Trade union Unison has called on council chiefs to engage in further discussions over potential increases to local government pay.
The call comes following the revelation that both Unison and Unite are balloting council members on taking strike action over wages.
Trade unions last month branded a 1% local government pay increase offered by National Employers ‘insulting’.
Unison’s head of local government Heather Wakefield has now written a strongly worded letter to the Local Government Association (LGA), urging the organisation to re-consider its refusal to refer the pay dispute to ACAS.
‘I am very disappointed that the LGA has already decided that it is not prepared to enter any arbitration talks via Acas as provided for in the collective agreement,’ Wakefield wrote.
‘The LGA have made a choice which has led to many of our members accumulating large debts and relying on payday loans, handouts from their families and charity from Unison’s own welfare section and food banks. No other part of the public has suffered such an ignominious decline in pay and conditions.
‘Unison stands ready to enter further negotiations at any point, as do other unions,’ Wakefield concluded.
Responding in a document sent to Wakefield, the LGA said: ‘The position of the Employers remains that they will only consider any arbitration request from the unions if the sector supports us engaging in the process and we are able to commit to abide by the outcome of it.
‘The Employers recognise that local government workers are affected by the difficult economic climate and how hard they are working to maintain the high quality services of which the sector is rightly proud. However, as you acknowledge, the economic climate also affects councils and our final offer of 1.0% is therefore fair and at the limit of what we can afford.’
