UNISON, GMB and Unite represent a large number of Bath and North East Somerset Council workers who provide a wide range of vital local services.

We write to draw your readers' attention to the anger being felt by our members over the 2009/10 pay offer.

Local government employers have offered to make an across-the-board pay increase of 0.5 per cent. A 0.5 per cent increase for our lowest paid members only increases their hourly rate by 3p – from £6.22 to £6.25 an hour – or £11,995 to £12,175 a year.

This offer will remain on the table until 1 June. If a negotiated settlement has not been achieved by that date, the offer will be withdrawn and there will be no pay rise for 2009/10. The employers have also made it clear they will not return to arbitration if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached.

We believe the Local Government Employers' deadline runs counter to a constructive approach to industrial relations in local government. We have rejected both the offer and the timeline but have entered willingly into meaningful negotiations to resolve the dispute.

We are aware that over 200 authorities have budgeted, on average, for a 2.2 per cent pay increase for 2009/10. We know that a higher increase is affordable. Bath and North East Somerset Council has budgeted for 2 per cent. MPs have recently given themselves a 2.33 per cent pay increase. We also know that councillor allowances, in many local authorities, have risen dramatically in recent years. A higher increase is just and makes sense.

We know we are in difficult times but council finances are not in the terrible position they are made out to be. Local authority workers are responsible for the £5 billion in efficiency savings made by local government since 2004, 50% more than was asked for by the government. A higher increase is affordable.

Our members face rising levels of debt, low morale and the fear of redundancy. The offer does nothing to motivate staff to meet rising demand for council services during a recession. Thirty per cent of our members regularly work unpaid overtime to keep vital public services ticking over and we are constantly being asked to do more for less. A higher increase is necessary.

A 0.5 per cent increase will do nothing to support our local economy and neither will redundancies. Other public sector workers, already higher paid (apart from those in sixth form colleges), are receiving higher pay increases this year – NHS workers are receiving 2.4 per cent, local authority workers in Scotland 2.5 per cent and the police are getting 2.6 per cent. A higher increase is fair.

Social workers, benefits clerks, housing workers, teaching assistants, refuse collectors and the hundreds of other council employees keep our community ticking over, day in, day out.

You can support our campaign for a fair deal over pay and an improvement in council services by writing to your local councillor and MP.

Joy Davis,

Unison,

Keynsham.