Date: Tuesday 15 June 2010

'Lobby at lunchtime to stop pay cut' - Aberdeen Council UNISON

UNISON, Aberdeen’s largest public sector trade union, is calling on Aberdeen City Council members to protest during their lunch-hour on Thursday 17 June, to warn councillors of the expensive consequences if they decide to defer paying thousands of council workers increments.

City councillors will meet on Thursday to vote on a recommendation to defer the annual increment due to workers who have not reached the going rate for their job.

Karen Maxfield, Branch Secretary of Aberdeen City UNISON, said:
"Withholding the increment is a breach of our contract, which the Council imposed on us only last year. If they defer, they won’t actually save any money at all because they will have to pay it next year instead.

Karen Maxfield said:
"Many hundreds of low paid workers are now entitled to an increment for the first time. We’re not talking huge sums of money here – a personal carer helping someone to stay in their own home will get £9.99 more a week after a year in the job, when she has got more skills and experience which enables her to give a better service to her clients.

"It will cost the council a lot more than that to defend a legal claim by her if she doesn’t get her increment. The top of the pay scale is the full rate for the job – it’s right that people have to work up to the full rate, but they have to trust their employer to pay it when they get there."

UNISON has lodged over 360 claims for members who are furious at the Council’s heavy-handed tactics. The Council has already paid teachers their increment this year and many UNISON members who work in schools, such as Pupil Support Assistants, janitors, nursery nurses and school meal staff, say their work is being undervalued by not treating them the same as the teachers because they are as essential to providing a good educational experience.

UNISON is urging all council workers to defend their increments by joining the lobby of the Town House from 12 noon on Thursday.

* UNISON has discovered that the archive minutes for Aberdeenshire Council in the 1940s show that Aberdeenshire Council proposed withholding increments as the war was cutting into its finances. After consideration the Council did not consider war to be a circumstance severe enough to withhold the increments their staff were due.

Karen Maxfield, Aberdeen City UNISON Branch Secretary, said:
"If war wasn’t enough in the 1940s, what reason could be good enough now?"

ends

Notes for editors:

1. Aberdeen City Council Finance and Resources Committee is considering the ‘Employment Costs’ report at 2pm on Thursday 17 June, which recommends deferring increments due on 1st April 2010 for one year.

2. 6555 staff out of 8,962 should have received an increment on 1 April 2010.

3. UNISON and other trade unions are holding a joint lobby of the Town House at 12 noon on Thursday 17 June.

4. UNISON is distributing thousands of leaflets round council workplaces urging workers to protest to protect their rights.

For Further Information Please Contact:
Karen Maxfield, Branch Secretary UNISON Aberdeen City Branch 07944 386683
Sarah Duncan, Regional Organiser 07904 342521
Malcolm Burns, Communications Officer 0141 342 2877 (o) 07958 063 182 (m)
Fiona Montgomery, Communications Officer 0141 342 2877 (o) 07908 672 890 (m)

Stay in touch with UNISON Scotland's latest news releases on our website http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/index.html and frequent updates on our blog http://unison-scotland.blogspot.com/

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