Regrouping on council pay

The April 2023 pay round in England and Wales local government is not yet settled. No increase has been paid, but the three unions are failing to coordinate. This makes the case for one workplace one union, as Workers’ Liberty has fought for. Immediately we need to build unity on the ground across all three unions.

After a ballot between 23 May and 4 July, Unison, the largest of the three unions, decided to take no action. 75% voted for industrial action to improve an offer of £1,925 (£2,352 for London members), but the ballot fell short of the Tory 50% turnout threshold in the overwhelming majority of councils and schools. Unison’s representatives on the National Joint Council rejected action in the councils and schools which beat the threshold, so in effect Unison proposed to the other two unions to close the 2023-4 dispute and move onto 2024-5 pay negotiations. Unite, the smallest of the three unions, ran a staggered ballot between 13 June and 28 July. It obtained some legal mandates and has started action in 23 councils. At the last minute GMB has decided to ballot some of its council and school workers on action (12 Sep to 24 Oct, five months after the due date). The disunity in balloting, let alone in action, can only confuse and disorient members. We do not know what the top-level talks and rows between the unions were.

Unison has rightly agreed to meet with Unite and GMB in late October to discuss next steps. Unison missed the opportunity to coordinate action with Unite in September in some areas, as some had proposed, and to build on the stronger branches to re-ballot and reach 50% more widely.

Even though one union for all local government workers looks some way off, this shows the need; we will push for cross-union links to discuss how to save this dispute and how to prevent similar next year.