Council workers in Scotland are to be balloted on industrial action after a pay offer rejected by Unison was imposed on Friday.
Council leaders agreed that the Scottish Joint Council (SJC) pay offer, which has been accepted by the GMB and Unite unions, should be implemented to ensure employees receive their pay uplift and backpay without further delay.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) has said the SJC pay award of 3.6% or £0.67 – whichever is higher – offers a fair, above-inflation and strong settlement, describing it as at the “absolute limit of affordability”.
But Unison Scotland’s local government lead, David O’Connor, said the union was finalising a timetable to ballot members on strike action. “Just two days ago, Cosla’s lead negotiator Katie Hagmann and the cabinet secretary for local government Shona Robison assured the union they were committed to a negotiated settlement,” he said on Friday.
Council workers’ pay
“Now, they’ve resorted to some of the worst employment practices by imposing this deal. They should be utterly ashamed of themselves.”
Hagmann, Cosla’s resources spokesperson, said: “The offer is worth 4.27% across the workforce and is aligned to the pay award for teaching staff, which has been agreed with the Teachers’ Panel. Importantly, over 75% of the SJC workforce will receive an uplift above 3.6% – with up to 5.63% for the lowest paid at the request of all trade unions.”
She said that council leaders had fully considered the views of the three trade unions, including a desire from GMB and Unite for the offer to be implemented as soon as possible.
She added: “This does not mean that discussions will end. Cosla remains fully committed to the negotiation process and we will continue dialogue with all our trade union partners, with the ambition to reach a collective agreement, if at all possible.”
Unison has compared the pay rise for council workers with the 5.5% increase awarded to NHS employees in Scotland.
Cosla argued that a larger increase would mean more cuts in services or job losses. Workers affected by the pay rise include refuse workers, catering staff, early years workers and non-teaching staff in schools.
Scotland’s finance and local government secretary Shona Robison said: “The decision made by council leaders to implement the local government pay offer will halt any further delays and get pay in the pockets of valued workers – including those who need it most – before Christmas.
“While this government fully respects the decision by Unison members to reject the offer, no one’s interests will be served by industrial action.
“I hope that Unison members recognise the strength of this offer which has already been accepted by GMB and Unite. The pay offer is better than that made to local government workers in the rest of the UK.”
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