The case for local government workers to receive a ‘hefty pay increase is unanswerable’, trade union Unite has said.
Unite said public sector pay restraint alongside the increasing cost of living had led to low paid local government workers losing out by an estimated £2,831 in real terms.
The union said two-thirds of local government workers in England and Wales – more than one million people – earn below £21,000 a year.
It added that just over 500,000 workers earn below £15,000 a year.
A Unite spokesman said: ‘George Osborne’s blanket imposition of a one per cent pay rise for the public sector for 2014/2015 smacks of hardline Tory dogma.
‘It is blatantly unfair and it is the duty of Unite and other trade unions to campaign strongly in 2014 to ensure that public sector workers receive decent pay increases to make up for years of pay drought.’
