{"id":22226,"date":"2020-06-22T13:45:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T12:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=22226"},"modified":"2020-06-22T15:40:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T14:40:39","slug":"help-them-get-the-pay-they-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=22226","title":{"rendered":"Help them get the pay they deserve"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Councillors from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being urged to sign up and support a fair and proper pay rise for council workers in an online letter launched by Unite<\/a>, as part of its #WorthMore<\/strong> campaign.<\/p>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s #WorthMore campaign was launched in response to the National Employers pay offer of just 2.75 per cent and comes just 11 days after Unite announced plans to hold a consultative ballot<\/a> of its 100,000 members over the offer which works out at just \u00c2\u01411.83 a day for the lowest paid.<\/p>\n

Over the last 10 years real average wages for council workers have fallen by 22 per cent, due to government imposed pay freezes and below inflation pay rises. The employers’ 2.75 per cent pay offer works out at between \u00c2\u01411.83 to \u00c2\u01412.20 extra a day for the lowest paid and falls well below the 10 per cent pay increase asked for by the unions in their joint pay claim.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is utterly disgraceful that we have had to launch a campaign to get council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland a fair and proper pay rise,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Jim Kennedy, Unite national officer.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite the risks, key council workers have continued to keep our streets clean, our communities safe and our loved cared for during the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo come to the table with such a low pay offer after everything these workers have gone through is an insult. \u00c2\u01411.83 extra a day won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even buy a refuse collector or care worker a coffee from a high street chain at the end of their shift,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

Sign up and support <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Although hundreds of councillors have already added their name to the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call for a fair and decent pay rise for council workers, the union is calling for more to sign up and support this campaign.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are now urging councillors to get behind our call,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 explained Kennedy. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey must not shy away from standing up for what it right and using their influence to put pressure on central government to come up with new money for a decent pay rise.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Unite recently issued the widely shared Real heroes<\/a><\/em> film, which highlighted the extraordinary public support for the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s low paid key council workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including care workers and refuse collectors \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who during the coronavirus crisis have been going over and above the call of duty.<\/p>\n

Now Unite has issued a second film in the Real heroes<\/a><\/em> series. As part of the campaign, the new film features Unite council worker members and is being launched today, June 22. \u00c2\u00a0As one care worker member interviewed says, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not low skilled. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m low valued. We deserve a pay rise.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Jim Kennedy agrees. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is hugely disappointing that the national employers backtracked on their promise to join the unions in calling on central government for a dedicated pot of money to fund a higher pay rise, but this has only strengthened our resolve.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor over\u00c2\u00a010 weeks the nation clapped for the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s key workers and our NHS. It was very moving for our members who are often overlooked, but now they need people to contact their councillors to help get them all the pay rise they deserve.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

WANT TO HELP?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get your local councillors to sign up! Unite is urging everyone to support the campaign by emailing their councillors through the Unite online tool.<\/a><\/p>\n

WATCH <\/strong><\/p>\n

Watch the latest<\/a> in the Real Heroes<\/em> series, featuring Unite council worker members.<\/p>\n

By Chantal Chegrinec<\/strong> <\/em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em> \u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>#WorthMore<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Councillors from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being urged to sign up and support a fair and proper pay rise for council workers in an online letter launched by Unite, as part of its #WorthMore campaign.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[349,89,104],"wps_subtitle":"Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fight for council workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay steps up","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22226"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22226"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22230,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22226\/revisions\/22230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}