UNISON’s NJC Committee met to consider the outcome of the consultation on the NJC pay offer. The offer is for a pay increase of £1,290 on all NJC pay points.
Full detail on the pay offer and what it means for you on your pay point is explained here.
Members working in schools and councils who are covered by NJC pay were asked in a consultative ballot to vote as to whether they accepted or rejected this pay offer.
The consultation result was that 80.77% of members voted to reject vote on a 29.09% turnout. The results for members at West Sussex County Council, for information, the largest NJC employer in the West Sussex branch, were an 85.35% Reject vote on a 30.29% turnout.
The union’s NJC Committee then asked for a consultation with branches on the next steps. They were provided with the full employer-by-employer breakdown of the consultation results. The NJC meeting considered the outcomes of both the member consultation on the pay offer and the feedback on next steps from branches.
Regional feedback showed that a majority of branches were in favour of proceeding to an industrial action ballot, to be run on a disaggregated basis meaning that only individual employers which reach the 50% ballot threshold can take part in industrial action. The Committee decided that this would not exclude employers based on turnout levels in the consultation nor on membership size. The NJC Committee agreed to launch an industrial action ballot on that basis, to try to secure an improved offer from the National Employers. 350,000 members will be balloted across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, of which circa 4,000 are in our West Sussex branch.
The ballot will run from 4 September to 16 October 2024.
The deadline for new members who join for them to be able to vote in the industrial action ballot is 3 October.
It’s important that all members who receive a postal ballot take part and vote. Look out for the purple envelope that will come to your home address.
The envelope members will receive is in UNISON purple!
The branch will be visiting the council’s large office hubs on the following dates:
- Bridge House, Worthing: Tuesday 17 September
- Parkside, Horsham: Thursday 19 September
- The Library, Crawley: Tuesday 8 October
- County Hall, Chichester: Thursday 10 October
Check out our YouTube video of a presentation Branch Secretary Dan Sartin gave on the pay offer. Feel free to share with colleagues and encourage them to join the branch ahead of the ballot starting.