2023 National LG Conference

General secretary urges delegates to ‘get the vote out’

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea, urged delegates at the union’s local government conference to ”get the vote out” in its latest strike ballot, which ends on 4 July.

“We need you, talking to members, face to face in their workplaces, explaining why this vote matters,” she said. The National Joint Council, which covers council and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is calling for a pay increase of inflation plus 2%.

“The case for better pay is compelling and clear cut,” said Ms McAnea. “Staff vacancies are endemic. Recruiting and keeping social workers, care workers, planning officers, environmental health staff, HGV drivers and so many more, is becoming so difficult that services and communities are suffering.”

She added that the damage caused by this recruitment crisis “isn’t easily fixed – it endures through generations”.

The government says that it can’t afford to meet this pay claim, said McAnea, but in fact it could recoup about half the cost of the claim by raising more in tax and paying less in in-work benefits as people would earn more and go above the threshold for benefits.

What’s more, she added: “When money goes to public service workers, they’ll go and spend it in their local communities, driving economic prosperity.”

Christina acknowledged that there was “a mountain to climb” to achieve the 50% threshold needed for a strike when the previous turnout 18 months ago was disappointingly low. However, she says the mood has shifted since then.

“Inflation is now much higher than it was. And we’ve seen waves of strikes – sweeping across so many sectors – that have built public support, changed history, and delivered change.”

As well as calling for strike action, Ms McAnea thanked delegates for the work they do in UNISON branches across the UK: “Successful insourcing campaigns, negotiating reorganisations and putting millions on the pay bill, the huge graft that went into getting term time workers the right pay, the campaigns to stop car parking charges, and regrading claims, that all have a long-term impact – putting more money in people’s pay packets, and on to their pensions too.”

She also mentioned UNISON campaigns in Northern Ireland for free school meals for every child; in Cymru Wales, to get a social partnership model up and running, to give public service workers and unions a say in the key policies of the Welsh government; and in Scotland: “the brilliant campaign against the Scottish government’s flawed model for a national care service”.

Christina finished her speech by saying: “I look forward to coming out and seeing you on our picket lines when we take action.”

The article General secretary urges delegates to ‘get the vote out’ first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Conference calls for national pay bargaining in FE

Low pay in Further Education (FE) was high on the agenda at UNISON’s local government conference, with delegates hearing that pay in the sector had fallen by around 35% since 2010, thanks to a lack of centralised pay bargaining.

This has led to a recruitment crisis, with three quarters of England’s 228 colleges reporting difficulties in filling vacancies.

But delegates heard about the recent success of the Wirral branch of UNISON in securing a commitment from Wirral Metropolitan College to be a Real Living Wage Employer.

To applause from the audience, Cathy Wilde from the Wirral branch explained that as a result of UNISON’s campaign, the majority of the college’s members received pay rises of between 15% and 20%, and membership increased by 50%.

She told conference that this had been achieved by breaking away from the Association of Colleges (AoC), which gave the branch the freedom to campaign.

In the FE sector, pay rises are recommended by the AoC, but colleges are not obliged to accept these recommendations. This system prevents coordinated action on pay, with one speaker describing this system as “broken and unfit”.

Every year, hundreds of meetings on pay take place in FE colleges all across the country, which is expensive and time-consuming. With national pay bargaining, only one experienced and trained team would be needed.

Conference also heard about the intolerable stress levels that face support workers in colleges, with one speaker describing how, on a salary of only £18,000 a year, she had dealt with 72 safeguarding cases in a few months, and was twice threatened with being stabbed. As a result, she had to take time off work due to stress.

Delegates passed a composite motion on FE pay, which called on the service group executive to:

campaign for national pay bargaining in colleges;
develop campaigning materials that highlight funding gaps in FE;
and call for the Real Living Wage for all FE colleges.

The article Conference calls for national pay bargaining in FE first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Labour promises to rebuild local government

The next Labour government will work together with workers and trade unions to rebuild the “hollowed out” local government that the Tories have left us with, Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan, told delegates at UNISON’s local government conference.

The shadow secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities said: “We’re going to tilt the balance of power back to people like care workers, refuse workers and librarians. It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the only thing to do. We’ve written off the talent, potential and assets of most people in Britain for too long.”

