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

FAQ on the 2022 pay campaign

1 What is the pay claim?

Every year all the major unions in Local Government (UNISON, GMB, Unite) meet with the employers to submit a new wage claim. This happens at the National Joint Council (NJC) where unions meet with leaders of Local Government. Due to the cost of living crisis the unions submitted a pay claim for every worker in Local Government to get a minimum of £2000 pay increase or linked to RPI inflation (whichever is higher). 

2. Will the employers accept this?

It is unlikely that they will accept it, they might come back with an offer of 3%-5% for instance.

3. That sounds good? Better than what I have had recently!

If we accept an offer of 5% with inflation at 11% then that will be a 6% pay cut in real terms.

4. What did we get last year?

Last year we were offered 1.75% and we balloted for strike action but nationally the turn out was too low so we ended up having to accept it. The 1.75% ‘increase’ was wiped out by the rise in National Insurance Contributions so many people didn’t really get much of a pay rise at all, not even counting inflation.

This was on the back of a decade of real term pay cuts which has seen all local government workers lose around 25% of their pay in real terms.

5. So what is the next step?

We are waiting for the  employer to get back to us with their counter offer.  Once we get that the plan we are likely to move straight to a ballot on industrial action.

6. Tell me more about the strike ballot

This will be an official ballot for industrial action. It will be by post as that is required by law so you cannot vote online. If we are balloted then everyone must fill in their ballot and then return it before the deadline. We need to get at least a 50% turn out with a resounding yes vote to be able to take action in pursuit of our claim.

7. Will this be a national ballot?

This will be a disaggregated ballot, which means that it will be employer by employer. This means if we get a solid vote in Lambeth then we can take action alongside other branches that also met the threshold of a 50% turn out.

8. What if I don’t really want to strike though?

Once all the petitions have been handed in and all the emails to MPs have been sent and the negotiations with the employers have hit a brick wall, the only thing that they will listen to is workers fighting back with their ultimate weapon, to withdraw their labour. Every serious gain that we have made as workers, from the weekend to eight-hour days to sick pay to holiday entitlement has been from sticking together and fighting together. That is what a union is all about.

If we strike it will mean a fight to force an increase from the government – we will be taking action the same as the railyway workers, postal workers and others across the economy who simply cannot take it any more and need our pay to reflect the cost of living.

UNISON also has strike pay of £50 a day which you can claim if we do strike.

The more important question might be – can you afford not to strike? Will you settle for a 4% pay increase given the huge problems of inflation?

9. How can I help?

Update your details on http://www.unison.org.uk/my-unison to make sure your address is up to date.  If your postal ballot goes to the wrong place then that might mean you lose your ability to vote.

Recruit your workmates to UNISON, tell them about the pay campaign and what we are doing to help improve lives for workers.

Offer to help with ring rounds or workplace meetings – we need to speak to every member of the branch who is being balloted and make sure they have voted. This means we need volunteers to help call 5-10 people each and confirm they have voted so we can check them off the list.  Please contact Simon or Jocelyn (shannah@lambeth.gov.uk and jcruywagen@lambeth.gov.uk) to offer to help out.

Five ways to help with the local government pay campaign

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?