Unions representing Nottingham City Council workers have described increases in parking charges for staff as an "opportunistic money-grab".
GMB and Unite the Union have criticised the council's decision to hike the Workplace Parking Charge (WPC) by 7.1 per cent.
The city council says it in line with the 'annual inflationary rise' of the Workplace Parking Levy (WPL), a fee Nottingham businesses pay for parking spaces in the city. For 2022/23 the WPL is £458 per space, up from £428 with the inflationary increase.
However, unions representing workers across the authority say the move, set to come into effect on April 1, was "outright unfair".
A spokesperson for GMB, one of the biggest unions for city council workers across all sectors, said the announcement was particularly untimely given the rising cost of living.
"Nottingham and the entire country is facing a cost of living crisis, and all employers should be doing their upmost to protect employees from the impact of this," they told Nottinghamshire Live.
"Local government workers have already faced a real terms pay cut this year and many Council employees will be facing sky rocketing energy and fuel costs.
"Parking price hikes for loyal staff, many of whom kept Nottingham running through the pandemic, is outright unfair."
Unite, another of regional and political officer Cheryl Pidgeon said: “Many council workers are already struggling as the cost of living rockets and wages stagnate and the increase in parking charges will make things worse.
This is an opportunistic money-grab by the council on its own workers and it needs to be reversed.”
The WPC, is a car park management scheme that charges staff and visitors to park on its premises, and varies based on the pay of the individual.
It was introduced in 2011 as part of a drive to encourage council staff to use public transport and modes of active travel, rather than driving to work.
Nottingham City Council said there would be no impact on local businesses as the WPC only applies to the council.
It will instead affect those council workers who chose to drive in and park at its sites. Current membership (up to December 2021) of the WPC is 67 people in the city-centre scheme and 804 in the neighbourhood scheme.
Councillor Rosemary Healy, Portfolio Holder for Transport at Nottingham City Council, said: “As a large employer in the city across a number of sites, it’s right that we pay our share of the Workplace Parking Levy (WPL). Employers with more than 10 spaces in their car parks choose whether they pay the WPL bill themselves, pass on to employees in full or, like the Council, ask staff to make a contribution.
“The Workplace Parking Charge has been in operation for more than a decade now and has been fully consulted on with unions throughout. Annual increases are in line with inflation like the overall WPL charge, which is set in law by Government.
“For staff on the lowest salaries, this will now equate to around £3 more a month to park in the city centre and just over £1.30 per month more in the neighbourhoods.
“The WPL has been a hugely positive thing for Nottingham and has helped make our public transport system one of the best in the country outside London. It’s paid for a major extension of the tram network, connecting areas in the south and west of the city, as well as improvements to our bus network and the refurbishment of Nottingham train station.”
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