Public sector workers face pay delay

Public sector building workers employed by local authorities and by the prison service are facing a continued impasse over their national pay negotiations.
A spokesman for UCATT said there had been an "excellent" response to a second national stoppage by members in the prison service after the August bank holiday.
The industrial action has been sparked by the ongoing failure to resolve the 2003 pay claim. The union representative said it was "totally unacceptable" that the 2004 pay negotiations had not even started. A settlement had been due in July, but any award is now unlikely to be implemented before the end of the year.
Around 40,000 local authority construction workers are also threatening industrial action. Union leaders were meeting this week to consider the way forward after the breakdown in their 2004 pay talks.