A UNION says 26 of Scotland's 32 councils face targeted action after rejecting a "derisory" two per cent pay off and have voted for industrial action.
The trade union which represents thousands of local government workers balloted its members in schools and cleansing across all Scottish councils.
And they say 26 councils are now set to be hit by industrial action.
They are Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, City of Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, Highland, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.
Unite’s members employed by Tayside Contracts have also voted in favour of industrial action which will result in schools in Perth and Kinross Council now being impacted.
Unions are to finalise the strike dates in the coming week with action in refuse and waste services expected to begin in mid-August.
Action specifically impacting schools is expected to begin in early September.
Unite says it has repeatedly warned both the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) that the current two per cent offer is unacceptable amid the deepening cost of living crisis with inflation at 9.4%.
Unite said it welcomed movement by COSLA in calling for a higher pay offer of 5 per cent if the Scottish Government allocates extra cash to fund an improved pay offer.
However, the trade union is demanding that council leaders fight harder for a fairer share for local government workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The message for both the Scottish Government and COSLA is crystal clear: thousands upon thousands of members won’t tolerate real terms pay cuts anymore, and they have had enough. Our members are being forced to take this action due to a derisory pay offer, and we will support them in this fight for better jobs, pay and conditions in local government.”
It is reported that more than half of Scotland’s 250,000 council workers are earning less than £25,000 a year for a 37-hour week. Unite previously warned all new council leaders if they do not act to improve pay, they will see strikes this summer.
Wendy Dunsmore, Unite industrial officer, added: “Our members are at the end of their patience. They are being forced to take this action due to being completely undervalued despite working throughout the pandemic. Let’s be clear here: a 2% pay offer when the broader cost of living is at 11.8% is a punishing real terms pay cut. In the coming weeks we will now plan for targeted strike action in 26 councils across Scotland and the blame for this lies squarely with COSLA and the First Minister.”
Unite said local government emerged as the biggest loser from the latest Scottish Government spending review with its funding frozen for the rest of the parliament.
Scottish Conservative shadow social justice secretary Miles Briggs said: “Everything possible must be done to prevent this damaging strike action going ahead.
“The prospect of school closures at the start of the new term is particularly concerning given the huge disruption the pandemic has already caused to our children’s education.
“All parties must get round the negotiating table to thrash out a deal – especially the SNP Government.
“It’s shameful of them to try to pass the buck to COSLA and the unions to resolve this dispute. Afterall, it’s the SNP’s systematic underfunding of local authorities year after year – including an estimated £251 million real-terms cut in the latest settlement – that has left councils unable to fund wage increases.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel