Workers at Birmingham City Council have voted for strike action in what the union GMB describes as a ‘major escalation’ in the campaign to end the equal pay crisis.
Nearly 90% of GMB members voted for strike action in the consultative ballot. Workers in council-run schools will now be asked to proceed with a formal strike vote.
The cash-strapped local authority, which declared effective bankruptcy last September, is facing an estimated equal pay liability of more than £867m.
GMB organiser Alice Reynolds described the vote as a ‘major escalation’ in the union’s campaign to end the pay discrimination faced by women working for the council.
‘We’ve been calling for the council to set a timetable for settling equal pay claims for months. Now their inaction means Birmingham faces the threat of industrial action in our schools this spring,’ she said.
‘Council bosses have outlined drastic cuts to spending; yet not one women worker has been re-paid the wages that have been stolen from them.’
A council spokesperson said that Birmingham CC had begun work on a new approach to job evaluation to settle the equal pay issues ‘once and for all’.
If this article was of interest, then check out, The financial crisis in Birmingham City Council.
