THE possibility of more industrial action by council workers has arisen following disappointment over a national pay deal.

Pay for most local government employees is based on a national agreement negotiated through the local Government Association, which has just offered a 1.75% pay increase for a majority of workers, with those on the lowest salary receiving a 2.75% rise - which has not gone down well with unions.

Earlier this year environment workers including bin collectors went on strike in Thurrock over planned changes to their terms and conditions under a council cost-saving proposal. They were members if the Unite union and currently members of the GMB union in the care sector are in the throes of considering their own industrial action in opposition to the same scheme.

Regarding the new national picture, Jim Kennedy, national officer at Unite, says as the pay offer represents a real-terms pay decrease and the union is set to recommend members vote against the offer at their national committee next week.

He said: "I expect it to be rejected.

"I have spoken to some of our activists who expressed anger and unhappiness from what has been proposed from employers, and we will have to address that when we meet on Tuesday."

Mr Kennedy said that employers also refused to discuss a proposed payment allowance, in addition to base salaries to cover the extra costs of home working.

He added: "We will have to look at all options, and that would be up to and including industrial action."

The LGA said that the pay proposal will increase the national pay bill by around £328m.

In a statement, it said: "The National Employers hope that the unions accept this final offer so that employees, who are providing such critical support to their communities during the pandemic, can receive a pay rise as soon as practicable."

But Kennedy said comments made by employers praising the work of employees through Covid-19 ring hollow, when a real-terms pay increase is not proposed.

He told the Public Finance website: "The people who deliver the services are not those counsellor reps that sit around the table, nor the local government employees' civil servants who we deal with directly.

"They do not actually deliver any tangible benefit to the communities throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is local government workers that do that.

"The fact that these people have decided they are not worth a pay rise, they are only worth a pay cut is a scandal."

Unions asked the Local Government Association last month to back proposals to make the government provide additional funds to finance the wage rise, but this was rejected by the organisation.The last pay offer of 1.5% was rejected by unions in May, which was labelled "insulting" and amounted to an increase of just £1.03 a day for the lowest paid workers.

Unions have previously called for a 10% pay rise for all council and school support employees in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, lifting all workers to £10 per hour - above the national living wage threshold.