Salford is set for a further one day strike as three public sector unions – UNISON, GMB and Unite – announced today that over one million of their members are set to take further industrial action on Tuesday 14th October.
Local government workers have suffered three years of a pay freeze, followed by a below inflation pay deal and have now been offered a paltry 1%. They have seen their pay reduced in value by 20% since 2010.
Meanwhile, the recommendation for MPs is an 11% pay rise, Chief Executives of FTSE 100 companies averaged a pay rise of 15%, and the 104 billionaires in Britain saw their total wealth rise by £56b over last year.
Contrast their fortunes with those of street cleaners, home carers, refuse collectors, school teaching assistants, school dinner workers and more who work in the public sector – two thirds of whom earn less than £21,000 and have become on average £2,245 worse off since the ConDem Government came to power.
On a Salford picket line, during the previous one day strike on 10th July, Anne Farrow, UNISON Branch Chair, told the Salford Star of her personal hardships…
"I'm a single homeowner and inflation has gone up 20% and I literally have to take a calculator when I go to the supermarket so that I don't go over budget" she said "We need a pay rise because it is getting stark now…"
On that day, thousands of public sector workers in Salford, and over a million nationally, took strike action for a day but it seemed to have no affect. No further talks have taken place since that date, despite the unions offering to go to the Government's arbitration and conciliation service. Now the unions are set to escalate the action…
"Employers and Government must be left in no doubt that we are serious in this dispute" says UNISON's Head of Local Government, Heather Wakefield "As sister unions, we stand together to make sure that our members are treated with decency and respect. Our members cannot afford to carry on propping up local services through their pay packets. Many are low paid women who are being forced to resort to food banks and payday loan sharks just to survive. We need to put the heart back into local government by paying a living wage."
GMB National Secretary, Brian Strutton, explains: "Our members in GMB, UNISON and Unite expect us to maximise our joint effectiveness and that's why we are announcing the next strike together. Our members deserve a fair pay deal and we have to fight together to achieve that. Council leaders should reconsider their parsimonious pay offer and do the right thing by their staff."
And Unite's National Officer, Fiona Farmer, added: "Local government workers have had years of real pay cuts, working harder to deliver vital local services while being paid less and struggling to make ends meet. Low paid members unable to afford basis essentials are having to choose between heating and eating. On 1st October the National Minimum Wage will overtake local government pay scales, we need Fair Pay not Poverty Pay."
The one day national public sector workers strike on October 14th comes just days before a massive national TUC organised demonstration on 18th October calling for decent pay.
* See also previous Salford Star article from July 10th – Public Sector Strike Huge Success – click here
Photo by Steven Speed
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