Unions Reject Council Pay Offer

Reluctant Hero · Unions Reject Council Pay Offer

We are going through the same thing at our work at the moment (work for the NHS).

The govt are trying to get us to sign up to a 3 year pay deal. Given the current economic climate, I think this would be utterly stupid, particularly given the award in year 3 is only 2.25%.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7338330.stm

Unions reject council pay offer

The three unions representing local government workers in Scotland have rejected a pay offer made by council leaders.

The deal would have given local authority workers a pay rise of 2.5% for each of the next three years.

The unions said it was less than inflation and did not address losses suffered by members over recent years.

The local government organisation Cosla said it was disappointed.

If you want first class public services, cutting the pay of public sector workers is the wrong way to go about it

Dougie Black
Unison Scotland

A total of 220,000 local government workers would have been affected by the deal.

The GMB said the rejection of the offer placed the unions on a course for industrial action.

Dougie Black, of Unison Scotland, added: "If you want first class public services, cutting the pay of public sector workers is the wrong way to go about it."

The unions will now call on their members in local government to reject the employers offer in a full consultation.

Further negotiations

Cosla said this was a "good deal" especially given constraints on local government finances.

The organisation's human resources spokesman, Councillor Michael Cook, said: "We are dismayed that a trade union is threatening industrial action at a time when negotiations are ongoing.

"We look forward to further negotiation over the coming weeks to resolve our differences and getting this pay rise into the pockets of our valued workforce."