06/08/2008
UNISON CALLS ON MPS TO SUPPORT

LOCAL GOVERNMENT STAFF

UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union, has today (6 August) written to MPs calling on them to lobby the Local Government Association (LGA) in a bid to bring the ongoing dispute with local government staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to a close. Local government workers including teaching assistants, social workers, librarians, refuse collectors, school meals assistants and environmental health officers have already staged a 48-hour walk out over a 2.45% pay offer. Further action has been suspended, pending talks with the employers scheduled for later this month. UNISON senior national officer for local government, Lucille Thirlby, said: “Over the last ten years, local government staff have become the poor relations of the public sector, with colleagues in comparable jobs elsewhere in the public sector overtaking them by thousands of pounds a year. “Local government social workers earn £3,329 less than their colleagues working in the NHS. It is not surprising that they top the list of recruitment difficulties. “If we allow this worrying trend to continue, we run the risk of sparking a recruitment and retention crisis elsewhere in local government. Our communities cannot afford to lose staff who provide essential services such as looking after children or teaching them to swim, cleaning our streets or keeping our libraries running smoothly.” In Scotland local government workers represented by UNISON, GMB and UNITE have voted to strike in a separate dispute. The first day of action is scheduled for 20 August.Notes to editors Local government staff can earn as little as £5.52 per hour and 57% earn less than £15,000 per year. According to the IDS Pay in the Public Services 2008 Survey a catering assistant in local government is paid £1,554 less per year than a catering assistant in the NHS. A home care assistant in local government is paid £1,789 less per year than a care assistant in the NHS. Since 2002, council reserves in England alone have doubled to more than £11 billion and since 2004, efficiency savings have exceeded £6 billion – twice as much as required by the Government.