UNIONS have warned bin strikes could run till November as fresh talks with the Deputy First Minister to resolve a council workers pay dispute failed.
Edinburgh was warned that a decontamination process is not expected to resolve the "risk to human health" warning over the capital's rubbish-strewn streets before a new wave of strikes starts next Tuesday.
It came as a two-week strike in the capital concluded yesterday and a clean-up operation began as waste and cleansing services resumed.
But Unite cleansing staff in 13 other local authorities, including Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee finish an eight-day action today (Wednesday).
A new offer of a 5% increase with a varying one-off payment was put forward, with Unite saying that for the lower paid it is estimated to be around £989.
But all three dispute unions, Unite, GMB Scotland and UNISON Scotland rejected the deal in the latest round of talks with the local government body COSLA.
And further talks with John Swinney have failed to deliver a breakthrough.
GMB Scotland said the Deputy First Minister said there was no more money to offer, but the union was "clear the existing offer is not in the words of COSLA bosses, “as good as it gets”.
And Wendy Dunsmore, Unite's industrial officer, has warned of a "winter of discontent" if the dispute over pay is not resolved after the latest round of talks failed to reach an agreement.
She said it could run into October and November if a deal is not reached between the parties involved.
Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.
She said: "Yes, we are absolutely resolute that this is going to be a winter of discontent and will escalate but we are hoping against all hope that the Scottish Government and Cosla will see sense and get back around the table with proper rise for the lowest paid within local authorities.
"There are no rounds of talks organised, as far as I'm aware, but we are urging the Scottish Government and COSLA to get back around the table and take part in meaningful negotiations. We will talk to anyone that will get this to an end, we'll go to any meeting, anytime, anywhere."
GMB Scotland said they were against a cross-the-board percentage pay increase which would see the richest get richer and the poorer get poorer.
"The prospect of a heads of service getting four times more money than a bin collector, school cleaner or home carer is simply not credible," said a union source.
“It can be better for the lowest paid frontline workers in local government, if the offer puts more consolidated money into their salaries instead of the pockets of the highest paid.
“GMB hopes the Deputy First Minister carries that message to COSLA and we are giving COSLA chiefs every opportunity to do the right thing.”
According to the Scottish Government, the deal included a payment of at least £1,925 for council staff, with those earning £20,000 receiving £2,000.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said all options in making more funding available amid the strikes have been "exhausted".
She tweeted: "The new offer on the table from COSLA is backed by a further £200m of [Scottish Government] funding over this and next year. This ensures that the previous 5% offer is topped up to £1925 for all those earning below £39,000. For those earning £20,000 it delivers £2000, equivalent to 10%.
"I understand the pressures workers face which is why we have exhausted all options in last few days to make more funding available to support those on lowest incomes. If we could go further we would, but [Scottish Government budget is finite. I hope trade union members accept the offer."
So far only UNISON Scotland have said they will put their deal to the members through a consultative ballot, including a recommendation of rejection.
Some 25 of Scotland's 32 local authorities have been hit by the waste disposal strike, with various actions due to end over the next two days and resumed next week.
One three-day wave of action by UNISON Scotland and GMB Scotland ended on Monday.
Unite's ‘first wave’ of strike action in Edinburgh ended yesterday (Tuesday) A further wave of action from Unite waste staff is due to end today (Wednesday) But a further tranche of waste disposal action is scheduled by all the unions starting on September 6 and 7. Unite are planning an eight-day action, while GMB Scotland and UNISON Scotland's stoppage is scheduled for four days.
Public Health Scotland has warned of a human health risk from overflowing waste, and advised councils to decontaminate areas where bins have overflowed.
Hundreds of schools and nurseries are set to be closed when as part of the dispute, some 13 councils will be hit by an schools and early learning staff stoppage on September 6, 7 and 8.
Thousands of staff from all three unions that are in dispute will be taking part in the stoppage in Glasgow and East Renfrewshire.
At least one union will be orchestrating strikes by education workers in nine other council areas - Orkney Islands, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Clackmannanshire, Stirling and Inverclyde.
Unite staff employed by Tayside Contracts who provide catering and janitorial services to schools across Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross councils will also strike.
The first bin strike began in the capital city on August 18 in the midst of festival season, after the unions - the GMB, Unite and Unison - rejected an initial pay offer equivalent to a 3.5% increase.
COSLA said it was “disappointed” with the reaction from local government trade unions “to one of the best pay deals in decades”.
It said it involved “an overall package worth half a billion pounds, giving 5% to all staff plus an additional cost of living payment to our lowest paid employees”.
Katie Hagmann, COSLA’s resources spokesperson, said: “Council leaders have said consistently throughout these negotiations that we absolutely value and are grateful to all of our local government workforce.
“It is for this reason that we as employers have done everything possible to put the best offer we can to our workforce. But we are now at the absolute extremes of affordability, and this is already an offer which is stretching our already stretched finances like never before.
“This year’s offer is significantly better and different to previous offers and would have helped to support our council workforces across the country at this difficult time.”
Waste and recycling services strike
Unite
August 18-30: City of Edinburgh
August 24 to 31 (8 days action) - Aberdeen City, Angus, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian. September 6 to 13 September (8 days action) – Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Angus, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian.
UNISON
August 26 to 29 and September 7 to 10 - Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and South Lanarkshire.
GMB Scotland
August 26 to 29 and September 7 to 10 - Aberdeen City, Angus, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Glasgow, Inverclyde,Highland, Midlothian, Orkney, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Perth and Kinross, North Lanarkshire.
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