Debate on Local Government Pay dispute

Today during the meeting of UNISON National Executive Committee there was a wide ranging discussion on the recent dispute on Local Government pay. For some reason I was reminded of this lovely song. I have updated some of the words in honour of the occasion.

"You say defeatist, I say realist; 

You say sell out, I say fantasist; 

You say betrayal, I say strike chasers; 

conspiracy ,delusion, naivety; 

Let's call the whole thing off...".

Some good news is that I am going to be the special guest of Lambeth branch at the Special Local Government conference which will held next year. Hopefully I can speak on their behalf about future strike winning tactics.  

Scottish Local Government Strike: Labour “Don’t desert local gov workers”

Good luck to the UNISON, Unite and GMB members out on a one day strike today in Scotland over a below inflation pay offer (2.5%).

Check out the UNISON Scotland blog and the list of events on the main site.

This is what UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, had to say on the national issue regarding pay for all Local Government workers at the Labour Party conference today (Tuesday).

"We really do need you to treat our local government workers with dignity, respect and fairness," he said, urging communities and local government secretary Hazel Blears to step in and increase the "insulting" pay offer that had pushed workers throughout the UK into taking strike action.

"Hazel, you have to intervene. Don't prevaricate. You've got to get this mess sorted out. "Pay them fairly and they will vote for you in the next election."

Mr Prentis said local government workers should be celebrated, paying tribute to them as the hidden heroes of our society."Dinner ladies, street cleaners, social workers, bin men, home carers, meals on wheels; caring for our sick and our elderly and our children; picking up the pieces, often behind the scenes – all extraordinary people who I am proud and privileged to represent.

"Yet, he chided ministers, those same workers are bearing the brunt of an "unfair and unjust" pay policy based on the myth that public service pay causes inflation.If the government really wants to tackle inflation, it must tackle the obscene bonuses of boardroom bosses, Mr Prentis said.

It must curb the huge price hikes in fuel bills and tackle the greedy energy companies "making millions of pounds on the backs of our members … the working poor who are taking the hit, paying the price for years of deregulation."

If Labour is the party of fairness, he said, it must show it. "Now is the time for action against low pay. Now is the time to show our people that Labour is on their side, that we are the party of fairness, that when times get tough – unlike the Tories – we’ll be right there."

The Tories look after their own. Let Labour look after ours."

I think that if the Government is really concerned about fairness (and I think it is) then it must not repeat the mistake of the 10p tax rate debacle. It needs to find a way out of the public sector pay hole they have dug themselves into.

This is not simply about naked self interest (being subject to NJC – local government terms - I do declare an interest), Labour has got my vote and support anyway. There is simply no alternative for working people in this country other than the Labour Party. Never has been and in all probability, never will be.

But what will be crucial in May 2010 will be rallying enough traditional Labour voters out on the day to vote. It’s no use the Party thinking that traditional supporters will vote for them anyway since the alternative is the Tories. In these days of nice and cuddly “Dave” Cameron that just will not wash anymore.

Now the Party still has to attract other voters and I am sure that once an election is called people will blink before actually putting their cross on the ballot paper for Cameron. But the core Labour vote will count.

We don’t want to nationalise the commanding heights of the economy (well, I don’t anyway). We just want a Fair deal for our members so we can remind them of all the many great things that the Labour government have done for working people during the last 11 years and the disaster facing them if the Tories get in.

Strike in Scotland for Fair Pay

UNISONTV have posted this clip about the Scottish Local Government Strike last week over pay. In Scotland the employers have offered a below inflation rate of 2.5%. After the Strike the employers have called for further talks.

The Scottish pay offer is (a whole) 0.05% more than the rest of the UK and is also tied into a 3 year deal.

In Scotland all 3 Local government unions (UNISON, Unite and GMB) struck which I am sure made a difference to the overall impact.

"What a Show of Solidarity!" Local Government Strike

From UNISON wesite

Dave Prentis, UNISON's general secretary

"What a show of solidarity! From Cornwall to Northumberland; Norwich to Derry; Cardiff to Tyneside and all points in between – UNISON local government members in England, Northern Ireland and Wales have taken strike action, calling for fair pay.

It’s never an easy decision to go on strike. Our members aren’t militants – they work hard every day to provide the services our communities rely on.

But this week, some 600,000 UNISON members have made their feelings clear. £2.45 per cent pay offer is not enough. With inflation rising rapidly, our members – many of them low paid women with families to support – simply can’t make ends meet.

Don't believe the employers when they say that they cannot afford to pay any more. They are sitting on £11bn in bank accounts, £3bn of which is unallocated.

That means they could afford to pay a decent increase without going to the government with a begging bowl, without putting up council tax and without affecting jobs and services.UNISON members are providing front-line services and it is their hard work that has led to these huge cash reserves being built up.

The way to settle this potentially damaging dispute is for the employers to get back round the negotiating table and treat our members decently".

London UNISON Regional Committee: The Health Brigade & the Forgotten Brigade

This morning was the quarterly meeting of the lay regional committee in central London. I was there in my capacity as regional finance convener and had to present the finance report.

Main picture is of the new banner for the UNISON Health Brigade (dedicated to the memory of John Kelly Chandler). On the left is Bromley Health branch secretary, Micky Crouch, and on right Deputy regional convener, Conroy Lawrence.

There were a number of important items on the agenda. However, I will concentrate on just two issues. The first was the prospect of national strike action over the 2008 local government pay offer. Recently there was a consultative ballot of the “final” offer by the employers of a below inflation and average earnings offer of 2.45% (3.3% for the most low paid). This is a sensitive issue and it is possible that we may have strike action in the near future. So, I will just say that sometime soon I will post some ideas on the future direction of the union with regard to such industrial action. We need to have a Plan B.

The second issue was the likelihood of the Labour Government and Labour Councils being re-elected in the next election. While I am largely indifferent to declared Trotskyite revolutionaries banging on about the ‘orrible quasi-fascist Labour government and how it deserves defeat.

I was somewhat “fed up” (to say the least) to hear a Labour Party member and UNISON NEC member openly rejoicing and gloating at the prospect of a Labour Party defeat at the next election (on the lines of “I told them so”) and looking “forward” to the prospect of rowing with a future Conservative government. He claimed that Labour had done “practically nothing” for working people while in power. Thankfully, apart from a couple of sneering acolytes, most were shocked at this out burst even if they were very critical of Labour.

Now, apart from the fact that this analysis is simply wrong and there is nothing inevitable about the prospect of a Tory victory and it is certainly nothing to celebrate. I think that such comments expose the banality of the extremist left with the Party. They would rather be in opposition than compromise “their politics”.

What is wrong with these people? Don’t they understand the difference that Labour has made to poor pensioners whose lives have been transformed by pension credits? How the minimum wage has put money in the pockets of the lowest paid. The huge amounts of money poured into Schools and hospitals. Yes, the government has made mistakes; yes they have not always been as bold and brave as we would have wanted. Yes, you have the right to criticise the government and work for change.

However, to dismiss everything that the Labour government has done and seemingly welcome future decades of divisive Tory misrule in council, assembly and government is simply and completely unforgivable.