Parking restrictions and charges remain in place during strike action on November 4th

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. Wiltshire Council will have staff monitoring its parking sites across the county.

The industrial action relates to proposals to make changes to the council’s current unsocial, standby and callout policies. Since December 2021, Wiltshire Council has been consulting with its recognised unions (UNISON, Unite the Union and GMB) regarding changes to some terms and conditions. The council needs to make these changes to ensure policies are standardised, fit for purpose, and financially viable and support the delivery of its Business Plan while ensuring staff are fairly and appropriately rewarded.

In August 2022, following working group meetings with the unions, the council put forward amended proposals, including a generous offer of four years’ pay protection for staff who the proposed changes to the unsocial hours policy would impact.

The unions balloted their members on the proposal, which resulted in Unison and Unite the Union receiving a mandate from their members to agree to the changes; however, GMB members did not agree.

Since then, the council had been engaged with GMB in a process of dispute resolution, which ACAS has facilitated, but this ended without a resolution being found.

Terence Herbert, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Council, said: “While the strike is being held on 4th November, 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.

“For the sake of the wellbeing of our staff, and our need to ensure our policies are fit for purpose, we have also been clear that this matter cannot remain unresolved indefinitely. The existing terms and conditions are not financially sustainable in their current form.

“Throughout this process we have strictly adhered to employment law and always will. We have been seeking to reach collective agreement, but to date the unions have not provided any alternative feasible proposals, although Unison and Unite did get a mandate to agree to the proposed changes. It’s important to note there will be no immediate dismissal and offer of re-engagement (also called ‘fire and re-hire’) despite the unions stating that this will be the approach.

"Our absolute preference remains to reach collective agreement but if this is not possible then we will seek to reach agreement with staff on an individual basis. We remain open to alternative proposals from the unions that meet our business objectives. We have been speaking to affected staff to provide them with all the information they need, and will continue to do so.

“It is in everyone’s best interests that this is resolved as quickly and fairly as possible and we’ll continue to work hard to achieve this.”