The largest union in local government says strikes are set to go ahead after they rejected a revised pay offer in talks with the employer’s organisation Cosla today (Friday).
UNISON say that in cash terms Cosla’s revised 1 year offer of 3.2% is no better than what was already on the table.
The union say that waste, recycling and street cleaners in 13 councils in Scotland have voted to strike, and they will be balloting 38,000 school, early years and family centre staff next week.
UNISON Scotland local government lead David O’Connor said: “Cosla’s revised offer puts absolutely no more money on the table. They have not moved one iota since we advised them that we are preparing for strikes.
At today’s talks (Friday) we told them local government staff are looking for a pay deal that addresses a cost-of-living crisis and that the value of their pay has dropped 25% over the past 14 years.”
UNISON Scotland local government committee chair, Colette Hunter said: “Cosla have refused our offer to make joint representations to the Scottish government to discuss local government funding.
“We cannot go on like this. We are seeing year on year cuts to local services and we need to fix the serious recruitment and retention issues across local government. We know councils are struggling to recruit carers, social workers and school staff. These are the essential services we all rely on. Local government can no longer be neglected like this.”
Notes for editor
-UNISON is the largest union in local government. Its members work in education, social care, NHS, police staff, utilities and energy.
– Read Cosla’s full revised offer here
– On Wednesday we announced that council waste, recycling and street cleaning staff (in 13 councils and one arms length employer) have voted in an official ballot to strike. Yesterday (Thursday) in response, Cosla issued a revised 1-year pay offer of 3.2%.
– Cosla’s previous offer was a two-stage offer, which covers an 18-month period. This would give a 2.2% increase for the first six months and an additional 2% for the subsequent 12 months, ending in September next year. This was rejected by UNISON members in a consultative ballot.
– Councils where UNISON has a mandate for strike action in waste, recycling and street cleaning are: 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, West Lothian Council, and Cireco.