The Council is now implementing the National Joint Council (NJC) pay award, which covers the vast majority of council staff apart from senior managers, teachers, craft workers and youth workers. A similar settlement for craft workers, who are covered by a different national negotiating body, is being implemented at the same time.
What does this mean for our December pay and for our pay in the New Year?
On 15th December, you should have received a taxable, one-off payment of about 0.45% of your salary. From 1st January 2015, all pay rates (apart from those for staff who are marking time or on pay protection) will rise by 2.2%. This pay award covers the 15-month period from January 2015 to March 2016 and will apply to people on all grades from Scale 1 to PO7 – whether they are on the old contracts or the new ones.
Camden UNISON opposed the introduction of performance-related pay and urged existing members not to sign up to the new contracts in 2013 (new recruits to Camden had no choice), not least because there was no guarantee workers on Level 3 (SO1) and above would receive an increase with any NJC award. However, this time, following repeated requests from UNISON, backed up by a ‘yes’ vote in the indicative strike ballot in 2013 when the new contracts were being rolled out, the Council has announced that everyone (regardless of their performance-related pay appraisal ratings) in Level 3, 4 or 5 jobs will get the 2.2%.
In short, while the 2.2% award amounts to another real pay cut for local government workers, the situation for staff on the new contracts could have been still worse but for the branch’s intervention.
More details on the pay award and answers to FAQs can be seen on the council’s Essentials intranet site.
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