The battle over council workers' pay could be resolved this week, when both sides meet to negotiate a deal. LGA insiders say they are hopeful a strike by frontline workers can be avoided and a deal agreed. Ahead of the talks with the employers, which resumed this week, union leaders stepped up their campaign against the local government employers' 2.2% pay offer, and pressed ahead with their own claim for a 6% increase or 50p an hour – whichever is the greater. Unison, GMB and Unite also joined forces to lobby MPs in support of a minimum hourly rate of £6.50 before the meeting of the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. The unions briefed MPs to outline their case, stressing that pay increases had fallen below inflation since 2004, and dismissed claims that they added to inflation. Unison also published a series of ‘pay stories from the frontline' to highlight the impact of rising costs on members and its head of local government, Heather Wakefield. An LGA source told The MJ: ‘We believe a deal can be reached quickly, particularly given the background of the tough spending settlement.'