While local government workers are being urged to strike over pay, their colleagues in the NHS have voted to accept a government pay deal. Health worker members of public sector union Unison have accepted a three-year pay offer worth 8.1%. Unison head of health Karen Jennings said: ‘The 2.75% on offer this year is the best in the public sector and the three-year deal offers stability.' The union has, however, negotiated a reopening clause which it will trigger if inflation continues to rise. Local government Unison members are currently being balloted over industrial action this summer after they rejected a government pay offer of 2.45%. Unison is urging its member to vote ‘yes' for strike action and has set up a hotline for those who have not yet received their ballot papers. And in Scotland, members of the country's biggest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, have voted to allow ballots for industrial action in local authorities where schools are facing cuts in staffing and finance.
