UNISON’s National Executive Council runs our union and determines the kind of union we are and can become. It is made up of 68 UNISON members just like you! NEC elections this year are hugely important to determine whether UNISON succeeds and wins for you at work and on pay.
Take action!
Lambeth Assembly – building a better borough 12 April
Local trade unionists and residents have called a meeting on 12th April to coordinate campaigns against the huge cuts going through Lambeth but also discuss building our vision of a better borough.
Lambeth Council has announced “the worst financial crisis Lambeth has faced”. The Labour Party won the election telling us “no return to austerity” but our services are getting worse not better.
The Council is facing £99 million in cuts. Government housing policy has driven soaring costs of temporary accommodation, this combined with long term underfunding leave councils at breaking point. The proposals include job losses, closing children’s centres, cuts to Early Intervention and Prevention, youth and play services, cuts to adult day centres, and losing £1million from local libraries. (25% of the budget)
Now disability benefits are being slashed to promote ‘growth’. Join us to demand Lambeth Council and the Labour Government improve local services:
• Rebuild public services • Restore real wages and benefits • Tax the rich!
Saturday 12th April
11am – 4pm
St Matthews Tenants Hall, SW2 1ND
Join local trade unionists, residents, climate campaigners and anti-war activists alongside others to build the campaign against local cuts and for a better borough based on fully funded local services, care for the environment and anti racism. Get tickets from Eventbrite here
SPEAKERS TO BE CONFIRMED
Co-sponsored by Lambeth UNISON
Fighting cuts at Lambeth Council in 2025
What we are doing around the cuts at Lambeth Council
Continue readingMotion to Lambeth UNISON December branch committee 2024 on fighting the cuts
This motion was passed at our December branch committee meeting
Continue readingLambeth Unison and Local Government Pension Scheme Divestment over Palestine
This motion was passed at our Branch Committee in September 2024
Members of this branch:
● Continue to express our horror and outrage at the Israeli state’s genocidal assault on the Gazan people, intensifying Israel’s barbaric colonisation of Palestine since 1948
● Condemn unequivocally the support given to Israel by the UK government and by the Labour Party leadership;
● Declare our determination to provide practical solidarity with Palestine.
Members of this branch
● Note that £10.4 million of our pension fund is invested in companies that support Israel’s apartheid regime and its genocidal actions, including many companies that supply weapons and military surveillance technology to Israel
● Reject entirely a situation in which our pension fund is being used to finance a genocide, alongside the ongoing colonisation of historic Palestine, especially the West Bank;’
● Note that the union’s national policy on Palestine supports a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel
Members of this branch further resolve, in line with branch policy, to:
● Campaign for BDS in solidarity with Palestine
● Demand that the Council divest itself of all investments in companies linked to Israel, either directly or indirectly through banks and investment funds;
● Call upon other unions whose members have LGPS pensions members to support this demand and to campaign with us for divestment
● Insist upon a meeting with the Council to put forward our demands
● Call for a branch campaign and meeting to support maximum attendance at a lobby of the Pensions Committee meeting happening on the 9th October.
Council and School Pay campaign 2024
Local government staff keep communities safe, clean and accessible, often for little to no recognition.
Within our 2024 claim, we asked the employers for a pay increase of £3,000 or 10%, whichever was greater. The offer of £1,290 falls far short of this. (The local government employers have made an offer of a flat rate increase of £1,575 for workers in the inner London area and £1,491 for workers in outer London.)
Following a consultation of member, our NJC committee, made up of leading activists, decided that we would proceed with an industrial action ballot.
The ballot opens on Wednesday 4 September and closes at 10:00 on Wednesday 16 October.
Voting for, and taking, industrial action will send a clear message to employers that you need a better pay rise.
We will continue to every means possible to make the employers improve their offer. Read our latest joint union letter to the employers here.
Industrial action FAQs can be found below.
Find out how the offer stacks up against our claim using our pay calculator.
Will your pay go up in 2024?
Every year the joint trade union side for local governmemnt, UNISON, GMB and Unite, negotiate over pay. Below are details of the joint pay claim for local government workers in 2024-5
Pay Claim 2024-5
Local government pay has fallen back into bargain basement territory. We are some of the lowest paid workers in the public sector.
We have lost 25% of our pay in real terms since 2010.
More and more of us are struggling to make ends meet and falling into debt.
This year UNISON alongside the other unions has proposed the following:
A pay rise of £3,000 or 10% (whichever is greater) for all local government & school workers
The full claim is available on our Pay Campaign Website 2024
Gearing up for the pay campaign!
The Employers Side will be consulting councils on the pay claim throughout March 2024, before meeting initially in April and then again in May 2024 to consider their response. It is crucial that we maximize political pressure on council and school employers during this period. We need everyone to make it absolutely clear to national and local government employers why a fair and decent pay rise is so vital.
Please use this Local Goverment funding campaign website
This is a political fight to get central government to properly fund the public sector. The money is out there but they are prioritising ‘vote winning’ tax cuts over providing the services that people rely on.
Make sure your data is up to date
In case you are balloted for strike action over the pay claim we need to make sure your address is up to date. Please check your current details with us at My UNISON – Login Page.
