Social housing maintenance facing 'significant disruption' as Leeds City Council staff to vote on strike action

Over 250 craft workers in Leeds - made up largely of maintenance staff - will be balloted for strike action in the coming weeks after claims that discussions over pay have been a “disgrace”.

Unite the union has said that the dispute comes after the Local Government Association (LGA), who handle local council workers' pay, put forward a full and final “below RPI” offer of 3.2 per cent for 2025 without any negotiations.

The staff members at Leeds City Council are part of over 1,000 local authority workers being balloted initially, with other members at councils in Durham, Stoke, Dudley, Southwark, Newham and Bristol also being approached.

The LGA has said it is “disappointed” by the move and urged staff to accept the “long overdue” pay offer.

Unite said that LGA has also removed apprentices from the national agreement and put a new entrant on the same pay scale as a craft operative.

A Unite spokesperson said: “The LGA is also seeking to impose NJC job evaluation, which (we are) concerned could be used unfairly, will result in cuts in pay and dilute the level of service delivered to the public.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "The way the LGA has conducted pay negotiations has been nothing short of a disgrace.

"Craft workers who do difficult and highly skilled jobs deserve better than the LGA playing politics with their livelihoods and imposing a poor pay offer without negotiations. They will have Unite's full backing throughout this dispute which is of the LGA's own making."

Unite said that it has made several attempts to negotiate with the LGA, which is “refusing to honour the disputes process by constantly rejecting offers”.

The workers in question are on the red book agreement, which covers local authority craftworkers who are primarily involved in housing maintenance work, such as plumbing and heating engineering.

Ballots will open from 19 February and close on 26 March. It is possible that more councils will follow.

As red book craft workers are responsible for the upkeep of local authority housing, Unite has said that strike action will “cause significant disruption to key services involved in maintaining people's homes”.

Unite national officer for construction Jason Poulter said: "Craft workers play an essential role in maintaining council homes and deserve to have these skills recognised with a fair pay offer.

"These strikes will be very disruptive in the areas we have targeted for ballots, but it is entirely the fault of the LGA which has consistently refused to negotiate with Unite despite several attempts on our part to stop this dispute.

"Through its actions during this dispute, it has treated our members with contempt. Strike action can be avoided, but that relies on the LGA changing tack and coming to the table."

A spokesperson for the National Employers said: “We are disappointed that Unite’s decision to ballot its members in seven councils means all Craftworkers face even more delay in receiving their long-overdue 3.2 per cent pay award. We again urge Unite to join with GMB in accepting the offer”

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: "We are aware that Unite the union intend to ballot their craftworker members at the council. This relates to a national pay dispute affecting a number of local authorities."