Equality, Local government, U.K., Finland, Croatia

(May 2016) Most local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will get pay increases of 1% this year and next year under a new two-year agreement. Lower paid workers will benefit from higher increases ranging from 1.01% to 6.6% in 2016 and from 1.3% to 3.4% in 2017. while the deal was accepted by Unison and the GMB it was rejected by members of the Unite trade union. Read more at Unison and at Unite

(August 2016) The agency set up by the UK government to regulate employment agencies and agency work has seen its budget cut by over 50% since 2010. An investigation by the Labour Party found that staff at the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS) had been cut by 70% and that the body had failed to secure a single prosecution over the past year. Although complaints rose by a fifth between 2011 and 2016, the number of inspections carried out by the EAS fell by more than half. Read more at the Guardian newspaper.

(September 2016) Public services union Unison organised a lobby of Parliament on 14 September, highlighting the situation of school support staff in Derby in central England who have seen their pay cut by 25%. The workers have already taken strike action and Unison is commiting national support to the workers who face a cut in annual salary from £21,000 (EUR 24500) to around £15,000 (EUR17500).

(October 2016) Over 1000 teaching assistants, Unison members employed by Derbyshire council council in central England, took another day of strike action on 6 October in their struggle to stop the council imposing pay cuts of up to 25% (see previous issue of epsucob@NEWS). This is their fourth strike during their eighth week of action.

(October 2016) School support staff employed by Derby City Council in central England took further strike action on 20-21 October in their campaign to revese cuts in salary of up to 25%. Many of the workers are teaching assistants who will only be paid for their term-time work and thus those on level two will see annual salaries fall from GBP 21000 (EUR 23500) to GBP 15000 (EUR 16800) after already having a GBP 1200 (EUR1340) allowance cut in June.

(October 2016) Public service union JHL has written to local authority members across the country warning of many of the problems created by outsourcing. It quotes survey evidence indicating threats to service quality coming from cuts to jobs and working time as well as trends towards using less skilled staff. While noting that over 100 municipalities have brought services back in-house, JHL says there is still a trend towards outsourcing which, in healthcare, is now dominated by a small number of big companies.

(November 2016) Teaching assistants in County Durham in North-East England have taken strike action for the second time in protest at the local authority's decision to put them on term-time only contracts. This means workers facing pay cuts of up to 23%. Following the two-day action on 23 and 24 November the teaching assistants will continue their industrial action by working strictly to contract. Some teaching assistants are members of the GMB union and voted earlier to accept an offer from the employers.

(January 2017) School support staff in Derbyshire in central England have been involved in two further weeks of strike action in protest at the local authority's decision to cut their pay by up to 25%. The workers, members of the UNISON trade union, took action at the end of last year in a dispute that began over seven months ago (see epsucob@NEWS 14 and 15 October and November 2016).

(February 2017) Public services union UNISON continues to campaign against the pay cuts imposed on teaching assistants in Derby in central England. This week will see the union out on the streets every lunchtime to urge citizens and workers to sign a petition calling on the municipality to return to the negotiating table and to recognise the valuable work being done by this group of workers. The week-long action coincides with the general week of campaigning in support of trade unions organised by the TUC confederation.

(March 2017) The latest government budget has been criticised by the TUC confederation and public service trade unions for offering nothing to public service workers who have seen their pay frozen or falling in real terms over the past 10 years. The PCS civil service union is organising a day of protest on 31 March and is calling for a 5% pay increase or £1200 a year (€1380) whichever is greater.

(March 2017) Public services union JHL is calling for an extra pay increase for sectors dominated by women. The union chair Päivi Niemi-Laine said:"We need a separate round on top of the general increase. Women-dominated sectors have been kept in check and now we have to ensure that purchasing power remains strong in women-led fields." The union argues that action needs to be taken to address the persistent gender pay gap and that public salaries are being effectively cut by a decision to reduce holiday pay as part of the competitiveness deal negotiated last year.

(May 2017) The UNISON public services union warns of a recruitment crisis in public services if public sector pay restraint is continued. UNISON quotes a new report from the independent Insitute of Fiscal Studies which say that if public sector pay continues to fall compared to pay in the private sector, the public sector will struggle to recruit and retain the workers it needs to deliver public services, and the quality of those services will therefore be at risk.