Members travel to Downing Street to demand living wage

UNISON members travelled from Birmingham to  Downing Street this morning to call for fair pay for local government workers. They delivered a letter calling for £10 per hour minimum wage and a 10% pay rise across all other pay points in 2020/21. Joined by Birmingham MPs Jack Dromey, Liam Byrne, and Birmingham city council leader Ian Ward, representatives from the UNISON Birmingham branch and colleagues from the GMB and Unite delivered the letter on behalf of council and school workers in the city. The three unions submitted a joint national pay claim in July for the pay rise  as part of negotiations with employers for for the next pay round, due to be paid in April 2020. “Some of our members are using food banks,”said branch secretary Caroline Johnson. “That’s not acceptable. If you do a day’s work you should be paid fairly for that. We can’t stand by as local government workers are having to rely on food banks to keep going” Birmingham branch secretary Caroline Johnson and assistant branch secretary Carol Garfield stand outside 10 Downing Street with Birmingham city council leader Ian Ward. Birmingham council agreed the pay claim motion in September, and is now joining forces with unions to ask central government to fund it. Council workers have borne the consequences of almost a decade of public spending cuts, but with the government adamant that austerity is over, it is now time to end years of local government pay restraint. Council leader Ian Ward said:...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: News council pay living wage local authorities local government schools Source Type: news