THE deputy first minister is being urged to intervene after local government pay talks broke down ushering the prospect of strikes that could shut schools and halt bin collections.
Scotland’s largest local government union, UNISON, says no agreement has been reached despite lengthy pay negotiations with COSLA.
Unions had questions about a potential improved 5% pay offer while pledging a continuation of a wave of local authority staff action involving waste collectors.
Local government minister Shona Robison last week called the increased pay offer a "welcome step forward".
Now both UNISON and COSLA, the umbrella body representing council employers, will be writing to John Swinney to ask for an urgent meeting to discuss increase funding for local authorities to enable talks to continue.
Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland’s head of local government, said: “It was a very long meeting but unfortunately there has been no breakthrough and we are a long way from a pay offer that we would be able to recommend to our members.
“COSLA negotiated within the cost envelope that leaders mandated them but that simply isn’t enough and goes nowhere near matching the pay offer provided to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“The only thing that both parties could agree on is that we need the urgent intervention from the Deputy First Minister to put additional funding in place and both will be writing to the Deputy First Minister to that effect today.”
UNISON had already served notice on nine councils that schools and early years staff will be on strike next month.
UNISON union has sent the council notices in a move that could lead to extensive school closures.
The councils affected are City of Glasgow, Orkney Islands, Aberdeenshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Clackmannanshire, Stirling and Inverclyde.
The strikes are schedule for September 6, 7 and 8 after "lack of progress" in talks with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) - which acts as an employers' association - over council pay. UNISON said school and early years workers will join UNISON waste and recycling staff who will have already started their strike action on August 26, 27, 28 and 29 and on September 7, 8, 9 and 10.
UNISON said it had a mandate to call out 13,000 workers on strike.
"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," it said.
GMB Scotland also confirmed strike action for 1350 schools and early years services staff in Glasgow City Council and East Renfrewshire Council planned for between September 6 and 8. Workers involved in the walk out come from cleaning, janitorial, catering and pupil support services.
On Monday the Scottish Government was urged to intervene and “prevent international embarrassment for Edinburgh and Scotland” as a first wave of strikes by council staff left litter bins overflowing in the capital.
The waste collection strike is due to be escalated to other councils on August 24 and 31, unless there is a resolution to the dispute It is estimated that around 1,500 Unite members across 15 councils will join their colleagues in City of Edinburgh Cleansing and participate in the second wave of strike action.
All three unions say they have received a mandate for strike action in a local government pay dispute over a dispute over the initial 2% pay offer to Scottish council workers which could lead to the shutting of schools.
The Scottish government previously said it expected local authorities to match the £140m extra pledged by the Scottish government for pay rises.
COSLA's proposed wage rise statement said that it was agreed to continue negotiations with unions "with a remit to include the objectives of an offer that achieves the overall value of a 5% pay uplift and a minimum hourly rate of £10.50.
"To be clear [the] remit extends to discussions about the configuration of any settlement within the overall cost envelope mandated by leaders.
"I confirm that we remain committed to continue discussions on these items within the scope of the pay negotiations more generally."
The first wave of industrial action by Edinburgh council workers over pay started on Thursday and is set to last 12 days.
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