Parking restrictions and charges remain in place during strike action

Wednesday, 7 December 2022 00:00

Wiltshire Council is reminding people that all parking restrictions and car parking charges remain in place across the county from 10-17 December, when there is a planned strike by some GMB union members in the parking enforcement team.

Despite the planned industrial action, all parking restrictions remain in place, including car parking charges, and enforcement with the possibility of a penalty charge notice being issued will continue.

The industrial action relates to proposals to change the council’s current unsocial, standby and callout policies. The unions and their members previously agreed upon a two-year increment freeze and changes to overtime policies for staff. The council needs to change some staff policies to ensure they reward staff fairly and consistently for their work while enabling services to work in a more agile and effective way to deliver its Business Plan aims. There are no proposals to cut the base pay of any council staff.

In October, following many months of negotiations, a revised proposal was accepted by UNISON and Unite the Union but rejected by GMB. With the internal process now exhausted, the council will attempt to reach an agreement with GMB by holding ACAS-facilitated conciliation meetings in line with the council’s recognition agreement. The first of those meetings is due to be held later this week.

Terence Herbert, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Council, said: “While the strike is being held, car park users should continue to pay for parking as normal, as all charges and restrictions remain in place, and we will have staff monitoring the sites.

“We recognise the rights of GMB members to strike at this time but do not feel that this action will help to move us forward to a resolution to this matter, as we are continuing to try to find a way forward through the ACAS-facilitated conciliation process.

“It’s important to stress that our generous four-year pay protection offer was agreed by UNISON and Unite the Union but rejected by GMB, despite their initial positive reaction to it.

“We hope to resolve this as soon as possible as we know the longer the situation continues, the more impact it will have on the wellbeing of our staff.

“We thank our staff for their continued professionalism.”