Pay Claim

To check out the latest, click on this link http://www.unison.org.uk/localgov/paycampaign.asp

Double Standards - The Current Position on NJC Pay

25 June 2010

What the Chancellor said in relation to public sector pay

"A two year pay freeze will be introduced from 2011-12 for public sector workforces, except for those earning £21,000 or less, who will receive an increase of at least £250 a year. This will save £3.3 billion a year by 2014-15.

Pay will also be frozen in 2010-11 for civil servants who are yet to agree a legally binding pay deal, except for those earning £21,000 or less, who will receive at least £250 a year. These civil servants will then exit the freeze ahead of other groups."

What the LGA have said in response

The Con Dem controlled LGA have made it clear that the government’s position on public sector pay will not change their own ‘no offer’ position on NJC pay for 2010-11.

In addition, the primary means to set the offer in future years will remain through existing mechanisms of consultation with local authorities. The employers have stated that:

“...we can confirm that the announcement does not affect:

• Local government pay for 2010/11, where the position remains that the employers have not offered an increase, or

• Contractual annual increments, which should continue to be paid

• Ahead of any negotiations on local government pay for 2011/12 we shall be consulting councils in the usual way through regional pay briefings”.

This could well mean that in addition to a pay freeze this year, local government employers do not even feel bound to offer the minimal increase of £250 in the following two years. We are the poor relations of local government and are set to become even poorer, unless we organise to fight back.

What a £250 increase over two years could mean

The effects of a £250 increase for those earning under £21000, over two years, are summarized below:

• 67% of the workforce (on 2008 numbers) would be covered

• The percentage rise on Scp4 in the first year is still only 2.06% (or 4.1% over two years at scp 4)

• The average increase in both years up to the level paid at scp 23/24 is only 1.6%. (or 3.2% over two years between scp 4 – 23/24)

This still amounts to a heavy pay cut with inflation (RPI) hovering at around 5%.

Pay FOI

In April this year, UNISON sent a Freedom of Information request to all 401 councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland asking them what assumptions they had made about the percentage increase in pay from April 2010 for all groups of local government workers (except teachers and related professionals).

The results from 280 councils show that:

• 59% said that they had assumed there would be a pay rise in 2010/2011

• Increases from 0.2 to 2.2% were included in budgets, the most frequent assumption being 1%.

• Of the 40% who assumed there would be no increase this year, a number had nonetheless made provision for a pay award in the contingency sum in their budget or had significantly increased the contingency sum compared to the previous year.

• Pay assumptions being built into Medium Term Financial Plans for 2011/12 and 2012/13 show (excluding Northern Ireland) that only 21% were planning for a pay freeze in 2011 and fewer than 10% in 2012. An assumption of 1% or more was built into most plans for both years.

Double Standards

The employers have claimed that the ‘no offer’ on pay was due to un-affordability. We can all see the truth from the FOI. There was room to make an offer. There continues to be room to make an offer, especially for the lower paid. Political choices and not financial inevitability are the cause of the impasse over local government pay in 2010.

With the degree of privatisation of local government services it is not surprising government announcements in relation to ‘public sector workforces’ do not seem to relate to the local government workforce. This does not mean our members are worth any less than the bare £250 that other public sector workers will receive. It shows, in the eyes of the employers, that our members are not even worth a pittance.

Our low paid members will still support the confirmation that teachers will receive their pay award of 2.3% this year, whilst they face a pay freeze and inflation runs at 5.1% (May 2010). Our low paid members are financing the debts of the rich.

Members are concerned about job security. Showing the employers that we can defend pay is a battle in the war of securing jobs. Cuts, pay and pensions are all on the same page and the ‘hollowed out state’ is beckoning. We need to keep the pressure up on Councilors’ and MPs. Negotiations need to begin.

The NJC Committee will meet on 7 July 2010 to consider the next steps in our campaign. Please let us have your views by emailing mailto:NJCPay2010@unison.co.uk

Heather Wakefield
National Secretary
Local Government Service Group

NJC Pay 2010 - 2011

19th March 2010

No sign of a thaw…

We continue to press the employers for a meeting of the NJC Executive. In spite of their slowness in setting up a meeting with us, we still believe it is vital that we seek engagement with the employers over this and all the other big issues affecting local government workers.

What Labour and Lib Dem Councilors are saying

Our follow up letter to Labour and Liberal Democrat councilors saw an overwhelming majority of Labour councilors supporting an increase. Several of them are supporting our position through motions in council chambers condemning the ‘no offer’. Interestingly, of the Liberal Democrats who replied to us, around half supported an increase and the other half supported their national position of sympathy but no outright support. We are making progress and winning the argument!

