THOUSANDS of low-paid local government workers got an early Christmas present today (Tuesday, December 18), as the last trade union holding out against a new pay deal voted to accept the package.

The big GMB and Unison unions at Durham County Council backed a new pay structure affecting about 8,900 workers earlier this year but the deal had been held up because the Unite branch, which is believed to have only about 150 members, voted against.

Liberal Democrat councillors had claimed Unite was holding the council to ransom and it should consider de-recognising the union.

However, Unite decided to re-ballot its members and the result, announced today (Tuesday, December 18), was a 62 per cent vote in favour of accepting the deal.

Union leaders and council chiefs are expected to formally seal the deal tomorrow.

The ‘single status’ pay dispute has been rumbling since 1997. The reforms were due to be introduced by July 2007 and many councils have already done so.

For Durham, it will mean a pay cut for 1,800 workers, an increase for more than 2,500 and no change for about 4,600. It is set to increase the council’s annual wage bill by at least £6.7m.

Those affected include social workers, highways workers, bin men and caretakers.

The deal as it stood in February included 14 pay grades from £12,145 to £41,616, with each grade including at least five levels.

Don McLure, the council’s corporate director of resources, said he was delighted at today’s development, the council was on course to formalise the implementation of the proposals tomorrow and it would update all employees on the implementation process before the end of the week.

Mike Routledge, a regional officer for Unite, said his members had a democratic right to vote how they wished and he was happy to implement whatever they decided.

He said he believed the council’s pledge, made earlier this month, to look into introducing a living wage, currently £7.45 an hour, may have swayed how people voted.

The deal should now be backdated to October 1. Council chiefs had set a deadline of December 31 for agreement to be reached.