“The 2014 pay claim starts here!” UNISON’s local government conference in Liverpool declared this afternoon.
Delegates were debating pay after a consultation of members saw a reluctant acceptance of a 1% pay offer for 2013 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, consultation on the Scottish local government offer means the union will start balloting on potential industrial action on 3 July.
Before the debate, national secretary Heather Wakefield gave an overview of bargaining across the various sectors represented at the conference.
She pointed out that far from the “another day, another dollar” saying of her youth, for local government workers, their colleagues in further education, free schools, the Food Standards Agency, Care Quality Commission and others, it hadn’t even been a case of “another year, another dollar” as pay was frozen over three years.
And she cited TUC research that real pay had fallen by £52bn for workers across the economy, while profits were at a record high and companies were sitting on £109bn.
Referring to the pay consultation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, she told delegates: “We will have to work hard to convince members that we, UNISON, can turn things around – it will require the total attention of this union.”
She set out the need for a year of campaigning with members and non members, in a political campaign, to make the case against austerity and for a decent pay rise in 2014.
“I don’t believe it will be easy,” she said, “but I do believe we can do it.”
Delegates agreed on the need to fight and campaign in the impassioned debate that followed.
As Linda Jones from the North West region put it: “This is the very core of why we exist. No more mañana: our fight for pay starts today.”
The pay freeze suffered by members since 2010 is “unfair, unjust and downright unacceptable,” added Deirdre Costigan of the national LGBT committee.
And the reason for that is clear, as Joan Pritchard Jones of Bolton pointed out: “We’ve got members who have had to go to food banks because they can’t afford to live.”
Conference agreed a clear campaign plan leading up to the 2014 pay round for decent pay, including lawful industrial action if necessary.
And Edwin Jeffries of the service group pledged: “We will be together, we will campaign together; we will be united.”
