Wiltshire Council refutes GMB Union claim they broke agreement to protect pay
The Union are calling on members to reject deal
The GMB Union is calling for members to reject a revised proposal from Wiltshire Council, after they claim bosses reneged on the agreement negotiated through the offices of Acas in June.
They say they went back on the plan to protect the pay of existing staff for the lifetime of their contracts.
However, Wiltshire Council has strongly denied the claims saying this is something that was never agreed at any meeting.
The Union say the deal was agreed in July but when the proposals were announced in August, the local authority "broke their word".
Ballots are running until 13th October for the 300 members of staff, like traffic wardens and social workers, to vote on.
Keith Roberts, GMB Regional Organiser, said:
“GMB members are scandalised that Wiltshire Council’s top bosses have walked back from a deal where their own ‘working party’ on terms and conditions had agreed to protect the pay of existing staff for the lifetime of their contracts.
“This deal was agreed in July, but the council announced on 9th August, that they were breaking their word. From GMB's point of view, this puts all options back on the table.
“Staff in parking services have already taken two days strike action to oppose the pay cuts, but traffic wardens are far from the only staff affected.
“None of our members can afford this pay cut – and they should not have to.
“GMB is confident of a no vote from our members, then the ball will be back in the council’s court.
“Wiltshire Council needs to start treating their staff with respect and understand the extreme worry they are causing with their threats of pay cuts.”
GMB behaviour "disingenuous" and "frustrating"
Wiltshire Council have now responded.
Terence Herbert, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Council said:
“We are once again incredibly disappointed by the timing and content of GMB’s latest inaccurate and inflammatory comments, which seem designed to cause more unrest and worry for staff they claim to want to protect.
“Lifetime protection was never agreed, neither at the ACAS meeting or any subsequent joint working group meeting.
“Unfortunately throughout this ongoing process GMB has regularly said one thing to us and then something completely different publicly, and this disingenuous behaviour has been incredibly frustrating.
“The three recognised unions, including GMB, recognised that the offer of a four year pay protection arrangement was significant and generous compared to others that they were aware of, and something that they would want their members to have the opportunity to consider. We don’t believe any other local authority is putting forward an offer of this nature, particularly given the current financial climate.
“They agreed to put the offer out to ballot to their members and we expect to hear the result of that in October. Therefore, the timing of GMB’s comments is nonsensical and further creates an environment of discord that they seem to thrive on. Their latest comments will only serve to disrupt and unduly influence the ongoing ballot process.
“We are working hard to resolve these negotiations as we know the ongoing uncertainty isn’t easy for our staff, and this public dialogue through the media, which GMB seem keen to incite, is not helpful to say the least.
“We are continuing to listen to our staff’s feedback and recently held productive briefings to talk them through the latest proposals in detail, and we’ll continue to keep them fully updated.”