A second union has announced it will ballot its members in cleansing and waste on strike action, which could lead to a return to the scenes across Scotland witnessed in 2022.
A dispute with 20 of the 32 local councils two years ago saw rubbish pile high in the streets of towns and cities across the country, leading to a health warning being issued by Public Health Scotland.
On Wednesday it wad announced that the GMB was balloting its members on industrial action after a pay offer from COSLA was rejected, and Unite has followed suit.
The trade union confirmed that it will ballot thousands of its members in cleansing and waste services from 5 June until 1 July when the ballots close.
If the members of both unions vote for strike action, they could both walk out as early as July 15.
Read More:
-
Bin strikes could take place across Scotland as refuse workers balloted on action
-
Clean-up operation begins in Edinburgh after bin strike ends
-
Councils across Scotland facing strikes if pay offer doesn't meet expectations
Major international events such as the Edinburgh Fringe could be affected if action goes ahead.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members undertake vital frontline jobs. Despite the essential work they do, they have seen their pay eroded for years, they are simply no longer prepared to tolerate this situation.
“COSLA and the Scottish government have been warned that they must do far more to meet the pay aspirations of our members. The blame for any strike action taking place will lie at their doors.
“We will back our members all the way in the fight for better jobs, pay and conditions in local government.”
The only councils not involved in Unite’s ballot process are Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, and the Orkney Islands.
Graham McNab, Unite industrial officer said: “Unite has now served industrial action notices to nearly every council in Scotland. If the ballots are successful, then our members in cleansing and waste services could begin strike action from July. Any action could impact on major summer events including the Edinburgh festival.”
“Let’s be clear that COSLA and the Scottish government must come back to us with a significantly revised pay offer, if they do not, then our members will have no option but to take action.”
The offer rejected by both Unite and GMB comprised 2.2% effective from 1 April to 30 September, and then 2% for a 12-month period effective from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025.
The former described it as "kicking the can down the road".
Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public service said: "Our members have already been forced to wait far too long for an offer that was not close to being acceptable.
"It is deeply frustrating council workers are once again being driven to industrial action to secure a fair offer and the blame for that lies squarely with council leaders and ministers.
“Why has so much time been wasted? Why are council leaders not already in serious discussions with unions and the Scottish Government about how to fund a fair offer?
“Why on earth should our members in Scotland be asked to accept an offer that is less than that being offered to council colleagues in England?”
A COSLA Spokesperson said: “COSLA wrote to the Scottish Joint Council (SJC) Trade Unions on Thursday 23 May with a formal pay offer for the SJC local government workforce.
"This offer is for a settlement which runs for an 18-month period of 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2025. There would be a 2.2% uplift from 1 April, with a further 2% uplift taking effect from 1 October. We believe that this is a good offer in the context of inflation and the funding constraints faced by councils.
“We are disappointed that industrial action is being contemplated by our unions and concerned that it appears to be targeted at the most vulnerable service users.
"We remain committed to doing the best by our workforce who deliver essential local services in every community across Scotland and understand our trade unions seeking the best deal possible, but this year’s settlement from Scottish Government means that going any further will mean job losses and service cuts.”
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 here