What the political parties’ position is over local government pay..

All the main political parties have differing positions over local government pay. As we can see below, some of them are contradictory and certainly undervalue the role of local government workers. Some broader national policies on pay don’t seem to apply to our members in local government – we are asking why!

Our claim of £500 or 2.5%, whichever is the greater, is reasonable:

• The Labour Group on the LGA support a 1% rise

• The Liberal Democrats support a £400 across the board increase for public sector workers, regardless of starting salary – which they will ‘propose in future years’

• George Osborne has talked about a ‘pay freeze’ for those earning above £18k from 2011, not 2010 – but not below – that’s over 60% of NJC workers.

Lobby the Employers

The Joint NJC Trade Union lobby is taking place on the 30th March at Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1. The lobby is being organised as part of our Vital Services, Valued Staff campaign, to raise the issues of cuts, redundancies and the pay freeze in local government with the Local Government Employers.

The lobby coincides with a Total Place Conference being organised by the LGA, so we will need people to assemble at Smith Square from 9 0’clock but envisage the lobby will be finished by 11.

We really want the lobby to show how our members feel over the pay freeze and cuts in local government and have asked branches to send one person to come and make up that voice. So far we have had a low response please reply urgently to njcpay2010@unison.co.uk and let us know if you are able to send a representative to the lobby.

Join in the action…

Lobby of Local Government Employers/Association

Date: 30 March 2010
Venue: Local Government House, Smith Square, SW1P
Time: Assemble at 9.00 am, due to end 11.00 am at the latest

12th March 2010

No sign of a thaw…

There’s no sign of any thaw by the Employers, who are still refusing to budge on their imposed NJC pay freeze. While we wait for them to meet us and start some discussion over pay, we have been carrying on the campaign.

Keep the pressure up on councillors

We have sent a second letter to Labour and Lib Dem councillors. Many Labour councillors oppose the pay freeze and support the Labour Group’s view that a pay award up to 1% would be justified. Some Liberal Democrat councillors have told us that they support their party’s view that a flat rate increase of £400 for all would be acceptable. We’d certainly go for that!!!!

We have asked all those councillors who support us to put pressure on the Local Government Association and the Local Government Employers Side to start talking and make us an award. With inflation at 3.7%, they should be ashamed of themselves. Even Conservative Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has said that the Tories would support an increase for those earning less than £18,000 a year. That’s over 60% of all NJC workers, so the Tory LGA majority could perhaps follow its own party line!!

We need all branches to keep up the pressure on councillors by lobbying, visiting surgeries and asking what they are going to do to get us a pay increase and whether they expect our support in the coming local and general elections if they do nothing!

Not just pay…

We know that you out there are not just concerned about pay. The root causes of the pay freeze are also at the heart of the cuts, redundancies and privatisation many of you face. £300 billion has been given or lent to the banks and building societies who got us into this mess and now essential, hard-working local government workers are having to pay the price while you keep communities going through the crisis! Meanwhile bankers take home annual bonuses worth more than most of our members earn in a lifetime.

We will be building our campaign to highlight the fact that many of the cuts are driven by Tory councils who just want to cut public services, not by the recession. Unnecessary Council Tax freezes and cuts are at the heart of many of the problems and you will soon get a branch guide to understanding local government finance to help you challenge your employers locally.

MP’s pay rise

You will know that MPs are to receive a pay rise of 1.5% from 1 April, bringing their annual salary to £65,737. Regardless of how many Ministers and MPs say they will forgo the increase (many of our members would like that option!), the interesting point is that the increase is based on an average pay increase recorded over the previous year by 15 different groups of public sector workers. In 2009/10 NJC workers received far less, between 1 - 1.25%.

Our claim of £500 or 2.5%, whichever is the greater, is reasonable:

• The Labour Group on the LGA support a 1% rise

• The Liberal Democrats support a £400 across the board increase for public sector workers, regardless of starting salary (yet at the moment they support the ‘no offer’ for local government workers)

• Your MP’s salary increase has been set at 1.5% (even with all the sensitivity over their pay and allowances)

Keep up the fight…

Even though many of you understandably fear redundancy and cuts, we need to show that we won’t roll over and let the Employers get away with shunning negotiations and imposing a pay freeze on us. If we do, they will think they can get away with anything. Recruit non-members, talk to your colleagues and tell them that UNISON is with them all the way. Together we can win a better deal for our members and local people who depend on us!

