Date Tuesday 24th October 2006

UNISON calls for rejection of Glasgow's pay review

Glasgow City Branch UNISON is urging its members to reject the outcome of the City Council's Pay & Benefits Review in a ballot of its 13,000 members.

As Glasgow City Council gets set to impose new pay grades for low to middle graded staff UNISON has described the Council's Review as half finished, oversimplified and leaving many low paid staff facing substantial pay cuts.

UNISON Branch Secretary David O'Connor commented: "Glasgow's Pay & Benefits Review will leave many of our low paid staff facing pay cuts of a scale which makes real financial hardship inevitable.

"While some staff will see increases which are long overdue we have other staff who are low paid now, who will still be low-paid and who are facing substantial pay cuts. We have examples of members who stand to lose up to 35% of their pay.

"The pay cuts are of such a scale that the Council's suggested scheme of protection is unworkable and the Council leader's claim that "no-one will lose a penny" is no longer sustainable. The Council propose to re-train and re-skill staff but with the extent of some of the losses there is no way staff will be able to recover.

"From day one, staff whose posts have been downgraded will lose cost of living increases. The pay cuts will take effect from March 2009 and, given the scale of cuts, we can see there being no way all staff can make up the losses."

UNISON has also highlighting the fact that the Council is attempting to introduce new pay grades while the Review remains unfinished. While the Council claims to have completed the exercise it is refusing to issue information about grades at the upper levels in the new scheme, Grades 8 - 10 and the Leadership level, until after lower and middle graded staff are supposed to have accepted their new pay grades.

David O'Connor continued "Firstly The Council claims this is an 'open and transparent process'. How can that be when they are withholding a crucial part of the information necessary to complete the comparisons which are fundamental to the job evaluation exercise? Secondly, the Council's offer to implement pay increases by December 2006 for those lower to middle graded staff who will gain is being seen as nothing short of bribery and an attempt to split staff. This is a tactic which the Council used last year to give compensation payments to low-paid female staff which fell well short of full entitlement."

UNISON is appalled that the Council has failed to negotiate meaningfully with the trade unions over this Review. The basis of the new Pay and Grading structure which the Council now intends to impose is the job evaluation exercise which should determine the relative values of all Council jobs.

If the Review is complete, as they claim, the new pay and grading structure, up to and including the Leadership level, should be issued to the trade unions.

UNISON has notified the Council of its intention to run a ballot for Industrial Action. The ballot will run from 30th October to 17th November 2006.

ENDS

For further information contact Branch Secretary David O'Connor, UNISON Glasgow City Branch 0141 552 7069 or mobile 07881913153

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