COUNCIL employees from across the West Midlands are set to lobby at a meeting of the Local Government Association (LGA) in Oldbury this morning (Friday, July 21).

Members of the LGA are meeting at Sandwell Council House to discuss the current play claim, which has been submitted by the unions of UNISON, Unite and GMB.

The claim for the year from next April seeks to move the lowest paid staff onto the real living wage of £8.45 an hour. In addition the unions want all employees to receive a five per cent pay rise.

It follows eight years of government-imposed pay restraint, which have seen wages either frozen or held to a one per cent increase.

Claire Campbell, UNISON West Midlands regional head of local government, said: “Local government has the lowest paid workers in the public sector.

“Many council employees and their families are struggling to keep afloat. With every price increase, their standard of living gets worse.

“This lobby is part of an ongoing campaign to ensure local government workers are paid a fair wage for the work they do.

“These are the people who clean our streets, open our libraries and look after our young people, and after enduring eight years of real pay cuts they deserve so much better.”