Lambeth UNISON leads the way
During last years pay campaign Lambeth UNISON got the highest turn out in the country and an amazing 89% yes vote for strike action. This year local government branches up and down the country are looking to us because we are a flagship branch made up of trade unionists who want to fight for a decent standard of living and better pay.
If there are new people in your team then get the to join UNISON today join.unison.org.uk!
If we do get balloted for strike action over the pay claim we will expect every member to vote and have their say. Without a decent fight our pay will continue to decline and the crisis in local government will only get worse – that means engaged and active members across the union.
Why are we being balloted for strike action?
Since 2010 the Conservative government has slashed funding for local government, including keeping our wages down. This means in the last 13 years we have lost around 25% of our pay in real terms. Essentially we are all working a day for free.
Despite Sunak’s promise to halve inflation by the summer, inflation is still sky high. Food and energy bills in particular are much higher than they were two years ago, with no sign of the prices reducing.
If pay had kept up with inflation (not even a pay rise just keeping up with inflation) we would all be on much better wages.
Last year Local Government workers were offered a flat rate increase of £1925 (£2355 in inner London). Well below inflation for every member of staff.
Although Lambeth UNISON members rejected this pay offer as being yet another real terms pay cut, UNISON members nationally voted to accept it.
This year the joint trade unions that negotiate wages for local government (UNISON, GMB and Unite) put forward a 12.6% pay increase for all staff. This was rejected by the employers, instead we were offered the same amount as last year (£1925/£2355). UNISON representatives rejected this outright and moved to a strike vote.
This is now a fight. It is a fight for not just decent pay but also the future of local government, of public services in general. The money is out there to provide decent, well funded public services like health, education and social care, as well as invest in new modern social housing. But the Conservative government don’t want to properly tax the super rich or the corporations that are making huge profits. The four major super markets made £4bn profit last year. The oil companies are making millions of pounds profit a week. There are 3 million millionaries in the UK, and 177 billionaies with a combined wealth of £600bn (this increased by 150bn in the last two years alone).
We need every UNISON member to vote. UNISON is recommending a YES vote for industrial action. A vote for action is a vote for dignity at work, for a future for the public sector. It is a vote to say that we are not going to take it any more and we will resist and fight to defend our standard of living, for ourselves, out families and our communities.
Whether you work in social care, libraries, parks, crematoriums, leisure centres, housing, ICT, HR, civil planning, education, community safety or any of the other hundreds of crucial jobs that local government workers do – this is your fight. Together we can win.
The UNISON ballot is from 23 May until 3 July. It is a postal ballot. If you do not get your ballot papers or you lose them call UNISON Direct to order a new one 0800 0 857857.
New members who join before 21 June will be eligible to vote.
If there is a YES vote for industrial action then you will be expected to take strike action, that means no crossing picket lines and no working from home.
Any questions please contact your UNISON rep, convenor or branch officer.
Win the ballot: Fight for Pay meeting
Dear Colleague
This is an invitation for you to join thousands of other London council UNISON members at this meeting on Pay!
A groundbreaking event is taking place on Tuesday 21 March 6.30-7.30 pm when UNISON members from other London councils will be signing up for the first ever London Wide UNISON council & school workers meeting.
Barnet UNISON Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86358706964?pwd=aFQyZmFsVXVqL2tNTk02dTlQd2pFZz09
Meeting ID: 863 5870 6964
Passcode: 869860
The Cost-of-Living Crisis is unrelenting, and more and more workers are under pressure to keep up with increases in costs such as Food, Heating, Rent, Mortgages, Child Care, etc.
Council and Schools workers’ pay has fallen so low over the last 13 years that everyone is now working at least ONE day a week for free.
At the same time energy companies are announcing massive levels of profits whilst many of our members are afraid to turn on the heating.
UNISON Council and School workers now have the opportunity to add their voice to the hundreds of thousands of other trade union members who have already taken strike action over the issue of low pay such as: Transport workers, Royal Mail workers, BT workers, Teachers, Junior Doctors, Train drivers, Cleaners, Teachers, College workers, Border Control workers, Civil Servants, Barristers.
All these trade union members managed to deliver a BIG YES vote in their strike ballot.
In London we need to send a message about the hardship of living on low pay in London. To do that we need to organise across London councils in order for our members’ voices to be heard loud and clear in Parliament.
When is the Strike Ballot to start?
The strike ballot papers will start being sent out to members home addresses from 23 May to 4 July.
What can members do?
It is important that all UNISON members’ email Lambeth UNISON branch at jablake@lambeth.gov.uk with their correct postal address and contact details including their telephone/ mobile number and email address.
It is critical to the success of the strike ballot that Lambeth UNISON has the correct details and has your permission to contact you about the strike ballot.
Phone banking.
We know from other trade unions the importance of speaking to members about voting and sending back the ballot papers. We are looking for help to be on the Lambeth UNISON phone bank. If you would like to volunteer, please email us at shannah@lambeth.gov.uk
Lambeth Solidarity – campaign launch
Join Lambeth trade unions to build a fightback against the cost of living crisis.
Continue reading
Lambeth UNISON 