{"id":3520,"date":"2015-03-31T16:08:16","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T15:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3520"},"modified":"2015-03-31T16:08:16","modified_gmt":"2015-03-31T15:08:16","slug":"striking-for-a-fair-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3520","title":{"rendered":"Striking for a fair deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

As UNITElive reported today<\/a>, most of us expect our pay to stay the same this year or rise ever-so-slightly.<\/p>\n

 
\nDrivers who transport disabled children to school for Hackney council, however, face something else entirely \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an astounding 50 per cent slash in their wages as the local authority embarks on vicious cost-cutting measures.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe move has prompted Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s members to take strike action on Thursday (April 2) for 24 hours as the cuts could see their wages sink from an already paltry \u00c2\u014124,000 to \u00c2\u014112,000 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c less than the annual gross salary of a full-time worker on the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe impending strike action was unanimously supported by members at 100 per cent in favour, and a further stoppage is scheduled for April 16.<\/p>\n

 
\nThis isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the only dispute involving local authority workers who face the twin evils of rampant privatisation and government austerity measures.<\/p>\n

 
\nAnother separate strike is set to take place on April 16 in Croydon, where drivers who also transfer disabled children are being attacked by the private company Impact, which runs transport services for the council.<\/p>\n

 
\nWith 92 per cent voting in favour, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s passenger transport members in Croydon are striking after Impact has refused to negotiate a pay claim made by Unite which proposes the company pay all its workers at least the London Living Wage, currently set at \u00c2\u01419.15 per hour.<\/p>\n

 
\nFair deal campaign<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nA race to the bottom in pay, terms and conditions and quality of service is an alarming trend among local governments, one that Unite aims to fight in one of its latest campaigns.<\/p>\n

 
\nA Fair Deal for Local Governmen<\/em>t has been launched by Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s London and Eastern region, which has almost 300,000 members. The campaign is aiming to eradicate the very root of the problems plaguing local authorities by taking a stand against privatisation and austerity.<\/p>\n

 
\nThrough a set of proposals, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s local government campaign outlines a procurement strategy to ensure that quality of service is maintained while staff also get the fair deal they deserve.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite regional officer Onay Kasab explained that the campaign could not have come at a more fitting moment in time.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur overall campaign calls for a Fair Deal for Local Government and these two separate strikes are vivid, living, breathing examples of why our campaign is so important,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kasab said.<\/p>\n

 
\nKasab noted that the impending strike actions are regrettable, especially given that they will affect disabled children.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bif we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t draw a line in the sand now, future cuts will be even worse.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCouncils should not be jumping to the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tune of privatisation and austerity \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the public good should always come first.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThe main aim of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s local authority campaign is just that \u00e2\u20ac\u201c protecting the public good against private interests.<\/p>\n

 
\nAs part of its procurement strategy, the Fair Deal for Local Government campaign argues that if services are performing well, they should be left in-house. If they are not, local authorities should examine how they can be put right in-house.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhen services must be contracted out, the main consideration \u00e2\u20ac\u201c at least over 50 per cent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c should be over quality rather than cost.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhen staff are transferred, fair employment rights should be locked in, including paying the living wage and barring zero hours contracts, with no downward pay and conditions harmonisation.<\/p>\n

 
\nFor more information about Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fair Deal for Local Government campaign, visit the campaign\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website here<\/a>, where you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll learn exactly what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gone wrong with local government, and what we can do \u00e2\u20ac\u201c together \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to change it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As UNITElive reported today, most of us expect our pay to stay the same this year or rise ever-so-slightly.   Drivers who transport disabled children to school for Hackney council, however, face something else entirely \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an astounding 50 per cent slash in their wages as the local authority embarks on vicious cost-cutting measures.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[76,105,128,252],"wps_subtitle":"Local government disputes heat up as Unite launches new campaign","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3522,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3520\/revisions\/3522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}