers have seen their pay drop in comparison
with other workers. Between 1998 and 2002, private sector pay increased
by 22%. Overall public sector pay has risen by only 16.8%, and local government
pay fared little better, rising by 17.8%. Both increases are below the increase
in average earnings for the period. In 1997, average local government pay was
£371.60 per week, higher than average private sector pay which was £368.40. However,
public sector pay increases have not kept pace with those in the private sector,
and public sector workers are now worse off than their private sector counterparts.
- Source: ONS New Earnings Survey 2002, indices
re-based 1998
Average Earnings UK & Scotland In
the three months to December 2003, whole economy average earnings, including bonuses,
increased by 3.4 per cent over the same period a year ago, down 0.1 percentage
point from the November 2003 rate. Excluding bonuses, the increase was 3.6 per
cent, unchanged from the previous month. The corresponding figures for the
main UK industry sectors were: Manufacturing
3.4 per cent including
bonuses, unchanged;
3.3 per cent excluding bonuses, unchanged;.
Service
industries
3.4 per cent including bonuses, down 0.1 percentage point;
3.6 per cent excluding bonuses, down 0.1 percentage point;
Public
sector
4.4 per cent including bonuses, down 0.4 percentage points;
4.4 per cent excluding bonuses, down 0.4 percentage points;
Private
sector
3.2 per cent including bonuses, unchanged;
3.3 per cent excluding
bonuses, unchanged. Average annual earnings of all full-time employees rose
to £25,170 in April 2003, according to the latest New Earnings Survey for April
2003. Average gross annual earnings for full-time women rose above £20,000 for
the first time to stand at £20,314, compared to £28,065 for men. Full-time female
employees saw an increase in annual earnings of 0.5 percentage points more than
that for men (3.5 per cent, compared to 3.0 per cent respectively). A key finding
of the NES was that the gender gap narrowed by a full 1.0 percentage point between
April 2002 and April 2003. Average gross weekly earnings of all full-time
employees on adult rates working a full week in April 2003 were £476. The median
was £394 a week. The average for men was £525 (up 2.2 per cent on the previous
year), and the average for women was £396 (up 3.3 per cent). The average working
week for full-time employees was 39.6 hours, of which 1.6 hours consisted of paid
overtime. RECRUITMENT PROBLEMS The reports of the Income
Data Services identify that a number of Scottish local authorities reported recruitment
and retention problems for a number of key professional posts. Also there were
problems in lower-paid posts as a result of the local private sector market. A
UNISON Survey conducted in 2003 reveals that over a third of local authorities
are offering financial incentives to graduates to stay with the local authority
for an agreed period, whilst others are offering assurances on non-financial incentives
such as training, personal development and working conditions. An article in the
Herald dated 30 June 2003 quoted the Association of Directors of Social Work as
calling for a national review of pay and conditions to stop the "Dutch auction"
created by lack in an internal labour market. LOW PAY There
exists within Scottish Local Government the continuous problem of pay inequality
and low pay. While the single status agreement established a minimum wage for
local government employees, it still left half of the local government workforce
with basic rates of less than half male median earnings. In fact the number of
employees falling below that figure has increased dramatically over the past ten
years as local government rates have continued to lag behind the whole economy
average since 1988. 60.8% of the local government workforce are paid between
spinal column point 3 - £10,068 to spinal column point 15 - £14,211 LOCAL
GOVERNMENT FINANCE The unions are aware of the major constraints that
the Government has continued to impose on local government spending. The
trade unions have been promoting the need for increased resources for both services
and pay. This includes seeking to have a share of the Scottish Executive’s underspend
for local government. Scottish Ministers have announced their public sector
pay policy at 2.5% based on forecast rate of inflation within the wider UK context,
including the broad economic outlook and the need for public sector modernisation
and pay based on performance. Standards of those who provide local government
services. If local government is to provide quality services and also meet the
challenge likely to arise from Best Value, then it requires a skilled, motivated
workforce. That requires a commitment to reward people fairly for the work they
do. FUTURE PAY TRENDS Average earnings growth in the year 2002/03
for the whole economy was 3.1%. This was a drop from 3.7% in the year 2002 to
June 2003, but the fall was mainly a result of private sector earnings falling
back to 2.6% against 5.6% growth in the public sector. The expectations
of the IRS panel are that headline earnings growth will rise to 4% by the end
of 2003. COST OF LIVING While inflation generally is
expected to remain around the target rate of 2.9% or 2003 revisions of the estimate
of economic growth. The control of inflation (which is by no means certain
in the context of widespread recession) has been at the expense of successive
interest rate rises. For example, this means that the September headline RPI of
3.2% masks rises of 8.4% in overall housing costs and 18% in mortgage costs. Such
rises hit our members hard especially the lower paid for whom housing costs account
for a substantial proportion of income. CONCLUSION There can
be no doubt that local government employees have seen their real earnings fall
in comparison with both other public and private sector employees and prices. At
the same time, while the lowest pay rates have been raised as a result of the
single status agreement, the number of low paid employees has increased enormously,
leaving huge numbers of local government workers caught in the poverty trap. In
making a claim for £1,000 underpinned by a minimum wage of £6:00 per hour and
a second phase of 5% we aim to address these two issues. Given the levels of low
pay, and the fall in real earnings that local government workers have experienced,
our claim is simple, fair, modest, and justified. We therefore ask the employers
to meet the claim in full. PREVIOUS PAY SETTLEMENTS FROM 1997 - 1
April 1997 2.5% (APT&C) minimum wage £4.00 per hour giving rises of 2.4%
to 4.7% (manual workers)
- 1 April 1998 3%
- 1
April 1999 3.3%
- 1 April 2000 2%*
- 1
October 2000 1%*
- 1 February
2001 3%*
- 1 March 2002 £500* Flat rate
- 1
April 2003 4%*
- * Part of the five stage
agreement SJC/9 (30 March 2001).
POLICE STAFF
PAY SETTLEMENT. The police support Staff Council have agreed a two year
settlement of an increase of 3.5% on all spinal column points from 1 September,2003
and a further 3.3% from 1 September 2004. top | 
Scotland's
public service union 
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