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Deputy First Minister agrees to meet unions as UNISON local govt committee reject revised offer from COSLA

UNISON, together with other local government trade unions, and representatives from COSLA will meet with the Deputy First Minister later today (Wednesday) to call for significantly increased funding to allow pay talks to continue.

UNISON, Scotland’s largest local government union, yesterday announced the latest strike dates which will disrupt schools, early years centres, nurseries and waste and recycling centres across Scotland in the coming weeks. This is the largest strike among council workers since the Trade Union Act was introduced in 2016 and UNISON’s mandate covers more than 13,000 workers across Scotland.

UNISON’s local government committee met this morning (Tuesday) to discuss the revised pay offer made yesterday by COSLA – the umbrella body representing council leaders – of a 5% undifferentiated rate for council workers. The committee agreed the offer is not good enough to put to members, noted that both parties had agreed to approach the Deputy First Minister to press for additional funding and strike action will continue as planned at present.

Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland’s head of local government, said: “A percentage increase would mean that those on the highest wages would get the highest pay increase while those on the lowest would receive the least – we believe that is completely unfair given the cost of living pressures affecting everyone right now. A flat-rate increase was a key element of our pay claim but the cost envelope that Leaders agreed last week was never going to be enough to provide members with a decent increase. Warm words don’t pay our members bills and we need the Deputy First Minister and COSLA to come up with a significantly improved financial package at the meeting today if widespread disruption is going to be averted.”

Mark Ferguson, chair of UNISON Scotland’s local government committee, said: “This pay offer is nowhere near the offer made to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our members quite rightly want to know why the Scottish Government believes Scotland’s public service workers are worth so much less than their counterparts south of the border.

“With inflation currently running at above 10% – and only set to increase – this pay offer would be nothing more than a significant pay cut, and one that our members simply cannot afford as they struggle to meet rising fuel, food and household costs.”

Scotland Demands a Pay Rise March and Rally

Thursday 8th September
Assemble 10:30am: Johnson Terrace, EH1 2PW March off 11am
Rally at the Scottish Parliament 11.30 – 1pm

The Cost-of-Living Crisis is hitting people across the country. Public service workers in particular are facing a fresh set of real terms pay cuts on top of years of stagnating wages.

The STUC and our affiliated unions are campaigning for a range of urgent actions to stem this crisis, including action to reduce energy bills, support for those of all ages on benefits, rent caps and action to reduce transport costs.

The ultimate responsibility for the Cost-of-Living Crisis sits with the Tories at Westminster. However, this does not mean that the Scottish Government is powerless. It needs to start by funding inflation level pay rises for Scottish public service workers. Join us on 8 September as we demand better for the public service workers of Scotland

School and early years staff will be on strike

UNISON has sent notices to nine councils across Scotland today the
23/08/2022 that school and early years staff will be on strike on the following dates:

6th, 7th and 8th of September,

This is after a lack of progress in talks with COSLA over council pay.

Staff will disrupt schools, early years centres, nurseries and waste and
recycling centres across Scotland, in the largest strike among council workers
since the Trade Union Act was introduced in 2016.

Members in Schools, Early Years and Nurseries will receive additional
communications over the next few days with more details.

No worker wants to take strike action, but the reality is if we don’t get an approved offer many of our members will be pushed into poverty due to the obscene price increases and blatant profiteering of the big energy and fuel companies.

Disaggregated Strike Action

Rather than calling for a full strike of all workers in the council, selecting smaller groups of workers for industrial action will cause disruption within the employers. This is disaggregated action

Our branch has successfully balloted members in Schools, Nurseries, Waste and Recycling for strike action.

Please support us

We are asking all members to support our strikers and even if you are not being asked to take industrial action there is a vital part you can play to secure better pay for all local government staff. Together We Rise In UNISON

Pin badges will be available for you to wear to show your support for the strike.

Waste services will undertake industrial action

This week our colleagues in Waste services will undertake industrial action, this action is on behalf of every Local Government worker to let the employer know that a derisory pay offer is not acceptable.

UNISON is the largest Trade Union representing Local Government workers and has already served notice of strike action in eight local authorities.

