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Public service union Unison has criticised plans by local government employers to end the right to go to arbitration if pay talks break down, writes Jonathan Pearce.

Unison said it would oppose any such proposals because they would undermine negotiations, and set the scene for a "big set-piece national dispute".

In a letter to council chief executives, the Employers’ Organisation for Local Government said it had decided to open negotiations with the unions in order to remove "the right for either side to refer a failure to agree to ACAS arbitration".

"Unilateral arbitration as it stands is making the negotiating process artificial and is unsustainable," says the letter. The employers organisation wants the framework for negotiations to be changed "so that either side may call upon ACAS to help in a dispute, but that neither side can force the other to arbitration against their will".

Unison – which represents 800,000 of the 1.3 million local government workers – has objected to the proposals.

"The arbitration clause in our national agreement has never been used," said Unison head of local government Malcolm Wing. "However, the threat that either party can refer a matter to arbitration concentrates minds."

The issue will be discussed at a meeting on 23 October, but the EOLG’s letter gives the employers’ perspective on the recently completed 2001 pay talks. The government decision to increase pay significantly in the NHS put the employers in "an awkward position", says the letter.

As a result, the Local Government Association has been asked to join the EOLG in lobbying the department for transport, local government and the regions "to avoid a repeat of this year’s situation … or at least to give us prior warning".

The EOLG also points to the increasing gap between local government pay levels and those in the private sector. "This is not the best platform for persuading the workforce to improve continuously," it says.