Running time: 3 mins 37 secs
One thousand craft workers across five local councils are striking to stop the erosion of their pay, terms and conditions – with more councils set to join them if the Local Government Association (LGA) continue to refuse to talk to UNITE the Union.
As well as offering a derisory 3.2% pay “rise”, the LGA want to destroy pay grades set in the Red Book agreement and bring in job evaluation instead – which has led to other council workers losing thousands of pounds in pay.
They also want to take apprentices out of the agreement and pay them less, at a time when there is already a drastic shortage.
However the strike is already having a huge effect. As workers demonstrated in front of LGA annual conference in Bournemouth, the LGA leader for the Labour group finally requested talks to end the dispute.
But the LGA should be clear: if talks don’t materialise, or are not fruitful, this strike will escalate.
