LOCAL GOVERNMENT PAY IN ENGLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Early day motion 1589, tabled 9 July 2002 by Michael Connarty (Labour). Signed by 91 members.

That this House expresses concern that 277,000 local government employees, 90 per cent. part-time women, earn less than ú5 an hour; notes that council employees' earnings have declined relative to the private sector for 10 years according to a survey by the local government employers; further notes that only one in seven councils have introduced equal pay for work of equal value, five years on from their promise to do so under the 1997 Single Status Agreement, and believes there is a mounting crisis on recruitment and retention in local government, not least because council employees are being priced out of housing; therefore calls on local government employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to return to the negotiating table with an improved offer to avoid the first national strike for 23 years; and urges both the employers and trade unions to agree a way forward which sees the full and proper implementation of the Single Status Agreement introducing equal pay for work of equal value and a serious long-term pay strategy of the kind increasingly seen elsewhere in the public sector.

Signatures by party: Labour 72, Liberal Democrat 8, Labour/Co-operative 4, UUP 3, Plaid Cymru 2, DUP 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.