Trafford council is backing a pay claim on a par with inflation for its workers. The authority has resolved to support a pay claim submitted by Unison, GMB and Unite on behalf of council and school workers for an increase of £2,000 or the current retail price index (RPI) rate, whichever is greater.
Councillors are also supporting a bid for a 35-hour working week with no reduction in pay by the three unions' negotiating body, the National Joint Council (NJC). Proposing the motion of support, Councillor Tom Ross declared himself to be a Unison member.
"We are now in the 14th year of a pay crisis which has intensified over the last year as a result of a spike in the rate of inflation," he said. "Workers across the country are now being asked to bear the brunt of global price rises, particularly on energy and food having already borne the hardship as a result of the pandemic and the longest pay squeeze since the Napoleonic wars."
Coun Ross described Trafford council workers as "public service super-heroes". He went on: "Failure to keep up with the rising cost of living is having a significant impact on working people's daily lives and research shows that lower-income households are suffering most from rising prices."
Coun Ross said local government workers deserve a "real terms pay increase" and should not have to choose between food, heating and other essentials, particularly after so many kept communities safe during the pandemic. His motion was backed by the Green Party and the Liberal Democrat councillors, but the Conservatives abstained.
Coun Daniel Chalkin, deputy leader of the Conservative group, said they "fully appreciate and congratulate" staff for all the work over the past decade throughout a reduction of services "due to central Government cuts".
"We agree that they are public service heroes," he said. But he went on to say the Conservatives could not support something the council "could not possibly deliver on".
He said: "If you assume that 70 per cent of our workforce would have a nine per cent increase in salary - because that's the RPI at the moment - that relates to a £430,000 cost [per year]. Coun Chalkin also said he "took issue" with the NJC's demand for a 35-hour week.
"We'd all like to work less," he said. "But if you work less you will be paid less. It's not up to the Government or the taxpayer to fund someone who doesn't want to work as hard as someone else." However, council leader Andrew Western told Coun Chalkin that he had "no understanding" of the "unaffordability of the current crisis".
"We have members of staff in this local authority who are in tears in the corridors of this town hall not knowing how they are going to pay their bills," he said. "They don't know how they are going to feed their children. It's not their fault that inflation is rocketing or that the Government has lost its grip on its economic policy.
"It's not in their [the workers] gift to resolve that. There are very few people in this society who are able to withstand the doubling of their energy bills, rocketing fuel prices, record inflation, with food prices through the roof and absorb that into their household budget."
Coun Western also said that local authorities were "not necessarily low wage payers". He added: "The people I am talking about are not even necessarily the lowest paid staff."
The resolution, which also included writing to the Chancellor and Secretary of State to call for a pay increase for local government workers to be funded with new money from central Government, was passed.
READ MORE
- ITV The Chase star Anne Hegerty explains how she got nickname on show
- UK beachgoers issued warning over creature that makes 'grown adults cry'
- Helen Skelton shares update on kids as ex Richie Myler moves on with new girlfriend
- Brit couple found dead in swimming pool by horrified friends coming for dinner
- Sunday Brunch star Tim Lovejoy forced to change outfit as fans complain about guest's
