P/14/08

1 September 2008

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY UPDATE

PAY AND GREEN BOOK

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

GMB and the other NJC trade unions, Unison and Unite, have held further meetings with local government employers on 22 and 28 August to scope out the forthcoming negotiations on future pay and national conditions.  The Unions and the employers have agreed a short statement (attached) which explains this.

You will recall that GMB members voted to accept the 2008 pay offer of 2.45/3.3% while Unison and Unite went on strike for two days over it.  This dispute remains unresolved and the employers have therefore not yet implemented the pay offer.  It is imperative that this is sorted out as a first priority.

At the same time the two sides have set down some of the parameters for the new negotiations on national conditions (the Green Book) and future pay.  It is a huge task, but the plan is to have a new national agreement ready by the end of this year.

Negotiations will be carried out by the NJC joint secretaries and the NJC Executive, with meetings scheduled during September and October.  I will provide regular reports and nothing will happen without consultation with you.

Both unions and employers have their shopping lists.  The employers want to reduce sickness absence costs; reduce unsocial hours payments; convert more national conditions to local ones; link pay progression to performance; and introduce more flexible benefits.  The unions have previously sought a shorter working week; better annual leave; reductions in agency work; ending unfair contracts; improved unsocial hours payments; better car mileage rates; proper workforce training and development; and continuous service for contracted out workers including pensions.  I expect the TU side priorities to be finalised shortly.

The overriding issue will be funding.  We are currently in the middle of a major clamp down on public sector pay.  Local government has another two years to run of its three year funding settlement period.  This means that the amount available for pay rises has already been set at 2-2.5% for 2009/10 and 2010/11.  Are local authority employers willing to invest more than this in their staff?  A lot more?  And what would need to be given up in return?  Until we have answers to these questions I think that whilst the negotiations on future pay and conditions are necessary our approach needs to be extremely cautious.

Brian Strutton

National Secretary - Public Services Section