Chesterfield council workers vote to strike after rejecting pay offer

The National Employers body, which sets pay deals for local authority employees, made a pay rise offer of £1,925 to run from April this year but after this was rejected by union members, Unite has announced plans for industrial strike action across England and Wales.

And Chesterfield Borough Council Unite members will be the first to strike over two days on Tuesday, August 29, and Wednesday, August 30, according to the council. Unite members at other local authorities in England and Wales also aim to strike during September.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “Council workers are on the frontline providing vital services to the communities they serve. It is simply unacceptable that workers have been forced onto the breadline due to years of real time pay cuts.

“Unite never takes a backward step in supporting its members and is dedicated to enhancing their jobs, pay and conditions. Unite will be providing its local authority members with its complete support.”

The announced strike action follows the outcome of a ballot of Unite staff on the national pay offer and, according to the council, the way in which local bonus pay calculations are made.

It will involve staff based at Chesterfield Borough Council’s Stonegravels Depot who work for the housing property services department carrying out repairs, maintenance and improvements to council tenants’ homes.

The council stated that it remains committed to negotiations with Unite to try and resolve the dispute and it is implementing contingency plans to limit the impact of the action.

Chesterfield Borough Council, like many local authorities, has struggled under financial pressures after the Covid-19 pandemic and during the current cost-of-living crisis with high inflation rates.

It recently announced budget shortfalls which currently stand at £2.5m for 2024/25, rising to an expected £3.4m in 2026/27.

The National Employers body offered a £1,925 pay increase to start from April 1 this year which equated to a 3.88per cent pay rise for employees on pay levels above the top end of the pay chart, according to the Local Government Association.

The LGA also claimed that if the offer was accepted, an employee on the bottom pay point in April 2021, earning £18,333, will have received a 22per cent increase of £4,033 over the two years to April 2023, and an employee at the mid-point of the pay chart will have received an increase over the same period of 13.99per cent or £3,850.

But Unite members voted to reject the pay offer and GMB and UNISON members also reportedly rejected the offer earlier this year.

Unite claims a survey of its members highlighted how pay freezes and below inflation pay deals have resulted in workers struggling to pay bills and meet living costs.

Chesterfield Borough Council stated it is putting in place contingency plans to limit the impact of planned industrial action after around 100 Unite members on its workforce announced strike action for August 29 and 30.

Councillor Gavin Baldauf-Good, cabinet member for customers and business transformation, said: “We are very disappointed that a section of the council’s workforce has voted in favour of strike action at a time when our tenants and residents are facing unprecedented cost of living challenges.

“The reasons behind the strike action are complex in relation to the way in which local bonus pay calculations are made but less so on the matter of the national pay offer. Unite has rejected at a national level the pay offer that local government employers have made to the three recognised trade unions representing the employee side for the financial year 2023/24.

“We remain committed to finding a resolution to the local dispute, but regrettably this has not been possible ahead of next week’s strike action. I apologise in advance for any inconvenience that the strike action may cause to the borough’s tenants and residents.

“Our immediate priority is to limit the impact of the strike action on our tenants and residents. Detailed contingency plans have therefore been put in place to ensure that we can maintain essential frontline services throughout the period of the two-day strike action.

“Emergency council house repairs and call-outs to elderly and vulnerable tenants will have to be prioritised over other services, and we would therefore ask our tenants to be patient pending the return to normal service delivery from Thursday morning.”

Chesterfield Borough Council tenants and residents can check the council’s website at www.chesterfield.gov.uk for the latest information about potential disruptions and what to do in an emergency.

Tenants can call also the council’s free hotline on 0800 587 5659 for urgent repairs during office hours and for an emergency outside of usual office hours on 01246 345041.

Enquiries about Chesterfield Borough Council services can also be made through its customer services team on 01246 345345.

In correspondence to union representatives, National Employers Secretary Naomi Cooke stated that the National Employers body is aware of the cost-of-living pressures which is why she believes the pay award should not be subject to delays.

She also said UNISON and Unite’s strike ballot results have been noted and National Employers body is urging the GMB to cancel its planned ballots.

Ms Cooke stated: “She added: “The National Employers believe their offer, which we again reaffirm as full and final, is fair in the current circumstances and we urge you all to now accept it so that all NJC (National Joint Council for Local Government Services) employees can finally receive the pay increase they have been waiting for since April.”

The English councils which secured a mandate for strike action include: Chesterfield, Bath and North East Somerset, Coventry, Cumberland, Darlington, Haringey, Ipswich, Newham, North Tyneside, Tower Hamlets, Truro, Sefton, Southwark, Warrington, Westminster and Wigan.