As a judge in UNISON’s local champions awards, Ms Nandy praised the 900 nominees for managing to be warm, compassionate and hardworking “in a time of darkness”, while wondering how they were going to feed their own families. “I’ve watched in awe as you’ve spun gold out of thread every single day,” she said.

She said Labour was inspired by UNISON’s work on insourcing, bringing services back into local authority control. In January, Barnet council announced that it would bring 330 workers back into council employment thanks to a decade-long campaign by UNISON.

“We’ll work together see the biggest move to insourcing in a generation,” she promised.

She criticised the current government’s attitude to trade unions. “Last summer the government attempted to break strikes by bringing in agency workers. This is a shoddy and unserious government that doesn’t even have the respect for workers to bring them to the negotiating table. The problem isn’t militant workers – it’s a militant government.”

Ms Nandy added that Labour would achieve economic growth by raising living standards: “Every pound that goes into the pocket of a working person goes straight back into our economy, in contrast with the money that the rich are putting into offshore banks and tax avoidance schemes”

To applause from delegates, she added: “It’s our ambition to ensure a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”

The article Labour promises to rebuild local government first appeared on the UNISON National site.

A lasting legacy for Black workers

It is the duty of all union members to fight racism, delegates at UNISON’s local government conference in Liverpool were told yesterday.

Black workers in local government face multiple forms of discrimination, including bullying, racial harassment and a lack of opportunities for promotion.

An independent review found that 30% of those from a Black background reported witnessing or experiencing racial harassment or bullying from management in the last five years, while 29% of Black Caribbean employees felt that they had been overlooked for promotion because of their ethnicity.

To help tackle these issues, UNISON has declared 2023 the Year of Black Workers.

James Minto, of the union’s Black members committee, said: “We want to make this year a legacy for change.”

Proposing a motion on securing this legacy, Mr Minto called for the local government service group executive to take action including:

organising the recruitment of more Black workers;
supporting Black workers to become more active within the union and their workplaces;
supporting branches to work with employers to develop a strategy to reduce the pay gap between Black and other workers;
and developing a training plan to ensure that all activists within the service group receive training in race discrimination.

Delegates voted to support this motion.

Mr Minto also spoke about the impact of the Covid pandemic on Black people, including the disproportionate number of deaths. “The pandemic emphasised the structural inequalities faced by Black people,” he said.

April Ashley cited the example of Black traffic wardens in Camden, London, who as UNISON members have gone on strike three times to secure better pay. “We now have a high membership density among these traffic wardens. This kind of strike action can help secure the legacy of the Year of Black Workers,” she said.

The article A lasting legacy for Black workers first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Time to fight for a fair pay rise

Delegates at UNISON’s local government conference, which opened in Liverpool yesterday, were urged to vote yes to strike action in the union’s latest ballot, and to encourage other members to do so.

The National Joint Council, which covers council and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is calling for a pay increase of inflation plus 2%. The ballot ends on July 4.

Glen Williams, chair of the union’s local government service group executive (pictured), said: “It’s time to rage against inequality and rage against the hypocrisy of the Tory government. It’s time for us to refuse to be made poorer by this government.”

He cited the example of UNISON members in Scotland, who voted for strike action in a Scottish Joint Council ballot last year, after being offered an insulting 2% pay award. After the strike, the initial offer was increased by more than fourfold, an offer which members then accepted.

Delegates at the conference voted for a motion which aims to improve the coordination of pay claims within UNISON.

It calls on the service group executive to ensure that pay claims are submitted in good time so that members receive their pay increase on the settlement date; to call for a £15 an hour minimum wage and to conduct reviews of strike ballots where the 50% turnout threshold has been met in order to learn lessons for future ballots.

They also passed a separate motion calling on the executive to ensure best practise on beating the ballot thresholds.

As one speaker at the conference said: “The government wants public sector workers to pay for the cost of living crisis even though we didn’t cause it.

“Every single union activity needs to focus completely on beating the ballot thresholds. Let’s make the Tories regret they decided to start a fight on pay.”

The article Time to fight for a fair pay rise first appeared on the UNISON National site.