Electricians in Sandwell submitted a claim for a re-grade back in April 2018. It took management 18 months to exhaust their own internal procedure that should take no more than two months. After rejecting the claim, Electricians called for an industrial action ballot. Their claim, if successful, would simply put Electricians pay in Sandwell on par with that of Walsall, Wolverhampton and Dudley (all who currently pay more).
The ballot results for UNISON, on a 94% turnout, were 100% for action short of strike action and 100% for strike action.
Action short of strike action will commence early in the new year, backed up with strike action later. Unite and GMB are currently balloting their members. It is expected the whole group will take strike action together as one.
UNISON calls upon councillors to intervene to avoid an unnecessary dispute.