Northumberland County Council drop plans to change employee benefit after union opposition
Northumberland County Council has dropped plans to reduce a key employee benefit after proposals were met with opposition by a trade union.
The council had been considering plans to cut Pay Protection of staff from a period of three years to as little as 12 months.
Members of UNISON had been calling for the proposed cut to be withdrawn, putting the council in dispute with members.
Pay protection is a policy which allows employees to maintain their salary and benefits for a set period after a change in their job. If a staff member was moved to a job on a lower grade, they would keep the higher wage for the period of payment protection.
The council is currently undergoing a major revamp to modernise the way of working at the local authority, known as the BEST programme. UNISON has said it is supportive of this, provided the terms of conditions of members are protected.
A spokesman for UNISON said: “It is testament to the positive working relationship between UNISON and Northumberland County Council that this dispute was resolved so quickly last week.
“The collective strength of over 2,000 UNISON members coming together to oppose the proposed cut prompted the Council to withdraw their plans before matters escalated further. This is a huge win for UNISON members, who are rightly proud they have stopped such a negative proposal being progressed.”
A council spokesman added: “We have been in discussions with UNISON for some time around an employment support package for staff and pay protection was just one element of this. However there are no plans to progress with any changes to this at this time.”