27/06/08
Council strike looms
COUNCIL workers in Bournemouth are set to join a national two-day strike in protest against a below-inflation pay offer of 2.45 per cent.
Unison – Britain’s largest trade union – want a six per cent rise and are meeting today to ratify the decision that will see refuse collectors, dinner ladies and social workers amongst those to walk out on July 16 and 17.
Unison Bournemouth have around 1,800 members, but figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that Bournemouth Borough Council – the largest employer in the town – currently have 7,364 staff.
Branch secretary of Bournemouth Unison David Higgins said membership still accounted for a significant proportion of all council workers, but didn’t include teachers, for example, who may be represented by the NUT.
“The national president is interested in looking at the prospect of joining with other public service unions who feel the same way, to see if we can coordinate action,” he said, “so there is a possibility it could escalate.”
“The preferred outcome is that people will get paid the correct rate for the job,” he added, “at the moment, we just want to catch up to what we’ve lost over the last five years.
The council’s cabinet member for communities, Cllr David Smith, said: “I don’t think this administration and this Town Hall would ever support a strike by council workers.
“The vast majority of the spending of this council is on salaries and so it will cause untold damage if we have to give a six per cent pay rise.”