More than a thousand local authority craft workers on the red book agreement will be balloted for strike action after receiving a pay offer below their aspirations.
The red book agreement covers local authority craftworkers who are primarily involved in housing maintenance work, such as plumbing and heating engineering.
Workers at the following councils will be balloted initially over the issues: Durham, Leeds, Stoke, Dudley, Southwark, Newham and Bristol. Ballots will open from 19th February and close on 26th March. More councils could follow, the Unite union said.
The dispute comes after the Local Government Association, which handles local authority workers' pay, put forward a full and final below RPI offer of 3.2% for 2025 without any negotiations.听
The LGA also decided to remove apprentices from the national agreement and put a new entrant on the same pay scale as a craft operative, which is a qualified position. The LGA is also seeking to impose NJC job evaluation, which Unite is concerned could be used unfairly, will result in cuts in pay and dilute the level of service delivered to the public.
Local government workers are represented by two separate trades unions: the GMB and Unite.听While the GMB accepted the offer, Unite did not.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 鈥淭he way the LGA has conducted pay negotiations has been nothing short of a disgrace.
"Craft workers who do difficult and highly skilled jobs deserve better than the LGA playing politics with their livelihoods and imposing a poor pay offer without negotiations. They will have Unite's full backing throughout this dispute which is of the LGA's own making."
Unite claims that the LGA is refusing to honour the disputes process by constantly rejecting offers to come to the table, including the union's suggestion that Unite sits on a number of competency groups for craft workers.
Unite national officer for construction Jason Poulter said: "Craft workers play an essential role in maintaining council homes and deserve to have these skills recognised with a fair pay offer.
"These strikes will be very disruptive in the areas we have targeted for ballots, but it is entirely the fault of the LGA which has consistently refused to negotiate with Unite despite several attempts on our part to stop this dispute.
"Through its actions during this dispute, it has treated our members with contempt. Strike action can be avoided, but that relies on the LGA changing tack and coming to the table."
A spokesperson for the National Employers said:听鈥淲e are disappointed that Unite鈥檚 decision to ballot its members in seven councils means all Craftworkers face even more delay in receiving their long-overdue 3.20% pay award. We again urge Unite to join with GMB in accepting the offer.鈥�
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