Lancaster councillors back £2k pay rise call for council workers

Labour councillors put forward a motion calling for the pay increase, which was supported by the majority including Greens and Lib-Dems but opposed by Conservatives at the full council meeting.

Labour group leader Coun Jason Wood introduced a motion supporting national talks to secure a £2,000 rise for workers, calling on the council to:

*Support a pay claim submitted by the Unison, GMB and Unite trade unions on behalf of council and school workers, for an increase of £2,000 or the current retail price index (RPI) rate, whichever is the greater with other considerations.

*Call on the Local Government Association to make urgent representations to the Westminster government to fund the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services pay claim.

*Write to the Chancellor and Secretary of State, asking for a pay increase for local government workers to be funded with cash from central government.

*Meet with local NJC trade union representatives to convey support for the pay claim.

*Encourage all local government workers to join a union.

Coun Wood said he understood a pay offer of £1,925 across all grades had recently been made in national talks.

Regarding Lancaster City Council, rough figures from finance officers based on the current staffing levels suggested such an increase would need around £1.75million which was around £1.2million more than had previously been estimated in the budget.

Coun Wood added: “Recent research shows that if the government was to fully fund the unions’ 2022 pay claim, around half of the money would be recouped thanks to increased tax revenue, reduced expenditure on benefits and tax credits, and increased consumer spending in the local economy.

“The Government needs to take responsibility and fully fund this increase. It should not put the burden on local authorities whose funding has been cut to the bone and who were not offered adequate support through the pandemic.”

But Conservative group leader Coun Andrew Gardiner said: “The problem is that the city council has no money so why do people keep pushing these pay rises? The council has to be run as a business. We’ve got to look at who is going to pay for this increase? Tax payers have already seen car parking fees rise.”