Unions divided on council offer

More than 600 key local government employees across 19 Scottish local councils have begun an indefinite strike after Unison rejected the latest pay offer of 6.1 per cent from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).

However, there has been a split among the unions, with the GMB and TGWU members accepting the offer which could produce problems for future negotiations.

Unison says it aims to disrupt "the work of councils and persuade them to put pressure on the leadership of Cosla to improve the offer".

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The current offer, which was 6.1 per cent split over two years, was rejected by 68 per cent of Unison members.

Unison’s Scottish organiser Joe Di Paola believes that "staff know that the new offer involved no new money, did nothing for the lower paid and locked them into a two year deal. That’s why they are angry about the way they are being treated".