Thousands of workers at Birmingham City Council begin voting in a strike ballot today after council bosses announced delays to ending its equal pay crisis.
The GMB union, the council’s largest trade union, announced the ballot as crunch budget talks take place today. In September, Birmingham City Council declared itself effectively bankrupt after revealing it does not have the funds to settle approximately £760 million in equal pay claims.
GMB had been calling on council leaders to urgently announce a timetable for settling the equal pay liability, only for council representatives to respond that settlement talks would be pushed back.
Birmingham strike ballot
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The council, the largest local authority in Europe, has said it is “committed to resolving historic equal pay issues”.
The ballot will run until mid-January with more than 3,000 workers being asked to have their say on strike action.
Rachel Fagan, GMB regional organiser for the Midlands, said: “Every single day, thousands of women across Birmingham are going to work and being underpaid because of the council’s failure to value their work properly and fairly.
“They’re owed millions of pounds from years of stolen wages, but they’ll now be plunged into a Christmas of uncertainty as council bosses refuse to come clean on the plan to pay them what they’re owed.
“With the eventual cost of settlement growing by the minute, the council’s unjustifiable decision to delay negotiations until next year puts services across the city under threat. It’s time for Birmingham City Council to get serious about settlement. GMB members will not back down until Brummies get what they’re owed.”
A council spokesperson said on Monday: “The council has been engaging with GMB on matters of equal pay since November 2021, and following the further agreement made with the trades unions in October 2023, has begun work on a new approach to job evaluation to settle Birmingham’s equal pay issues once and for all.
“The council would encourage GMB to explore solutions working together, as it remains committed to resolving historic equal pay issues, and settling all legitimate claims from our employees.”
In October, Birmingham City Council said it had reached a crucial agreement with the GMB, Unison and Unite unions over how jobs are graded, moving a step closer to settling its equal pay claims.
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