BRUM COUNCIL STRIKE CANCELLED

25-02-2008

Tomorrow’s planned strike by Birmingham Council workers over their new Single Status pay deal has been called off pending further discussions.

The news emerged this lunchtime, following talks between the unions and management.

An official statement issued jointly by both sides in the dispute said simply: “"The planned industrial action at Birmingham City Council, scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday 26th February), has today been suspended.

“There will now follow two weeks of intensive talks which will conclude on 12th March."

Unison official Caroline Johnson said: “We wouldn’t have called off the action unless we were convinced they were serious.

“We’ll be in meetings all day every day for two weeks, and after that, we’ll put it to our members and they will decide. We aren’t going to agree to anything that they aren’t happy with.

“But there is a mood of conciliation, and they are willing to discuss all the things we want to discuss.”

The cabinet member responsible for introducing Birmingham’s Single Status review, Alan Rudge, attributed the suspension of the strike to a five hour meeting with union officials on Friday.

He said: “We had three good regional officers in that meeting, and they were very constructive.

“In the past, we’ve seen this issue being used as a political football, with pressure from external forces. That wasn’t the case this time.

“We’ve never said we won’t talk to the unions, and we spent four hours today working out the issues that we’re going to discuss.

“I think this is good news for local government, and good news for the workforce.”

The Stirrer understands that more cash may be found to protect salaries.