Where next after ballot rules thwart council and school pay strikes?

Teaching assistants in Camden, north London, on the picket line (Picture: Guy Smallman)

The Unison union’s ballot of over 200,000 council and school workers across over 500 branches closed last Thursday after four weeks.

Details of branch results had begun to trickle in, as Socialist Worker went to press on Tuesday afternoon.

Only a very small minority appear to have made it over the 50 percent turnout threshold for strikes, required under a Tory law that Labour has failed to abolish.

Activists have reported several hurdles to getting the vote out.

Liz Wheatley is the Unison branch secretary at Camden council, north London, where workers voted by 87.3 percent for strikes on a 39.2 percent turnout.

She explained that members not receiving their postal ballot, and a shorter ballot period, made it harder to get the vote up.  

“There was an issue of people not receiving their ballot paper in time,” she said.

“Lots of people told us that they didn’t get original or replacement ballot papers—more than we’ve experienced in the past.”

Several Unison members across branches in England and Wales have reported the same problem with postal ballots. 

This is down to Royal Mail bosses who have made deliveries less frequent and slower due to outsourcing and cuts.

Keir Starmer had pledged to remove the 50 percent turnout thresholds imposed in the Trade Union Act 2016. But Labour has repeatedly dragged its feet despite the Employment Rights Act 2026 passing.

Liz said, “It’s been 2 years since Labour got elected, and they keep delaying the removal of the thresholds.

“A Labour government doesn’t want strikes any more than a Tory government.

“I wasn’t surprised when Starmer didn’t remove the thresholds. But Burnham came into office saying that he wanted to make life better for working class people.

“There have been small changes, but one of the big things that he can do is to get rid of these 50 percent thresholds stopping us from fighting back over pay and against the cost of living crisis”.

The political context of the ballot is important. First, the “Burnham bounce” will have had an impact.

Andy Burnham has won support because he’s raised many working class people’s expectations that Labour will break with Keir Starmer’s legacy.

His measures on the cost of living crisis—such as a law making it easier to cancel subscriptions announced on Monday—aren’t adequate.

But Burnham has pitched leftwards—rhetorically at least—and many will hope that he will deliver.

Second, Unison members in local government have not held a national strike since 10 July 2014.

Up to 1.5 million council, school and civil service workers and firefighters in Unison, NUT, PCS, Unite and FBU struck over pay on that day. They were due to come out again alongside health workers in October.

The Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, and the bureaucracy gleefully pulled the plug that summer and pushed a bad deal. When members overturned it at a special conference, the union machine refused to act.

Only a year later, the Tories began pushing the Trade Union Act that brought in the 50 percent thresholds.

Prentis and Co slapped their backs over winning minor concessions, but didn’t mount a serious fight over thresholds.

In truth, sections of the bureaucracy were happy with the 50 percent rule because it provides the perfect alibi whenever they don’t want to lead a fight.

The lack of national action, due to the barriers placed on it by the Tory laws, has an impact on confidence and organisation at the base.

After years of below-inflation offers and national ballots not beating the turnout thresholds, confidence has been eroded.

The bureaucracy has presided over a lack of struggle, despite the financial crisis ripping through local government, for more than a decade. 

Unison is now led by left winger Andrea Egan, who won the general secretary election against incumbent Christina McAnea last year.

Egan has championed strikes and a fight over pay—and pushed for it at the Unison conference this summer.

But that doesn’t mean the Unison officialdom is on side.

The bureaucracy did not throw its weight behind a national pay campaign—for example, with mass rallies—to mobilise members and turn yes voters into yes activists.

In some areas, activists report that the union helped their branch get the vote up, while in others regional officials didn’t dedicate their time to the ballot.

What next? First, Unison should call strikes in branches that did make it over the threshold.

Any workers’ fightback can become a focal point for resistance and inspire others to take action over pay.

Second, Unison should take advantage of the changes in the Employment Rights Act 2026 that come into force on 25 August.

Electronic balloting is already used in indicative ballots, which generally record a higher turnout because it’s easier to get the vote out. If balloted electronically, more branches would have made it across the line.

Liz argued, “We should look at using electronic re-balloting after we look at the details of the ballot. If a number of branches got as close as we did in Camden, then there may still be an appetite for strike.”

There should be a serious discussion among activists about the lessons of winning ballots.

Elections to the Unison national executive committee (NEC) are set to take place next year. Supporters of Time For Real Change, a left wing grouping in Unison, will be standing in the elections.

The left winning a majority on the NEC would make a difference, but the question is what is its strategy?

The left having a majority on a national executive doesn’t mean that officials are on side.

Winning positions on the NEC is not an end in itself, but a means to boosting struggle and building confidence and organisation at the base.

Building strikes wherever possible, and struggles around both economic and political questions, can produce new activists. 

There are major challenges ahead—but also important opportunities.

Burnham has already indicated that he’s not willing to challenge big business and the bond markets.

The bottom line is workers cannot keep accepting low wages—and unions must lead that fightback.

• The Unite union is still currently balloting members in 22 councils until 17 August.