Wiltshire Council responds to social worker strike threat
The authority says they're 'committed to resolving long-standing issues'
Wiltshire Council has responded to plans to ballot the authority's social workers for possible strike action.
The GMB Union say they're seeking a mandate for walkouts, in a row over unsociable hours pay.
It's claimed that a 20% uplift in wages for working evenings, nights, early mornings and weekends would be removed - effectively cutting their wages.
The Union says Wiltshire Council's proposing a controversial 'fire and rehire' tactic to get the changes through.
But the authority's said that's not the case and they're keen to hear alternative options.
In a statement, Terence Herbert, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Council, said:
“At this stage no strike has been confirmed and not all the 21 workers GMB are balloting are social workers. We remain committed to resolving this long-standing issue and have been working with the unions for nearly two years to achieve this. The protracted nature of the issue has made this a difficult time for the staff impacted and they are very keen for this to be resolved.
“Throughout this process we have strictly adhered to employment law and always will. We have been seeking to reach collective agreement, but to date the unions have not provided any alternative feasible proposals, although Unison and Unite did get a mandate to agree to the proposed changes.
"It’s important to note there will be no immediate dismissal and offer of re-engagement (also called “fire and re-hire”) despite GMB stating that this will be the approach. Our absolute preference remains to reach collective agreement but if this is not possible then we will seek to reach agreement with staff on an individual basis. We remain open to alternative proposals that meet our business objectives.
“For the sake of the wellbeing of our staff, and our need to ensure our policies are fit for purpose, we have also been clear that this matter cannot remain unresolved indefinitely. The existing terms and conditions are not financially sustainable in their current form, and we’re looking to pay staff for the hours they work during unsocial hours, not a flat rate as it is now. If our proposals are agreed then affected staff won’t see any changes to their pay for four years, as we have offered a generous pay protection, and we ensure all salaries are paid at the market rate in line with our pay policy.
“Our preferred approach to making any changes to terms and conditions is always through collective agreement. Therefore, we have continued consultation with all three unions to outline that we are still willing to consider alternative, reasonable proposals from them that could enable us to achieve this outcome.
“It is in everyone’s best interests that this is resolved as quickly and fairly as possible and we’ll continue to work hard to achieve this.”