Our members in local government and schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must be congratulated on their sustained pay campaign.
Their perseverance and resolve throughout tough negotiations – and a successful strike by the membership on 10 July – has led to a pay offer which has now been accepted. The two-year deal is worth around 2.35% on average and up to 9.6% for the lowest paid.
But the fight to end poverty pay among our local government and school support staff must go on.
Workers continue to struggle to make ends meet in the face of annual pay freezes, attacks on conditions and job cuts numbering half a million.
Many of our members are low paid women earning barely above the minimum wage, who care for our children, our elderly and the vulnerable and they deserve better treatment than they have had at the hands of this government.
It is a scandal that many must rely on in-work benefits despite being responsible for keeping vital services running.
We will continue to campaign for the living wage to become the minimum rate of pay in local government and schools, and for an increase for all other employees to reflect the invaluable work that our members do.
The local government employers and the government must realise that there is no place for poverty pay in local government.
