Pay claim and plan for action

  1. See reminder of claim below
  2. Employers expected to respond by end of July
  3. If the employer doesn’t meet our claim at the end of July Unison will:
    • Proceed to a full ballot for industrial action without the time-consuming indicative ballots first
    • Hold a ballot on a employer by employer basis (i.e. disaggregated) meaning that if our members in some branches reach the 50% threshold they can take strike action.
    • This means balloting could start in September (even end of August!)

Questions I raised:
• Would our reps be able to call our members this time, would we be able to text members, would we have more online webinars and meetings for all reps to build
• Why was the claim put in so late (i.e. in Scotland the put claim in January, why was our submitted after its implementation date)?
• Can we have data in each region of branches turnouts in 2021 pay ballot to learn the lessons from stronger branches

Responses and other points made:

  • An email has gone out to all branches to allow sign up for phone banking when campaign starts (see further post – members will need to do a 20 min online GDPR training)
  • Concerns about the wording of the national materials and that we need to be able to contact our members now not just when the ballot starts if we want to engage them early.

Actions for me and Northern region on pay:

  • Clarify turnouts in each branch in Northern region
  • Get in touch with branches to see what they need, if I can offer support etc
  • Propose a meeting in northern region in July on pay organising
  • Chase up request for phone banking tool to be available to update members records before pay ballot starts.

Download materials and graphics and order resources here

Letter sent to branch secretaries 12 July 2022

Dear Branch Secretary
NJC PAY 2022 : INDUSTRIAL ACTION BALLOT LIKELY TO GO AHEAD SOON
We are writing to update you on a decision taken by UNISON’s NJC Committee when they met last Friday.
As you will know, a pay offer is expected in late July, soon after the Employers’ Side meet on 25th July.
The Committee agreed that, assuming the offer made is not one it wishes to recommend that members accept, they want to move straight to an industrial action ballot as a matter of urgency, rather than first launching a consultation of members. The Committee also agreed that the ballot would be disaggregated, ie a separate ballot for each employer.
The NJC Committee will be making a formal request to the Industrial Action Committee to allow the move straight to an industrial action ballot and have sought an amended industrial action timetable. The NJC Committee are also looking into what other processes need to be completed in the light of this decision.
We will of course keep you updated as and when we have more information.
In the meantime we will need to start identifying any non-LA employers that should be included in the ballot and we will circulate information on this later today/tomorrow

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Bargaining group: Local Government NJC
Next pay settlement date: 1 April 2022
Update on pay negotiations:
The NJC pay claim for 2022 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland was submitted on 6 June. It calls for a substantial increase of either £2,000 or RPI (whichever is greater) on all spinal column points, from 1 April 2022.
The claim also includes a number of conditions elements:
• A Covid-19 recognition payment
• A national minimum agreement on homeworking policies for all councils and the introduction of a home working allowance
• An urgent review of all mileage rates currently applying
• A review and update of NJC terms for family leave and pay
• A review of term time only contracts and consideration of retainers
• Reduction in the working week (without loss of pay) to 35 hours (34 in London) plus one additional day of annual leave
The claim was publicised with a press release and range of social media activity. A webinar took place on 7 June to launch the campaign. Campaign resources include an ‘email your councillor’ tool, a PowerPoint presentation for briefing activists and members in virtual meetings, leaflets and posters, a model motion for councils in support of our pay claim, model pay claims for use in academies and private contractors, postcards to send to MPs calling on them to support proper funding for councils so that a decent pay rise is properly funded, a new campaign web page, and social media/website/email ‘we need more’ graphics for campaign communications.
The employers will consider our claim at regional briefings through June, and we expect an initial response to the claim in July.
While we will continue to push the employers and local authorities to make a good pay offer, we are also campaigning hard for government to make more money available for local authorities so as to fund a decent pay increase.
Preparations are also under way for a consultation of members on a final offer, and for a potential industrial action ballot. By the time the SGE meets in July, the NJC Committee will have met and considered a range of issues relating to the consultation and to what form an industrial action ballot would take, and any decisions will be reported to the SGE. Work is under way to ensure that phone banking can be used for both the consultation and the ballot, with as much notice as possible.