Council staff ‘real pay’ deal claim

Reporter: Janice Barker
Date online: 16 January 2009

A pay claim has been submitted for Oldham’s 5,500 council staff to keep up with inflation.

No figure has been put on the claim put forward by GMB and the major public sector trade unions.

But GMB’s National Secretary for Public Services, Brian Strutton, said: “To improve real pay levels, we seek a one-year, across-the-board increase of at least the level of retail price inflation, with additional increases for the lower paid.”

The claim, for 1.7 million council workers nationwide, comes as a growing number of councils announce redundancies.

Oldham warned of 850 redundancies last year, but now job losses are expected be 455.

Oldham Council’s GMB convenor, Jim McDermott, said: “There are hard times ahead, but money is still being found for large salaries for chief officers and refurbishments within council buildings.

“We mustn’t forget that over 70 per cent of the council’s employees live in Oldham and contribute to the local economy.”