Industrial action looms as Unite members reject public sector pay deal

Unite’s public sector workers have rejected the pay increase announced by the Gibraltar Government during the Budget, with the union saying it had “a clear mandate for industrial action”.

The ballot, conducted on July 9, found 84% of participants rejected the offer, with only 16% voting to accept it.

The turnout was 48% of the 2,823 eligible voters.

“The union had an industrial imperative to establish whether members accepted or rejected the pay proposal announced in Budget in the short window between Budget and the pay settlement date of 1st August which necessitated a truncated ballot period,” said Stuart Davies, Unite’s National Officer for Gibraltar.

“We have once again seen really positive engagement with members across public sector workplaces and a spike in recruitment into the union through the ballot.”

“The Unite Public Sector Pay Working Group convened today to discuss the ballot outcome and next steps.”

“In light of the overwhelming rejection of the pay proposal and the mandate for industrial action, the union has written to the Chief Minister today to establish the trade dispute between Unite & HMGOG on the issue of Public Sector Pay.”

“In that correspondence we have invited HMGOG back to the negotiating table to exercise dispute resolution to explore whether a solution can be found and industrial action avoided.”

“As a result of the ballot, Unite will be engaging with shop stewards and members across the public sector to develop and agree the shape of industrial action on the important issue of public sector pay and to improve the proposed position on recovery of the real terms losses in pay since 2019.”

Mr Davies told Mr Picardo that Unite “has absolute confidence” that a longer ballot period would have resulted in a higher turnout, but with the same level of rejection.