“The Conservative controlled council is at war with its workforce as they continue to make them pay for a crisis we did not create,” Southampton branch secretary Mike Tucker declared today after a ballot of members rejected the employers’ latest proposals to cut pay.
Under the revised pay-cut plans, council workers earning the full-time equivalent of up to £22,000 would not have received a pay cut, while those on higher grades would have received pay cuts of between 3.2% and 5%.
In addition, all staff would then be subject to a three-year pay freeze, including a two-year block on annual career increment increases, along with a reduction in car allowances of around 20%.
All three council unions who balloted on the offer saw rejections. UNISON’s vote was 389 to reject the offer, with 340 to accept; Unite members voted by 266-53 to reject, and the UCATT ballot saw 62.5% of members vote against the offer.
The council linked thee proposals to the unions agreeing to withdrawing a multi million pound law case against the council for failure to consult on the mass dismissals that took place in April.
The ballot votes will mean that the legal action against the council will continue.
The ballot also coincided with Conservative plans to privatise council services should they remain in power after next May’s local elections. There had been no consultation with unions on the plans.
Union stewards will be meeting in early December to consider what further action to take following the ballot results.
Mr Tucker commented: “Union members have again rejected the council’s wage cuts.
“The vote was influenced by the further 143 redundancies the Conservatives announced in October and the mass privatisation they announced in November.”
UNISON members have been in dispute with the council since spring, when it announced plans to sack and rehire the entire workforce on worse pay and conditions.
It carried out that threat in April.
Meanwhile, UNISON and UNITE members in Southampton will national day of action over attacks on their pension on 30 November.