星空传媒

In response to your editorial and article "Unison pay demand may scupper stock transfers"(2 May, page 7): Unison is pressing ministers and civil servants to ensure that the best value code is applied to all three proposed housing provision mechanisms.

To apply it only to two is unfair.

However, the article wrongly states that Unison general secretary Dave Prentis is "talking" to prime minister Tony Blair about the issue.

Unison is seeking clarification from the government on technical points on how the code applies to stock transfers.

Clearly, further negotiations are required and we hope that the government and social housing sector are prepared to keep an open mind and listen to our argument on why the code should apply to stock transfers.

Housing associations need not fear that the application of the code would "scupper future stock transfers".

The vast bulk of the transferring workforce would already be paid on local government conditions of service.

Staff are far less likely to resist transfer if they know the code will apply.