Bristol council staff could get £3,000 pay rise under 'weighting' plan
Unison says council workers deserve extra pay to cope with Bristol's high living costs
A trade union's call for city council workers to be paid thousands of pounds more because of the high cost of living in Bristol has been welcomed by councillors, despite warnings it could cost the local authority more than £14million a year.
Unison's petition is calling for a 'Bristol weighting', similar to the London weighting under which certain employees in the capital receive higher salaries to help cover living costs.
The petition has attracted more than 1,500 signatures, passing the threshold needed for it to be debated in public by Bristol City Council's human resources committee.
Unison says Bristol is the most expensive city in the country to rent in and the second most expensive to live in overall.
What the union told councillors
Unison area organiser Steve Mills addressed the committee in support of the petition.
He said: "Bristol is in a pickle.
"There is very high poverty, with high poverty of people in work as well.
"People look to local government to govern the city and support the citizens.
"I would like you to set up a working party with us, HR and yourselves to look into a Bristol weighting to offset this."
Mr Mills said the hope was that the council would take the lead on the issue and that other organisations and businesses would then follow its example.
He said: "Councillors as elected representatives have a duty to all citizens to alleviate poverty.
"London weighting was brought in by a local authority and has been very successful in retaining people.
"We have more billionaires than ever but more poverty than ever.
"This would go a small way to redressing that and putting Bristol at the forefront of changing this economic disaster that's happening in our country."
Cross-party support at the meeting
The committee met on Tuesday, 22nd September.
Committee chair Cllr Kerry Bailes, a Labour councillor for Hartcliffe & Withywood, said: "'A fair day's wage for a fair day's work' has long been a motto of the Labour movement and trade unions.
"This is the essence of what this petition's about.
"The London weighting was introduced as compensation for workers who had higher living costs than the rest of the country.
"Now Bristol is just as expensive to live in as London – one study found it was even more expensive.
"Is it fair that someone working in the same public sector role, for a council, in an environment that is just as expensive for them to live in, receives a smaller paycheque? For me, the answer is no.
"If it's good enough for London, it's good enough for Bristol."
Cllr Bailes said introducing a Bristol weighting was outside the committee's remit and that she hoped Unison would continue to raise it with the Green-led administration.
Cllr Shona Jemphrey, a Green councillor for Lawrence Hill, also backed the petition but set out the scale of the cost.
She said: "We have about 4,800 employees, so to up their salaries by £3,000 would cost £14.4million.
"But I agree that nobody should have to choose between living and working in the city."
According to Unison's petition, the London weighting typically adds between £3,000 and £7,000 to salaries, meaning the £14million figure put to the committee was a conservative estimate.
Cllr Zoe Peat, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston, said: "So many people are suffering. We just want to help people.
"Rent is only going to keep getting worse, wages are not improving in line with it and there is not enough housing stock.
"I would call for a cross-party collaboration because everyone has good ideas, and the only way we can help Bristolians is by working together."
Conservative call for tax cuts instead
Not all councillors backed extra council spending as the solution.
Cllr Richard Eddy, a Conservative councillor for Bishopsworth, said he had a great deal of sympathy for union members and their families.
He said: "Obviously everyone is affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
"The government raising the tax-free threshold could make more of a difference, and that ought to be done urgently."
Cllr Eddy said many hardworking council staff were not paid a "king's ransom" but that they did still benefit from a protected pension.
He said: "So there are benefits within the council that are much better than most of what the people who don't work in the public sector or the council get.
"I'm really concerned we are seeking purely to protect council employees, as hardworking as they are, and leaving the people of Bristol behind."
He said the Labour government should instead cut taxes and raise the income tax threshold on salaries.
What happens next
Councillors at the meeting broadly agreed that any Bristol weighting would need to be funded by central government, as the council said it did not have the money itself.
Unison's petition remains open and can be viewed on Bristol City Council's democracy website.