Threat to rip-up pay deal

Civil servants are trying to rip-up a pay agreement covering 24,000 building workers employed by local government.

The move has outraged leaders of construction union Ucatt who hit out this week at the "faceless bureaucrats" pushing for change.

Local authority craft workers like carpenters, painters and bricklayers are covered by the JNC "Red Book" agreement.

The agreement is distinct from the larger "Green Book" deal which covers other local authority employees.

Last autumn workers under the Red Book Agreement accepted a 2.45% pay offer. Colleagues employed under the Green Book went to arbitration and earlier this year were awarded an additional 0.3%.

UCATT then made a supplementary claim for the 0.3% but were told they "were not getting it" unless they agreed to end the Red Book national craft agreement. The 0.3% pay increase is worth just 50p a week to an average craft worker in take home pay.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT , said: "Skilled local government craft workers will rightly feel completely insulted to discover that civil servants think they can buy them off with just 50p a week, not even enough to buy a cup of tea.

"Every time a council has merged the Red Book agreement with the Green Book, skilled craft workers have lost out and have experienced pay cuts in the long term. Faceless bureaucrats who spend their days sitting behind their desks have never valued the skills, knowledge and experience of highly dedicated craft workers."

This week the joint local government unions submitted a pay claim for 2009/10, which included a demand for the payment of the outstanding 0.3%.

They immediately received a letter from Sarah Messenger the Employers Secretary of the Local Government Employers which, said: Employer members were "unanimous in seeking the dissolution of the JNC in light of the severe difficulties that continue to arise from having craftworkers on separate pay, terms and conditions…..The Employers cannot allow this situation to continue indefinitely."

Ritchie said: "It is appalling that a supposedly impartial civil servant is once again making threats about the terms and conditions of our members. It is very difficult to conduct mature pay negotiations at this difficult time when, civil servants acting for the employers are making threats."