Thousands of workers could down tools across the city after council bosses announced further delays to ending the equal pay crisis.
GMB Union, Birmingham City Council’s largest staff union, has today announced that thousands of workers across the council will begin a ballot for strike action.
The news comes on the eve of crunch budget talks at the authority after council bosses announced a further delay to settling outstanding equal pay claims.
GMB has called on council leaders to urgently announce a timetable for settling the authority’s £760 million equal pay liability, only for council representatives to respond that settlement talks would be pushed back.
The ballot will begin on Tuesday 12 December and run until mid-January 2024 with more than 3,000 Birmingham City Council workers being asked to have their say on strike action.
Rachel Fagan, GMB Union, 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.”
