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All the local government trade unions have now agreed to the Scottish LG Employers final pay offer of 2.95% from April 2004 plus 2.95% from April 2005.

Local Government Committee issued this briefing in October 2004 to explain the background.

A BRIEFING ON PAY 2004

PURPOSE OF PAPER.

This briefing is to explain the history and current position on the Pay Claim and Offer for 2004.

BACKGROUND

The fifth and final stage of the current pay settlement expired on 31 March 2004. The Trade Union Side of the Scottish Joint Council required to submit a claim for the revision of the existing spinal column points and the new hourly rate spinal column to the Scottish Employers. This was the second claim under the new separate Scottish bargaining machinery and the Scottish Executive's financial arrangements.

The Scottish Local Government Committee at its meeting on 26 August 2003 agreed to recommend the following claim -

An increase of 5% on all spinal column points effective from 1 April 2004.

An increase of 5% on all spinal column points effective from 1 April 2005.

An increase of 5% on all spinal column points effective from 1 April 2006.

This to be underpinned by a Minimum Wage of £6. 60 per hour as at 2006.

Also that the claim would not include other service conditions improvements.

THE CLAIM.

A letter together with a full briefing was sent to branches 3 September, 2003 asking branches to consult with members on the size, shape and content of the 2004 pay and conditions claim for Scottish local government employees. The consultation exercise took place during a six-week period during 3^rd September to 18^th October 2003.

The Scottish Local Government Committee then met on 13 November 2003 to consider the result of the branch consultation exercise being:~ 6,380 or 80% in support of the claim and 1,610 or 20% opposed to the claim. The Committee therefore approved the proposed claim for submission to the Trade Union side of the Scottish Joint Council for consideration.

The Trade Union Side of the Scottish Joint Council met on 26^th November to consider the size, shape and content of the claim. However, two of the Unions had not completed their consultative exercise therefore the Trade Union Side were not able to submit a joint claim at that time. The Trade Union Side of the Scottish Joint Council reconvened in February, 2004 and agreed the following claim:~

The claim comprised of two phases:

• 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 was to run for a period of two years from 1^st April, 2004 to 31^st March, 2006 to meet with the Scottish Executive's financial settlement timetable for local authorities.

The claim was lodged with the Employers on the 25^th February, 2004.

THE EMPLOYERS

The Employers conducted a consultative exercise with the 32 Councils. At the Scottish Joint Council meeting held on 7^th 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 1^st April, 2004
• 2.95% on all spinal column points, on all scales, with effect from 1^st April, 2005

The settlement was to run till 31^st 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 trade union side were of the view that the offer was the best offer that could be achieved by negotiations.

CONSULTATION ON THE EMPLOYER'S PAY OFFER.

UNISON conducted a consultation exercise with 33 branches in accordance with the agreed procedures. The consultation period ran from 8t^h June, 2004 to noon on the 2^nd July 2004.

The result of the consultation showed that 31 branches had responded by the deadline. 28 branches voted to accept the employer's offer with three branches voted to reject the offer:- City of Edinburgh, East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire.

Overall 14,077 members have voted to accept the offer (68.5% of the votes cast) with 6,445 members voting to reject the offer (31.5% of the votes cast). The number of members recording a vote in the exercise was 20,522 (25.5% of the membership eligible to vote.

This reveals that over two thirds of members voting and 93.5% of branches voted to accept the employers' offer.

The TGWU and the GMB were also conducting a consultative exercise. However, one of the unions extended its consultative exercise to mid July, 2004.

At its meeting held on 27 August 2004 the Trade Union Side received and considered reports on the consultation exercises conducted by each union on the Employers' Pay Offer. The consultation exercise had resulted in the GMB and TGWU rejecting the offer, whilst UNISON accepted the offer. Therefore, the Trade Union Side was not in a position to reach a settlement at present. This was reported to the Employers Secretary on the 31^st August. 2004

CURRENT POSITION.

The position is a role reversal from the last pay negotiations where UNISON rejected the offer whilst the two unions accepted the offer. This resulted in UNISON conducting a ballot and subsequently undertaking industrial action. The other two unions had on that occasion respected UNISON's position and waited until the industrial action by UNISON was concluded.

The current position is that the TGWU and GMB are conducting ballots on taking industrial action. The ballots will be conducted over the next 4 to 6 weeks but we have not been advised of the timetable to date.

The view of the Scottish Local Government Committee is that we must not undermine the dispute with the employers and respect the position of the members of the other two trade unions and their consultative and balloting procedures and wait for a conclusion.

At this point there is no way of knowing when a settlement will be achieved however, as the settlement will be effective from the 1^st April, 2004 it will therefore include a backdated payment when a settlement is reached.

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