Local government unions representing 1.4 million council and school employees are demanding a decent wage rise as they submit their annual pay claim. Trade unions Unite, UNISON and the GMB say a substantial award is essential as staff continue to struggle with rising living costs, having missed out on the higher wage settlements paid out to workers in other parts of the public sector in the past year. This year’s joint union pay claim, which would apply from April this year, is for all council employees to receive a wage rise of £ 3,000 (€ 3,602). The value of local government and school staff pay has plummeted for more than a decade, the unions say, with their wage settlement for 2024-25 averaging 2.5%. That is compared with 5.5% for teaching staff and more than 6% for many doctors in the next pay year.
Read on: in English… Read on: in English (2)…
For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.