9th February 2010

The UNISON NJC meeting and the joint NJC Trade Union Side held on 3 February 2010 concluded that the employer’s position of imposing a pay ‘freeze’ – really a ‘cut’ - is a disgrace and must be challenged.

Below are the key points raised in the discussion:

• Many members are understandably concerned over their jobs, their pension and cuts, but there is also anger over the pay ‘freeze’
• We need to give them confidence to challenge the ‘freeze’ which is not necessary and has got nothing to do with the recession
• Members are increasingly covering redundant/frozen/deleted posts and doing ever more for less and less
• Their own personal lives as local residents are also affected by local cuts
• The pay freeze won’t stop councils from making cuts anyway
• The decision of the Local Government Association (LGA) and Local

Government Employers (LGE) is largely a political choice – not an economic necessity, with little relationship to the recession

• There is no ‘offer’ on the table –just an imposed freeze, without negotiation
• Since there is no offer, members have nothing to lose by a campaign, which will need to continue beyond this year
• The forthcoming local and General elections provide us with a perfect opportunity to run a high profile campaign, achieve an increase for members and raise their public profile
• The campaign will bring together the issues surrounding pay, LGPS, redundancies and cuts and centre on the longer-term fight for good local services and decent local government jobs

THE NJC TRADE UNION SIDE PAY CLAIM FOR 2010/11

The NJC Trade Union Side is submitting the following claim for a pay increase in 2010 -2011:

A £500 FLAT RATE INCREASE OR 2.5% - WHICHEVER IS THE GREATER

The claim is for one year only and distinct from any other negotiations over the Green Book. We would like negotiations to take place in an expeditious manner and for settlement to be reached by 1 April 2010.

An additional claim concerning Green Book conditions will be lodged in the New Year.

Nov 09

NEWSLETTER 20

19 October 2009

NJC PAY 2010/11 Pay Consultation Results and NJC Executive Meeting

Consultation

162 branches responded to our consultation over the three main elements of the pay claim for 2010/11. By overwhelming majorities of 99%, 97% and 98% respectively, UNISON branches have said they want:

• A one year increase

• A £500 flat rate increase or 2.5% - whichever is the greater

• Improvements to conditions to be kept separate from the pay claim.

This would mean a 4.3% increase for those on the lowest scale point (£12 145) and 2.5% for those on scale point 23 (£20,198) and above. Overall, it would mean an approximate 2.8% increase on the pay bill.

Thank you to all the branches who took part in the consultation over such a short time period – especially to those who managed to conduct a ballot!

NJC Executive Meeting

A Trade Union Side NJC Executive meeting took place on Tuesday, 13 October between UNISON, UNITE and the GMB where our consultation results were discussed and the position of the other trade unions was explored. Whilst we remain committed to delivering a pay claim as early as possible, in line with conference recommendations, the GMB position will not become clear until after their pay consultation meeting on 20 October. UNITE also want to submit the claim as early as possible. It is the continuing aim of all three trade unions within the NJC to submit a joint claim. A joint Trade Union Side meeting will take place on 26 October to finalise the claim. It is likely that a full NJC meeting will also be held with the employers on the same day.

An NJC Executive meeting with the employers was also held on 13 October. Whilst pay negotiations did not commence at the meeting, as no claim was submitted, the employers were open enough to rehearse their position in the negotiations to come. Their position will be similar to that of last year – citing “affordability” as the main pay constraint within the ‘double whammy’ context of increased demand for services and falling income. The LGA will start consulting employers soon and conclude the process by 14 December. We have supplied the dates of these consultations to Regions and NJC representatives. It will be important that branches help to ensure that councils get involved in the consultation and that our position is fully relayed to the employers before the meetings take place.

Some branch comments from the consultation process highlighted member concerns around job security and the level at which the claim is set. We will have a challenging job to persuade members that they deserve a decent pay rise - many seem to have accepted the financial situation as necessitating job cuts and reduction in services without contemplating the political nature of the choices being made. Freezing council tax and reducing jobs and services are part of the Conservative ethos of a reduced state and low taxation and linked to their drive to reduce council tax. Let’s not forget that the local government settlement will not reduce in 2010. Inflation is likely to average around 2.5% for the year, many ‘pay freezes’ apply only in the private sector and are unlikely to continue into next year and existing pay settlements for this year average around 2.5%. In addition, as we all know, pay in local government lags well behind that of other public sector employees.

We will soon be launching a hard hitting campaign over pay, conditions, cuts and privatisation in 2010, but will need active engagement across the union to mobilise support amongst the membership and to win over wider public support – watch this space!!