Today UNISON branches from across the country are meeting to find a new way forward and a new agreement on pay.
This is what we are hoping to achieve:
1: We believe that lay officials, members of UNISON elected by us, should be able to take part in negotiations with our employers on our pay.
The door to the conference room should not be locked.
2: We believe that we should be asked before our strike is called off. Branches should be consulted before descisions are made.
It’s our choice to strike. It should be our choice to return to work.
3: We believe our members need a real pay rise. We should submit a new pay claim for 2015/16.
We are all getting poorer. We can’t wait.
4: We believe members deserve the truth about how much money they have lost. Let’s give them clear simple figures showing what they have lost compared to inflation.
Let’s stop hiding the shoddy deals.
5: We believe we have to be honest with ourselves.
There’s no point saying that everything is fine because the last pay offer was agreed by the members. It doesn’t mean the members are happy. It doesn’t mean that we have the best protocols for negotiating pay or making decisions about industrial action.
Even if you believe that the deal was a good one, or you believe that the NJC committee made the right decision by calling off the strike, these are still good changes for us to make.
They will restore trust and confidence in national pay bargaining and they will bring our service group back together.
We can put the disagreements and disappointments behind us and get back to doing what we do best. Fighting for a good deal for UNISON Members.
