MINISTERS have called for further negotiations as a major trade union served notice on all 32 Scottish councils that strike ballots are imminent in an escalating dispute over pay.
The Scottish Government which says it has provided a further £100m as part of the 2023/24 budget for councils to support a "meaningful" pay rise for local government workers has urged both union leaders and local authority leaders to get round the table to end the impasse.
The union Unite has warned the Scottish Government that the same mistakes over pay made last year were being repeated - as union members rejected the 5% pay offer for 2023 in a consultative ballot.
Thousands of key council workers within the schools and early years services will now participate in the targeted strike action ballots. This includes janitors, cleaners, caterers, classroom assistants and administrative staff.
Unite members employed by Tayside Contracts who provide catering and janitorial services to schools across Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross councils are also included in the ballot.
The ballots will open on Monday 19 June and close on 31 July. A similar tactic was employed by the union last year in a councils' pay dispute before the Scottish Government found a further £200m a year to fund a last year's pay rise.
Union sources said the local authority group COSLA increased the pay pot for Scotland's 250,000 local authority workers from around £400m to £600m at the 11th hour allowing the lowest paid staff to get a pay increase of around 10 to 11% following the intervention of the First Minister.
The increase in funding raised questions about how the pay rise was able to be funded days after then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Deputy First Minister John Swinney insisted there was "no more money".
That dispute saw piles of rubbish build up in city centres as waste workers went on strike.
Last year, council body COSLA initially offered workers two percent then 3.5 percent and then five percent – all rejected outright by Unite - before the revised offer in September was tabled.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite has repeatedly warned both the Scottish Government and COSLA for months that widespread strike action will be inevitable for the second year in a row unless the pay offer is increased.
"The prediction is a step closer with ballots opening across all thirty-two Scottish councils involving thousands of our members. This is happening because COSLA and the Scottish Government are asking our members to swallow a punishing real terms wage cut. This is totally unacceptable. Unite will always stand up for better jobs, pay and conditions in local government.”
Unite says that members "emphatically" rejected the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities’ (COSLA) five percent pay offer for 2023 in May by 84 per cent in a consultative ballot. They say the current rate of broader inflation (RPI) stands at 11.4 per cent.
Unite has demanded that the First Minister, Humza Yousaf, directly intervene in the pay dispute following what it describes as a "collapse" in negotiations with COSLA. The trade union further criticised COSLA’s failure to approach the Scottish Government to financially support a fairer pay offer for council workers as repeating the ‘same mistakes’ of last summer.
Graham McNab, Unite industrial officer said: “Unite has served notice to all thirty-two councils that we will ballot our members from 19 June. There has been zero acknowledgement by COSLA that the current 5 per cent offer is nowhere near good enough.
"In fact, they are burying their heads in the sand and once again wishing this all goes away. Negotiations with COSLA are in effect over because they will not approach the Scottish Government to assist with an improved wage offer. After last year’s dispute, you would think that some lessons have been learned but that doesn’t appear to be the case with the same mistakes being repeated.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Local government pay negotiations are a matter for local authorities as employers and unions – the Scottish Government has no formal role.
“Despite UK Government cuts, the Scottish Government announced a further £100 million as part of this year’s Budget for councils to support a meaningful pay rise for local government workers.
“The Scottish Government urges all the parties involved to work together constructively and reach an agreement which is fair for the workforce and affordable for employers.”
A COSLA spokesman said: “The reality of the situation is that as employers, council leaders have made a strong offer to the workforce. A strong offer which clearly illustrates the value councils place on their workforce, and it compares well to other sectors. It recognises the cost-of-living pressures on our workforce and critically, it seeks to protect jobs and services.
“While the offer value in year is 5.5%, the average uplift on salaries going into the next financial year is 7%. Those on the Scottish Local Government Living Wage would get 9.12% and those at higher grades, where Councils are experiencing severe recruitment challenges, would see 6.05%.
“It is an offer which recognises both the vital role of the people who deliver our essential services across councils every day and the value that we, as employers, place on them. Crucially, it also raises the Scottish Local Government Living Wage by 99p to £11.84 per hour and sets out a commitment to work with our Trade Unions to develop a road map to £15 per hour in a way that protects our workforce and services we deliver.”
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