Pay talks continue at Somerset Regional Council

The Services Union is by your side for as long as it takes to get the right deal for you at Somerset Regional Council. While we’re only two meetings in, we’ve had positive discussions with the Council around your claims for a better TOIL clause and Working From Home provisions. We will continue these discussions when we resume negotiations this Thursday.

However, the Council has rejected your claim for a 36.25-hour week with no reduction in overall earnings. We have also had to take issue with the Council’s approach to respective pay offers for indoor and outdoor staff. At this stage, the Council has tabled the following for indoor staff:

  • 4% from July 2023
  • 4% from July 2024
  • 3% from July 2025
  • Plus additional ‘cost of living adjustment’ payment each year, to a maximum of 1.5% (capped), if CPI in the relevant year is higher than the above.

The issue with the above offer is that the Council has already agreed to the following increases for outdoor employees:

  • 7% for year one
  • 4% for year two
  • 3% or CPI capped at 4.5% for year three

The Council believes it is justified in offering more to your outdoor colleagues because our Union was able to negotiate an uncapped CPI safety net into your last pay increase under the current Certified Agreement. This approach ignores the fact that right now, CPI is sitting at 7% nationally. Clearly our Union is not going to sign you up to this sort of arrangement. We will advise you of the outcome of Thursday’s discussions, but in the meantime please discuss this update with your colleagues. If you work with someone who is not yet a member and wants a fair pay increase, joining is easy online.



Above: Secretary Neil Henderson and Somerset Regional Council members.