Trade Union members in Salford have made it clear to our employer, Salford city council that we will fight their attempt to use equal pay legislation to cut pay.
The council is trying to use the local government single status agreement to drive down the salaries of hundreds of employees, many of them low-paid women.
On top of this, they are seeking to attack hundreds more with the removal of allowances for unsociable working hours, such as night shifts and weekend work.
Despite insisting for the last year that some of our members would have to lose money, our Unison branch has been pushed by members’ outrage into taking up a position of “no loss of pay for any member of staff.”
Two Unison-led demonstrations, supported by the other Salford local government unions, Unite and the GMB, have taken place. We are building for a further two in January – one outside the first council meeting of the year and another on a Saturday.
We are also preparing for a consultative ballot on strike action. Importantly our Unison branch has agreed to recommend that members vote to reject the council’s attacks.
