Antoinette Jackson

A shake-up of staff pay, terms and conditions at Cambridge City Council has been agreed by the trade unions.

More than 70 per cent of members of GMB and Unison who were balloted on whether they agreed to the changes have voted in favour.

Proposals, which affect 1,042 workers as well as directors and heads of services, include:

* A reduction in the number of points in each of the 1 to 9 pay scale bands - although no one’s salary will go down;

* Overtime from Monday to Friday to be paid at normal time rates rather than an increased rate;

* Mileage to be paid at national standard rates.

Chief executive Antoinette Jackson said: “The main reason for doing this review has been to make sure we have fair and equal terms and conditions for all staff.

“The recognised trade unions – UNISON and the GMB – have been fully engaged with us in negotiations on these issues and have just undertaken a ballot of their members.

“We are very pleased that members of both trade unions have voted to accept the proposed package and will now move forward to implement changes to staff terms and conditions from June 2012.

“I would like to thank the trade unions for the work that they have undertaken with the council over a number of months which has enabled us to achieve this change by collective agreement.”

Tom Woodcock, secretary of the Cambridge and District Trades Union Council, believes any proposal affecting staff pay and conditions is “unnecessary and unacceptable”.

He said: “Ordinary people are taking pay cuts because of the ongoing greed of bankers. The council should be fighting the Government and not pushing through their demands.”

The council will now move forward to implement changes, designed to achieve savings over a five-year period, from June 2012.