THE prospect of thousands of Scots local authority workers from cleaners and binmen to care workers and school staff going on strike this summer in pay disputes has come a step closer as another union launched a strike ballot.
Unite has served notice to all thirty-two Scottish local authorities that strike ballots are imminent in an escalating pay dispute over a 2.2% pay offer.
It comes after Scottish Government-controlled ScotRail upped its 2.2% offer to 4.2% to train drivers and other train staff as services were cut due to a pay dispute work-to-rule.
The trade union has confirmed that it will ballot thousands of its members in schools and cleansing. The ballot will open on June 10 and close on July 26.
If the ballot for industrial action is successful then strike action could begin in August at the beginning of the new school term.
The GMB union was also due to inform councils' body Convention of Scottish Local Authorities’ (COSLA) on Monday of an industrial action ballot of all local governemnt members in schools and early years, as well as waste and cleansing services.
That ballot will run from Monday, June 6 until Tuesday, July 26.
Earlier this month, the public services union Unison confirmed an indicative ballot of council staff has already revealed an "incredible" 89.8% voted in favour of taking industrial action up to an including strike action over an "unacceptable" pay offer.
Unite along with other local government trade unions has rejected outright a 2 per cent pay offer from COSLA. Unite has been vocal in expressing its anger over the offer amid the deepening cost of living crisis with inflation hitting 11.1 per cent.
Unite estimates that more than half of Scotland’s 250,000 local authority workers are earning less than £25,000 a year for a 37-hour week.
The union earlier this month also called on all new council leaders at Scottish local authorities to take immediate action to improve pay, or see strikes this summer.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite will now ballot thousands of our members across every one of Scotland’s thirty-two local authorities. The last offer on the table from the employer was a pathetic two per cent. When the broader cost of living has now hit 11.1 per cent, this is a huge pay cut and simply not acceptable when workers face punishing living costs.“Our members are not putting up with this and they will have their union’s full support in the fight for better jobs, pay and conditions in local government.”
GMB has claimed that the 2% pay offer would equate to a “massive real terms pay cut” for frontline workers.
Train operator, ScotRail slashed services by nearly a third last week due to a driver shortage exacerbated by two pay disputes involving the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) and Aslef unions after the rejection of a 2.2% pay rise.
ScotRail has sinced upped that offer to 4.2% and a referendum of union members is expected with no recommendations of acceptance or rejection offered by union leaders.
Earlier this month, unions representing 200,000 local government workers across Scotland wrote to COSLA - which acts as an employers' association - to say that councils have failed to come up with an acceptable pay offer for workers whose pay has been "held down for too many years".
Union sources have revealed any future strike is likely to be targeted to areas where there will have the "highest impact", and to ensure that any strike meets strict legal thresholds over turnout - and schools are top of the agenda.
Wendy Dunsmore, Unite industrial officer said: “Unite has served notice to all thirty-two local authorities that we will now ballot our members from 10 June. There has been some acknowledgement by COSLA that the two per cent offer is nowhere near good enough and local government workers deserve a significant increase. However, we now need action not words and more letters, or strike action is on the horizon.”
By a massive 91%, thousands of Unite local government workers in April confirmed that in response to COSLA’s failure to put forward a fair and decent offer that they would be prepared to take industrial action.
A potentially embarrassing strike over last year's pay claim involving thousands of binmen, fleet maintenance, school cleaning, school janitorial, and recycling was due to take place between November 8 and 12, as Glasgow was hosting COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference.
Scotland's second city welcomed over 100 leaders including US president Joe Biden for the political stage of the UN summit at a time it was already blighted by rubbish, fly-tipping and reports of rats in the streets.
But on the eve of the conference and after more than 10 months of negotiations money was found for an improved pay offer which was accepted.
A COSLA spokesperson said “We remain in active discussions with our trade union partners."
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