Unison settle pay dispute but battle looms next year

Despite narrow backing for strike action, local government union Unison agreed to accept the employers’ latest offer despite serious misgivings. About one in five members voted in a postal ballot and there was a narrow margin in support of strike action. However, union leaders said that the margin was to narrow to sustain strike action.

Unison told government and councils that they would be seeking a better pay deal next year.

Heather Wakefield, head of local government at Unison, said: “Members have told employers that these critically important issues will not go away. This is effectively our members’ fourth consecutive annual pay cut and they have decisively put government and local authority employers into the last chance saloon.”

But there are already noises about next year. Read here for an analysis of local government pay