lambeth council

Lambeth libraries strike update

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UNISON members in Lambeth Libraries voted to take strike action due to start this week. 

During negotiations we made excellent progress so the UNISON strike in Lambeth Libraries has been suspended as management have conceded on all of UNISONs “red lines”.

The strike mandate remains live, and UNISON will not officially close the dispute until all agreements are in place.

UNISON launched a trade dispute following the announcement of a restructure in the service, at all members meetings the following red lines were agreed:
 

  • Upgrading lowest graded posts
  • No Compulsory Redundancies
  • Safe and adequate staffing levels across all Registrars, Libraries and Archives 
  • No reduction in working conditions for any staff

During consultation the Council agreed the upgrading of the General Assistants (Porters) and Library Assistants. A timetable has been set for review of pay for the next lowest paid staff in December 2025.

Posts have been reinstated into the structure to avoid redundancy and improve staffing levels. Management have given a commitment to fill vacancies from next week to improve chronic understaffing in the area. There are three staff awaiting interviews for matched posts on Friday and UNISON have committed to call new strike dates if any member of staff is potentially redundant following these.

The Council has maintained terms and conditions, including a last-minute agreement that no staff will be forced to change timetables, that any changes to working patterns can only be implemented with the agreement of the individual staff members.

It is unusual to see union victories against local government cuts, but it is also unusual to see live strike ballots against cuts in local government. The Lambeth Libraries dispute should motivate other groups of workers to fight back collectively against local government austerity.

UNISON Branch Secretary Simon Hannah said:

“We know this has only been possible because staff were determined to stick together and take collective action to protect their jobs and their workmates. Thank you to everyone who did work on reaching the ballot thresholds and preparing pickets. In addition, we have had fantastic support from the local community, with campaigners and Friends of Libraries groups out in the community and at Council meetings.”

Lambeth Unison and Local Government Pension Scheme Divestment over Palestine

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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.

Will your pay go up in 2024?

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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 and has been submitted to the Employers’ Side.

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 to contact your local MP about backing more funding for local government.

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?

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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.

Inner London pay offer as a percentage

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This is the pay offer of £2355 for inner London Council’s and what it looks like as a percentage of your current salary and the level of kind of pay cut based on RPI indexed inflation of 14.5% (July 2022)

Salary £PercentageCompared to inflation
(level of wage cut)		Grade
2241610.51– 3.99SCALE 1/2
2259910.42-4.26
2300410.24-4.26
2342110.06-4.44
238389.88-4.62 SCALE 3
242709.70-4.8
247059.53-4.97SCALE 4
251529.36-5.14
256019.20-5.3
260629.04-5.46
265328.88-5.62
270098.72-5.78SCALE 5
274978.56-5.94
279918.41-6.09
284958.26-6.24
290088.12-6.38
295307.97-6.53
300617.83-6.67SCALE 6
306047.70-6.8
311547.56-6.94
317157.43-7.07
322867.29-7.21
328667.17-7.33S.O.1
334587.04-7.46
340606.91-7.59
346706.79-7.71
352966.67-7.83
356816.60-7.9S.O.2
365786.44-8.06
372596.32-8.18
381476.17-8.33P.O.2
391156.02-8.48
401535.87-8.63
413435.70-8.8
423355.56-8.94
433555.43-9.07
443625.31-9.19P.O.4
453785.19-9.31
463925.08-9.42
473504.97-9.53
484004.87-9.63
494264.76-9.74P.O.6
504494.67-9.83
514444.58-9.92
524694.49-10.01
534894.40-10.1P.O.7
545124.32-10.18
555524.24-10.26
566394.16-10.34
577474.08-10.42
588494.00-10.5 P.O.8
599423.93-10.57
610383.86-10.64
621243.79-10.71
632333.72-10.78
643133.66-10.84P.O.9
654123.60-10.9
665263.54-10.96
675983.48-11.02P.O.9
687033.43-11.07

Five ways to help with the local government pay campaign

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Local government workers deserve higher pay! Here is how we can get this campaign started before any potential ballot for strike action.

1 Email your local councillor
Local councillors can voice their support for a pay rise for council and school staff directly with local government employers. Please email your councillor and convince them to use their influence to support the pay claim. We’ve created a ready to send email that you can send at the click of a button, just visit:
action.unison.org.uk/page/105299/action/

2 Ask your colleagues to join UNISON
We’re stronger together. Check if your colleagues are members of UNISON and if they aren’t, show them how they can join – it only takes 5 minutes: join.unison.org.uk

3 Make sure your details are up to date
Check MyUNISON to make sure that we have the right contact information for you, as you don’t want important information on this campaign to go to the wrong place. You may be balloted by post and if your address is wrong then you could lose your chance to vote!
Head to: http://www.unison.org.uk/my-unison

4 Follow us on social media
Check out our facebook and twitter profiles to have your say on pay and get all of the latest up to date information on this campaign.
facebook.com/LambethUNISON
twitter.com/LambethUNISON – remember to mention #WeNeedMore

5 Prepare for the consultation
Make sure you’re ready to have your say when we ask for your view on the final pay offer. Talk to colleagues and really think about the pay rise you need so you can make an informed decision on whether to accept the offer or not. We might be offered 4% – but with inflation at 11% do you want to accept what is in effect a 7% ay cut?