NJC PAY NEGOTIATIONS
Thursday, 22 March 2007The NJC met on 20 March 2007 and received an offer of 2% on basic pay. The employers are to send us a written response to all the items in our claim next week. The 'offer' amounts to an extra 12 pence per hour increase on Scale Point 6 - £4.45p per week.
The Trade Union Side rejected the offer as 'derisory' and an effective pay cut, making the following points:-
RPI is 4.6% as of today
CPI does not reflect the above-inflation increase in food, utility bills, Council tax and rent faced by our members.
The Treasury's Independent Economic Monitoring Group is forecasting average earnings' increases of 5.5% by the last quarter of 2007.
NJC pay is falling ever closer to the National Minimum Wage, which was meant to be a floor for the lowest paid, not skilled local government workers.
Local government has made £3 billion savings in the last year. None have been put back into pay, conditions, Single Status or training for our members.
Senior manager in local government have seen average pay increases of over 6% in the last year. There are equal pay and fairness issues in the widening gap between the top and bottom of local government pay rates.
The employers have failed to deliver on pay and grading reviews, new 'Best Value' guidance, training and workforce development plans and family friendly working guidance - all promised in the 2004-7 Agreement.
The Trade Union side said that it was not prepared to consult on the 2% offer. The employers accepted this, but said that they hoped a dialogue would begin.
The NJC Executive will now meet on 3 April to begin discussions. We have made it clear that we will not agree to the employers' wish for a review of the Green Book until we receive the full response to our claim and until we discuss outstanding items from the 2004-7 NJC Agreement.