Council rule out possibility of pay rise for staff
Salford Council has budgeted for 0% pay increases this year. On the surface this is understandable – the national pay offer from the Local Government Employers is 0%. However, negotiations are not yet complete between unions and the Employers’ organisation. This headline says it all:
“Council employers looked set for another explosive showdown with the unions this week after refusing to offer workers any pay rise this year.”
http://www.lgcplus.com/finance/latest-finance-and-partnership-news/clash-looms-after-pay-freeze-offer/5010605.article
Effectively, what the council have done is say that no matter what figure the national pay negotiations end up at they are setting pay at 0% (a real-terms cut in pay). So if the national picture is that councils end up offering a 1.5% pay rise – Salford will ignore it. Ignoring national negations and ploughing their own furrow may make for a pretty restless workforce. Mind you, the council did make manage to save £400,000 in staff pay last year thanks to industrial action – perhaps they see upsetting the staff as a way of saving more cash this year too?