The body that negotiates pay for Local Government and school staff is called the National Joint Council (NJC).
The union side is made up with UNISON (who have the majority of seats) GMB and UNITE.
UNISON representatives on the NJC met yesterdays and received the results of the consultation of branches on the headline pay claim for 2025. Branches were asked for their views on the proposed headline claim of £3,000 on every pay point (along with a plan to move to a minimum of £15 an hour).
43.31% of branches responded, and of those, 96.36% supported the proposal and 3.64% opposed it. In Birmingham 96.4% of members who responded to a Branch survey supported the proposal.
Your NJC Executive reps will therefore take forward the proposal for a £3,000 headline pay claim into talks with the other unions later this month. In the meantime, work continues on the main body of the claim, and it should be submitted by the end of January.
Employers’ Side briefings are being set up for between 11 February and 13 March, to be held online. The unions will be invited to give presentations to these briefing sessions. As soon as we have the date for ours, I will be liaising with the Chair of Local Government Committee to ensure our attendance.
Beyond that, it is hoped that the Employers’ Side will be meeting later in March and will respond to our claim ASAP after that.
A pay campaign will of course be launched, and following a proposal at the NJC meeting, UNISON will also be looking at ways we can leverage influence on the Employers’ Side.