COUNCIL DRAWS UP BATTLE PLANS FOR SINGLE STATUS STRIKE

12-01-2008

Birmingham City Council has called on senior officers to draw up contingency plans in case of strike action. The news comes as hundreds of staff prepare to turn out today for a rally to protest against the new Single Status pay scheme.

As we revealed earlier this week, more than 5,000 staff have already formally rejected new contracts and unions are balloting for industrial action (see link here)

Insiders are optimistic that they will get a strike mandate from members when the poll closes on January 25.

Steve Foster from the Unite/T&G union said, “this is not just about pay.

“There are other issues as well like the new grading system and we just don’t know enough about it to be able to recommend it to our members.

“Under the new scales for example, after the first three increments which are automatic, the rest will be assessed by managers on an annual basis.

"That sounds like performance related pay to us.

“Now we’re not saying, ‘no, no, no’ to that.

"What we are saying is that we want to find out much more about how it will work and to negotiate over it, before we can give it our backing.”

Senior members of Birmingham Council are clearly fearing the worst when the ballot result comes in.

"Staff have the right to legitimately protest but we are disappointed that there is talk of industrial action” said a spokesman.

“This is about righting decades of inequality, underpay and pay discrepancies, principles which I am sure everyone, including the unions will support.

"In the event of industrial action the authority will do everything in its power to ensure disruption of services is kept to an absolute minimum.

“All chief officers have been asked to put in place contingency plans ahead of any possible action occurring."

The rally is open to members of the public who want to show their support to Council staff, and will run from noon until 1.30 in Victoria Square.

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