Union threatens industrial action if Sheffield Council cleaners are not paid more

The union said the authority was breaching the national pay deal by refusing to pay both the past two years’ wage increases to the lowest paid workers, despite committing to following the nationally negotiated pay structure for all council workers.

Will Dalton, GMB organiser, said: “It’s shocking that once again the council is refusing to pay its own staff what they are owed.

“These workers, who are overwhelmingly women, are being underpaid on a technicality, leaving them 61p an hour worse off than their colleagues.”

Council cleaners have been paid £9.90 per hour since April 2022 despite the lowest pay point on the council’s scale being £10.51 per hour, the union claimed.

It said the council argued it did not have to provide the rest because these workers were TUPE transferred having been previously outsourced.

GMB raised a collective dispute over the matter and said it will move to industrial action if the issue is not resolved.

Elyse Senior-Wadsworth, Sheffield Council’s head of human resources, said their pay was being reviewed and no decisions had yet been made.

She said: “Sheffield Council is still in discussion with GMB and remains committed to finding an appropriate way forward for this group of staff.”

The council is set to decide a new leader tomorrow following another election that resulted in no overall control.

Mr Dalton called on the new leader to publicly commit to resolving this issue.