Strike ballot result for schools, early years and family centre staff.
The national turnout was 42.5% with 92.7% of those who voted in favour of taking industrial action.
The branches with legal mandates for industrial action are: Perth & Kinross Council; Shetland Islands Council; Orkney Islands Council; East Renfrewshire Council; Angus Council
We conducted separate ballots for each council. To secure a strike mandate, unions need both a majority vote in favour of strike action and at least 50% voter turnout in each ballot. Although all branches supported strike action, only five councils met the legal threshold required to take action.
For information on the results of the ballot in your branch, please contact your branch directly.
Bin strikes suspended
COSLA presented an improved pay offer just days before our planned strikes by waste, recycling, and street cleaning staff. To give room for further negotiations, we’ve decided to pause the strike action.
Councils where UNISON has a mandate for strike action in waste, recycling and street cleaning: Clackmannanshire Council, Dumfries & Galloway Council, East Ayrshire Council, East Lothian Council, Fife Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council, Midlothian Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Perth & Kinross Council, South Lanarkshire Council, Stirling Council and West Lothian Council, plus Cireco, an arms-length waste management specialist company.
All local government consultative email ballot result
UNISON local government members have voted overwhelmingly to reject Cosla’s latest pay offer, with 86% of those balloted choosing to reject.
This ballot email ballot was to all local government workers. Thank you to the thousands of you who voted. Over 50% of you voted in this ballot.
UNISON has mandates for strike action by waste and recycling workers at 13 councils, and for education and early years staff at five councils.
COSLA’s improved pay offer
Why This Matters:
Fair pay: The offer includes a £0.67 uplift per hour or a 3.6% increase, whichever is higher. However, this falls short given our 25% real-terms pay cut over the last 14 years.
Staffing crisis: We face a severe staffing shortage, and this offer does not address the urgent need to retain and attract staff.
What happens now?
Your local government committee, made up of senior elected stewards from across Scotland, will discuss next steps and we will send you further information as soon as we can.
This pay offer clearly falls short given the 25% real-terms pay cut over the past 14 years, and that this offer is not in line with other public service workers, many of whom have been given 5.5% pay rises.
UNISON Scotland local government committee chair Colette Hunter said: “The last thing anyone wants to do is go on strike, but local government workers deserve a fair increase to stop their pay lagging further behind inflation, and the wage increases being given to other sectors of the economy.
“Council staff have seen the value of their pay fall, while being asked to do even more. They provide vital services to their communities by caring for the most vulnerable, educating children, waste and recycling and keeping people safe. Council workers deserve better.”
Pay Claim
The unions submitted their pay claim earlier this year. UNISON made it clear we want a deal agreed as close to the 1st April implementation date as possible. We are still in dispute.
“Local government workers are continuing to struggle with the cost-of-living crisis and UNISON has warned there is a real risk that workers will find better-paid, less-stressful work elsewhere if their pay continues to lose its value.”
The key elements of UNISON’s claim
UNISON says that an above-inflation pay increase is the only way to maintain the staff levels necessary to deliver services to the public, looking after the most vulnerable, giving children the education they need and keeping neighbourhoods safe.
- A one-year settlement that runs for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
- For those on the lowest pay – an above-inflation increase in line with the aspiration, agreed with UNISON in November 2023, to achieve implementation of a minimum rate of pay for all local government workers of £15 per hour by 1 April 26.
- An increase of 7% to all spinal column points (or an increase of £1.60 to the hourly rate whichever is greater) and related allowances.
- Urgent progress to be made on how we achieve a no detriment reduction in the working week to enable members to achieve a better work-life balance.
- A review of the scope and level of the Distant Islands Allowance.
- No less than parity with other local government bargaining groups.
You can read the claim in full here.
Lilian Macer, UNISON’s Scottish Secretary, said: ” Unless councils and schools can pay competitive rates, employees will find better-paid, less-stressful work elsewhere and new recruits will be thin on the ground.
“UNISON members tell us how they are struggling with the cost-of-living. Local government workers must be properly rewarded for the vital services they provide.”
Union and Cosla joint letter
UNISON signed a joint letter with Cosla and other unions to the Deputy First Minister, Shona Robison MSP, saying it is clear to both employers and unions “that funding levels for councils have not kept pace with increased demand for services.”
They say “Local Government is facing a cut in real terms to both core revenue and capital budgets. As a proportion of funding allocated to the Scottish Budget, the percentage for local government has declined.”
And that “this is impacted by both the growing need of services due to demographic pressures and the ongoing cost of living crisis.”
It is in everyone’s interest to achieve a sustainable settlement on pay at the earliest opportunity. The letter states: “Scottish Local Government settlements must be sustainable alongside the significant budget challenges facing councils and it is vital that the approach to our workforce is fair, acknowledging the essential front-line services that are delivered every day.”
CAMPAIGN RESOURCES
