28th July 2008
LABOUR CANDIDATE SUPPORTS COUNCIL WORKERS' CAMPAIGN FOR FAIR PAY
Thousands of council workers in Clwyd West took strike action last week, joining half a million nationwide, as they are being offered another pay cut.
“I fully support members of Unison and Unite, who feel they have run out of options”, said Donna Hutton, Labour’s local Parliamentary candidate. “They are being offered a pay rise of just 2.45%”, she continued, “Take inflation into account and it's a pay CUT. Coming on top of 10 years below-inflation pay rises, it's no wonder they think this is the last straw. That's why they went on strike on 16 and 17 July”.
“No-one wants to go on strike. Many council workers members are low-paid, part-time women workers, struggling to pay the bills - losing two days pay for strike action is not something they do lightly. They went on strike because the employers would not even consider talking to them about a better offer”, said Mrs Hutton.
Services provided by Unison and Unite members are essential to our communities, and shutting them down for two days caused disruption, for which the unions have said they are genuinely sorry. But they say they just cannot afford another pay cut.
Mrs Hutton said, “Unless council workers get a fair settlement on pay, local communities will suffer too. Services will simply get worse as councils continue to lose committed staff and struggle to find new employees prepared to work for such low pay. We empty our bins, clean our schools, conduct our marriages and civil partnerships, care for our parks, check the safety of our food and look after our children in nurseries, schools and in care. And so much more. In exchange, all they are asking for is our support for a fair pay settlement.”
“And councils will not have to put up council tax nor go to the government for extra money to settle this dispute”, claimed Mrs Hutton. “Unison has found that English councils have £3 billion in the bank not earmarked for anything and Welsh councils have over £143 million unallocated.”
Mrs Hutton said the secret billions have been put there largely due to the hard work of low-paid Unison and Unite members delivering "efficiency savings" year on year and, should be used by the employers to settle this potentially damaging dispute.
“As a result of the recent action”, Mrs Hutton concluded, “I am pleased to say that contact between UNISON, Unite and the Local Government Employers have paved the way for talks, scheduled to start on 13 August.”
ENDS.
SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The cost of living:
- Mortgages up 8%
- Petrol up 22%
- Bread up 9%
- Milk up 17%
- Fuel bills up 15%
- Inflation up 4.3%
Massive and increasing council reserves:
- English councils have £11 billion in the bank, of which more than £3 billion is not earmarked for anything.
- Welsh councils have £372,866,000 in the bank, of which £143,113,000 is unallocated.
- Non-school reserves in English councils doubled from £5,488,000,000 in 2002 to £11,587,000,000 in April 2007. Of that £3,127,000,000 is unallocated.
- Reserves in Welsh council increased from £278,189,000 in 2005 to £372,866,000 in 2007 of which £143,113,000 is not earmarked for anything.