The notices of action were served to Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and South Lanarkshire councils for the first wave of strike action to take place on the following dates:

26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th September

UNISON has also sent notices to nine councils across Scotland today the 23/08/2022 that school and early years staff will be on strike on the 6th, 7th and 8th of September, after a lack of progress in talks with COSLA over council pay.

The Branch Executive are very proud that our members have stepped up to take on this fight and we will be doing everything we can to promote this campaign and force the employers back to the negotiating table to reach a fair settlement.

Disaggregated Action – What is it?

UNISON, on this occasion, have balloted selected services for industrial action. This is called Disaggregated Action.

Rather than calling for a full strike of all workers in the council, selecting smaller groups of workers for industrial action will cause disruption within the employers.

Our branch has successfully balloted members in Schools, Nurseries, Waste and Recycling for strike action.

It’s important to highlight again that these colleagues will be taking this action on behalf of all workers in the Council. We are asking all members to support our strikers and even if you are not being asked to take industrial action there is a vital part you can play to secure better pay for all local government staff. Together We Rise In UNISON

Pin badges will be available for you to wear to show your support for the strike.

Attend the STUC “Scotland Demands a Pay Rise” Demonstration. More info on transport for those that need it will follow.

Thursday 8th September

Assemble 10:30am:
Johnson Terrace,
Edinburgh

EH1 2PW

March off: 11am

Our colleagues in waste services will picket from 6am till 1pm – Drop by and give them hello or give them a wave or a toot of the horn if you’re driving past the waste and recycling sites.

Be sure to look out for posts on our branch Facebook and ensure you, your family and your friends share them. It’s important for the public to know how dire the situation in local government has become. Show us your support in the comments.

Keep up to date on the pay campaign including our UNISON Pay FAQs at https://unison-scotland.org/local-government-pay-2022/

LG Pay Update

First set of strike dates confirmed

UNISON have this morning served notice on 8 local authorities of strike dates for waste and recycling members. These dates align with the dates also notified to authorities this morning by the GMB. It is unfortunate that they do not align with the dates Unite have already notified but that was not for the want of trying to achieve an agreed approach.

Please see press release on link below

Strike dates for waste workers confirmed

Strike dates for schools/early years will be confirmed in due course.

We are holding an online general meeting on Thursday 18^th August at 6p.m and all members are required to attend. Please see the following brief agenda below for the meeting. If members able to attend please contact the branch on the following e-mail address thomsonl34s@stirling.gov.uk and a link will be forwarded to you prior to the meeting.

Agenda

Pay update

Motion to transfer monies to IA account

The UNISON Scotland LG leads will be meeting branches with a strike mandate on Monday to discuss preparation for action.

We are also working on supporting materials/advice to members taking action and resources for those who are not so they can demonstrate their support for those Workers taking action on their behalf.

Further information on all of that will follow asap – you will appreciate that things are moving at pace at the moment but we will, as always we will communicate any developments as soon as we have more detail.

Council strikes to go ahead after UNISON rejects derisory 3.5% pay offer

UNISON, the largest union in local government, met today to discuss COSLA’s latest 3.5% pay offer. The union unanimously agreed to reject this revised offer outright and voted overwhelmingly to continue with their strike plans in councils across Scotland.

UNISON rejected the offer as it has not sufficiently improved, falls far short of the Joint Trade Union’s claim (submitted in January) and falls far short of the current rate of inflation, which continues to rise.

The union also made the point that the offer falls far short of the offer made to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who have been offered a £1925 flat rate uplift, which equates to a 10.5% increase for those on the lowest wages.

Johanna Baxter, UNISON head of local government said: “This is another derisory pay offer. We are in a ridiculous position of both our employers and the Scottish Government agree this 3.5% pay offer is not nearly enough, but both are at loggerheads about who should pay for it.

Meanwhile council workers – over half earn less than £25k per year – are worrying about paying the bills. Inflation is predicted to rise to 13.5% and our members are offered a real-terms pay cut which will plunge more of them into debt.

We have written to COSLA to tell them the strike continues in waste and recycling and we will confirm dates for strike action in schools and early years in the coming days.”