Proposed NJC Pay Claim 2016/17

UNISON’s elected NJC Committee is proposing the following NJC pay claim for 2016/17:

Deletion of NJC pay points which fall below the level of the Living Wage – £7.88 per hour (scp 6-10) – and a flat rate increase of £1 per hour on all other pay points.

The NJC Committee agreed that our core objectives must continue to focus on the restoration of decent pay levels and ensure the Living Wage becomes the basic rate of pay in local government. The NJC Committee did not believe that UNISON should move away from the Living Wage as a target. There are very few other public sector workers who earn less than the Living Wage, while almost half a million local government and school employees are paid below it. The Living Wage outside London is now £7.85 an hour. The bottom NJC rate will become £7.06 in October 2015 when spinal point 5 is abolished.

The Committee did acknowledge that it would be difficult to achieve the Living Wage in one year, but that it must remain our aim. It was felt that we should also seek to ensure that it becomes the bottom rate of the NJC pay spine and therefore applied to all, not locally implemented through supplements or cuts to other conditions.

Accompanying documents:

Background information
Impact on NJC pay points

What do you think?

Do you agree that this is the right claim for local government members? Please let the Branch know, before 10am on Tuesday 5th May by emailing office.unison@westsussex.gov.uk. We will be collating the views of members for the NJC Committee shortly after this deadline.