Newham Council calls on Unite to engage in talks.
The council is extremely disappointed to hear that Unite has called for strike action in this essential resident service.
Unite has balloted the 117 members of staff they represent in the street cleansing and estates caretaking service, out of a total of 268 staff overall. 74 of the 117 Unite members took part in the ballot with 60 staff voting for strike action, with 14 against. Staff in Unison and GMB unions are not voting to strike, with those unions having voted to accept the national pay offer.
Pay enhancements already in place
The council has been talking with staff since the ballot was announced, as they are valued members of our workforce, and will continue to engage our staff as this dispute continues. In the last year we have brought the street cleaning services back in-house, invested in new equipment and uniforms and ensured staff are paid at least the London Living Wage.
We understand the pressures all council staff face with the cost of living crisis and have already put in place a number of pay enhancements:
- The now agreed national pay award means all council staff will receive an extra £2,229 for 2022/23. Payments will be made in December backdated to the beginning of April.
- The council has also agreed to an increase in overtime and maternity rates which became effective for all council staff from Tuesday 1 November.
The Unite ballot
Unite balloted street cleansing and estates caretaking staff on 2 counts.
1. A retention payment of 10% annual basic salary, separate from and in addition to any national pay award.
The National Pay award gives staff an increase of up to 9.9%.
The cost of a 10% additional payment, in addition to the national pay award, equates to £20 million across the council as it would have to be applied fairly to all council staff.
With the council’s current financial constraints this is not possible. Additionally, pay decisions are decided via collective national bargaining which is a long-standing agreement between councils and the trades unions.
2. For enhanced payments to members of the cleansing department working heavier workloads following bank holidays.
Unite representatives advised the council last week that they had discussed working contractual overtime on either the Saturday before or after a Bank Holiday with their members. They stated that their members had rejected this and do not want to pursue this element of their claim.
The representatives also asked the council to put on record that they were agreeing to withdraw the Bank Holiday payments as an issue and noted that Street Scene Unite members would not be seeking an additional £100 payment after each Bank Holiday.
Newham Council is committed to ongoing talks with Unite
The council is committed to ongoing discussions with Unite. To resolve this dispute we need Unite to take part in further talks. Now the national pay award and other enhancements are in place we hope a positive solution can be found.
We are continuing to work with ACAS - the national body that works to resolve workplace disputes – to help us progress talks. Now that Unite’s members have said they do not want to pursue one part of the claim, we call on Unite to come back to the table for further discussion.
If Unite do not engage in further negotiation, strike action could take place within the period from mid-November 2022 to late April 2023.
The council is putting in place contingency plans to lessen the impact on these essential resident services for when strike action takes place. Further details on this will be communicated to residents shortly.