{"id":28788,"date":"2021-05-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28788"},"modified":"2021-05-04T13:34:22","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T12:34:22","slug":"overlooked-and-undervalued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28788","title":{"rendered":"Overlooked and undervalued"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p>With you from cradle to grave, council workers are the unsung heroes of the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are key workers who have kept our communities running&nbsp;<em>during the pandemic<\/em>, emptying our bins, cleaning our streets, caring for our elderly, our young and vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Council workers are here for us, providing the services that we couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live without, from libraries, schools, parks, street cleaning, housing, homecare and end of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are not low skilled. They are undervalued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2010, across the UK, the real wages for council workers have fallen by 22%. While the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s squeeze on council budgets is putting the services they deliver and we rely on at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the pandemic has taught us anything it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that the people we need the most, are often the ones we value the least. This must change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They deserve to be paid fairly. They deserve a decent pay rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Join us in calling on the government to fully fund a proper pay rise for council workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Overlooked and undervalued\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MEHo_75iTqY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Commenting on the campaign, Unite national officer for local government Jim Kennedy said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll those seeking election on Thursday (May 6) should publicly state beforehand that they recognise the essential work carried out by local authority workers and make a commitment to campaign, if elected, to ensure that they receive a substantial pay rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor too long, council workers have borne the brunt of the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 funding onslaught on local government since 2010 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they have been treated with contempt by successive Tory prime ministers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Cameron, May and Johnson,&#8221; he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYet it has been our council workers that have sustained our communities across the land over the last year, and sadly, many have died in the line of duty during the pandemic<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese unsung heroes of public service have kept our streets clean, cared for our elderly and vulnerable, and looked after our young in the most difficult, and sometimes tragic, circumstances,&#8221; Kennedy continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile the public fully recognise and appreciate the dedication given to our communities by hundreds of thousands of local authority workers, this generosity of spirit is not reciprocated by the cold-hearted and tight-fisted Local Government Association whose agenda is stuck in a mind-set of continuing to pay poverty wages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow is the time for those that aspire to public office \u00e2\u20ac\u201c whether as mayors, police and crime commissioners, or as county and district councillors \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to pledge that a much-deserved pay rise for council staff moves centre stage politically.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>By UniteLive team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With you from cradle to grave, council workers are the unsung heroes of the Covid-19 crisis. They are key workers who have kept our communities running&nbsp;during the pandemic, emptying our bins, cleaning our streets, caring for our elderly, our young and vulnerable. Council workers are here for us, providing the services that we couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[1370,84,1634],"wps_subtitle":"Join our \u00e2\u20ac\u0098May the 4th\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 campaign in calling on the government to fully fund a proper pay rise for council workers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28788"}],"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=28788"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28819,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28788\/revisions\/28819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}