UNISON national secretary for local government Heather Wakefield has written to chancellor George Osborne in response to his call for the adult national minimum wage to be increased from £6.31 to £7 an hour.
UNISON believes that the national minimum wage should be increased to a level on which people can live and would support such an increase.
However, Ms Wakefield points out that Mr Osborne has also imposed a 1% pay limit on public sector pay. Workers on the bottom NJC rate would need an 8.5% increase to raise their pay from £6.45 to £7 an hour.
In her letter, Ms Wakefield asks the Chancellor to recognise that over 120,000 local government workers would need such an increase and asks him to make sure that funds are available.
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