Delegates call for action on NJC pay spines

Pay, and particularly the government’s insistence on a 1% pay cap, has a massive impact on members working in all the sectors represented by the service group, UNISON’s local government conference in Brighton heard this afternoon. InHead of local government Heather Wakefield called the pay cap “a poisonous Tory cocktail, eating away at your living standards”, butnoted that there was something good to report – the success in Scotland of winning more than 1% there. “Whatever we do,” said Ms Wakefield, “we must do so in unity”. Speaking on behalf of the national joint council committee, covering council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Emma Proctor called for action on NJC pay spines. She pointed out that Chancellor’ George Osborne’s “national living wage” is likely to mean that over a third of the NJC Green Book pay spine will have to be deleted by 2020. She stressed that research for UNISON revealed just how badly NJC pay has been falling behind that in public services outside local government. “It must reflect councils’ legal obligations” on equality, added Ms Proctor. “Our members cannot and will not and should not foot the bill for restructuring”, adding that if the union did not act on the issue, then employers would start doing so on their own. Edwin Jeffrey, for the executive, said that, after calling this for years, the whole of the NJC pay spine needed reform. Delegates agreed to urge the executi...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: Article lg16 local government local government conference 2016 local government cuts local government pay 2016 local government pay – the National Joint Council (NJC) Source Type: news