North Somerset Council to debate Motion on Regional pay - 25th September

Labour councillor Richard Tucker will propose the following motion at the council's meeting on 25th September.

North Somerset UNISON members will be lobbying the meeting from 5.30 pm outside the Town Hall in Weston super Mare. If you think it's unfair that a nurse should be paid less in Weston super Mare than Birmingham then come along and show the councillors how you feel.

North Somerset UNISON have submitted a paper to councillors ahead of their meeting. You can read it here.

Here's the motion:

Regional and Local Public Sector Pay Council Motion

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the 2012 Budget the desire to introduce 'more market facing' public sector pay, leading to regional and local variation. Weston Area Health Trust is already part of a Consortium seeking to break away from national NHS terms and conditions. Regional and local variations could mean that local public sector workers would have worse pay and conditions than other parts of the country. This would make it harder to recruit and retain skilled staff. This region already has the least affordable houses outside London and the South East. The average hourly pay for workers in North Somerset is already below the national average and the district has been identified as being vulnerable to increased levels of poverty if there is further economic downturn.

Council resolves to oppose moves towards regional and localised public sector pay and to communicate its opposition to such plans to the government, local MPs, Weston Area Health Trust and other relevant organisations.