Unison this week called a halt to strike action over the local government pay deal, despite members voting narrowly in favour of the action. A ballot of members came out in favour of a strike, with a 51.6% ‘yes' vote. But the union backed down – calling into question the system of balloting, and the threat the union holds over employers in the future. But Unison described the move as a ‘mature decision'. The union's head of local government, Heather Wakefield, told The MJ: ‘This is effectively our members' fourth consecutive annual pay cut, and they have decisively put the Government and local authority employers' into the Last Chance Saloon.' But she warned this was ‘the beginning, rather than the end of this'. The union vowed to come into the 2008 pay deal harder than ever. ‘Next year, we expect the employers to end their bargain-basement treatment of our members once and for all,' Ms Wakefield said. ‘(Prime minister) Gordon Brown has got to wake up and smell the coffee on this one. They are all too complacent.' Other unions have already accepted the 2.475% pay deal before Unison took the issue out to ballot. Turnout for the vote was just 24%, after problems with the postal dispute caused difficulties. However, the union denied this was a deciding factor. Ms Wakefield claimed successful campaigns had been run on lower turnouts. In an unusual moment of unity, the Local Government Employers praised the union's decision to reject the strike. Cllr Brian Baldwin, chair of the employers' negotiating team, described the move as ‘common sense'. ‘The decision by the Unison strike committee was both right and reasonable. There are many hundreds of thousands of Unison members who did not return ballot papers, and had no wish to conduct industrial action. ‘Council workers would now like to conclude this year's pay negotiations so that they can get their increase into their pay packets as quickly as possible.' Unison faces a raft of complex issues at the moment, including negotiating over single status and pensions. In addition, Gershon reviews across the country are leading to an increasing number of redundancies in local authorities. The tough talks on next year's pay deal could kick off as early as next month.
