We have just been advised of the outcome of the UNISON ballot for industrial action as follows
Voted ‘yes’ to strike action = 70.2 per cent
Voted ‘no’ to strike action = 29.8 per cent
Turnout = 14.5%
The Trade Union Act 2016 requires that for any strike action to be lawful at least 50% of the members entitled to cast a vote must do so. As the turnout has clearly failed to reach the 50 per cent threshold, UNISON cannot now proceed with industrial action related to the 2021 NJC pay offer. UNISON’s national local government committee will be meeting next Tue 18 January to discuss next steps.
GMB
GMB’s national local government committee will be meeting in the next couple of weeks to discuss its next steps in light of the result of its consultative ballot the outcome of which has not been advised.
UNITE
Unite is currently in the process of issuing strike ballot notices to employers and will begin balloting its members in the next week or so. Unlike UNISON, which conducted an aggregated ballot (meaning it required at least 50 per cent of its national membership to cast a vote), Unite’s results will be collated on a disaggregated basis, which means that strike action could be taken at each individual council / school etc where a turn-out of at least 50 per cent is secured (if members vote in favour of strike action).
The National Employers will be meeting on 31st January.
We will issue further updates as soon as possible.