I would like to clear up some points raised in your report on Oxford City Council pay (a cash carrot for council workers, Oxford Mail January 15).

You refer to next year’s pay freeze. Our pay has already been frozen for a year and we cannot expect a pay rise for a further two years. With RPI inflation at 4.8 per cent and set to rise, this is a big pay cut in real terms.

However, UNISON members are not fighting this freeze on cost-of-living pay rises. Instead, it is the proposed freeze on incremental pay rises that we find unacceptable.

In line with most local authorities, Oxford City Council staff are not paid a fixed pay point but a grade, covering four or five incremental points.

With acceptable standards of work, staff can climb up through their grade as an acknowledgement of the value of their experience and a reward for loyalty.

A freeze on incremental progression would create injustice as some of us would earn less than other colleagues doing the same work, with no opportunity to close the pay gap over time.

Less than 16 months ago, ‘single status’ was introduced following a lengthy job evaluation exercise.

Single status aimed to eradicate unfairness in the council’s pay structure and ensure equal pay for work of equal value.

The multi-million-pound funding cut the coalition Government has imposed on the council is an outrage, but an increment freeze would make a mockery of single status and UNISON urges the council to reconsider.

Caroline Glendinning Branch Secretary Oxford City UNISON