Wiltshire parking wardens to strike ahead of Christmas
Trade union warns shoppers will choose to park for free
The GMB union has warned of "Christmas chaos" as it announces that council parking wardens in Wiltshire are getting ready to strike for a whole week in December.
The union for local government workers says dozens of parking wardens across Wiltshire will be taking further strike action to protest the council’s decision to remove a contractual unsocial hours payment.
It follows proposed changes to allowances paid to staff who undertake standby, call-out and who work during unsocial hours.
Union members have previously taken two days of strike action in May, before plans were shelved by council bosses, only to have the proposals put forward once again in August.
Staff raised concerns about the proposed changes which resulted in the council setting up a working group with unions and representatives from across council services, the result of which was that changes were made to original proposals and the council offered a four year pay protection arrangement for existing staff.
In October, two recognised unions (UNISON and Unite the Union) accepted the new proposals, however the GMB Union has rejected them.
GMB argues that if pushed through, those proposals would result in traffic wardens losing around £2,000 per year.
Keith Roberts, GMB Regional Organiser, said:
“GMB members already took two days of strike action, because they cannot afford a pay cut.
“In the current cost of living crisis, actually taking money away from staff is crazy, and even the suggestion of a future pay cut has caused a crisis of retention and recruitment.
“The way forward is clear: Wiltshire council just needs to drop the stupid idea of cutting their key worker pay."
When are the strikes and should you pay for parking?
The strike action is to take place across the county for one week from Saturday, 10 December until Saturday, 17 December, taking in two of the busiest Christmas shopping Saturdays.
Wiltshire Council says residents will still be expected to pay to use council car parks regardless of the strike action, reminding that not all staff in the parking team are GMB members.
Terence Herbert, Wiltshire Council Chief Executive, said:
“If members of the civil enforcement team do go on strike then we will have a contingency plan in place – people will still be required to pay for the use of our car parks."
“Although we respect our employees’ right to carry out industrial action, we are once again very disappointed and frustrated that GMB has decided to pursue this course of action in an attempt to cause disruption to our services.
“This follows many months of negotiations that resulted in a revised proposal being made in August that all unions agreed was generous, but which the GMB Union subsequently then advised their members not to accept.
“This would have seen four years of pay protection for current staff until 2027, which is a far more generous offer than we have seen any other local authority put forward, particularly given the current financial climate."