Second local government union to ballot members on strike action

A second trade union has announced plans to ballot local government workers on potential strike action over pay.

Unite said its members had voted by a 90% margin in a consultative ballot to reject the 2014/15 pay offer. A ballot on strike action will open in June.

The move follows Unison’s announcement last week that it would ballot 600,000 local government and school staff.

Unite, which has 70,000 members in the sector, said it would coordinate its ballots and any industrial action with other local government unions.

Fiona Farmer, Unite national officer for local government, said: “Our members have decisively rejected the insulting pay offer of 1% and sends a very strong message to local government employers that they need to increase their offer. 

“Local government staff have been the whipping boys for the coalition’s austerity policies for the last four years, and, as a consequence, services used by some of the most vulnerable in society have been viciously pruned back.”

She added: “Our members have been experiencing a continuous pay cut in real terms, given that the current RPI rate of inflation is running at 2.5%. Take home pay has been reduced by almost 20% since the coalition came to power. 

“Poverty pay is becoming endemic across local councils and we are seeking a £1 an hour increase across the board for local government workers.”