The Council and trades unions held further intensive talks late last week and can today (Monday 10 September) announce that the strike action planned for Wednesday 12 September will no longer go ahead. The action short of strike action will also be suspended tomorrow (Tuesday 11 September) while consultation on the latest proposals takes place.
Joint Council Leader Andrew Polson said, “We committed at the outset to working with the trades unions to resolve this dispute, and have entered negotiations with a firm belief that resolution was possible. I'm delighted that the trades unions have withdrawn strike action on 12 September and suspended their action short of strike action whilst they consult with their membership on these latest proposals. This breakthrough demonstrates we have been working together in good faith to reach agreement which is mutually acceptable and I'm hopeful that this can be achieved."
Joint Council Leader Vaughan Moody added, “It is extremely positive that our commitment to negotiations, which brought us agreement on revisions to employee terms and conditions, has now brought us to a set of proposals that may enable us to reach this further negotiated settlement. Our commitment to talks has paid off and we are delighted to have reached a position that our trades unions feel they can take to their membership to seek their views.”
Agreement was reached on 11 July in relation to the changes to employees’ terms and conditions, and this was ratified through trades union membership consultation in August. The trades unions will now consult with their membership once more on the current proposals in relation to changes to the redundancy framework payments.
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