SNP's Kate Forbes urged to use reserves to give council staff 'meaningful' wage rise

Meanwhile strikes could begin in September among rail staff after pay talks stalled earlier this month with the Unite union and Scotrail.

Scotrail owners Abellio was said to have told staff that it had been ordered by the Scottish Government to refuse calls for any pay rises.

Speaking to the Herald on Sunday, Johanna Baxter, trade union Unison's head of local government, said Holyrood ministers must be prepared to dip into their reserves to offer a “meaningful” pay rise to council staff.

She said employees who had worked throughout the pandemic, including across schools, social care and cleansing services, were now “at breaking point” and were unhappy with what they were currently being offered.

The Herald exclusively revealed that the first Scotland-wide council strike in a decade could become reality as Unison moves to ballot some of its 80,000 members for industrial action in the coming weeks.

READ MORE: Scotland-wide council strike nears as unions reject 'insulting' £50 pay offer

Meanwhile trade union GMB will be consulting its members on what they think of the new offer brought forward by Cosla.

The body, which is responsible for pay negotiation for Scotland's 32 councils, initially offered a flat-rate rise of £800 for the lowest paid council workers, which they then revised to £850.

This would apply to all staff earning less than £25,000 a year.

Those who earn between £25,000 and £40,000 are being offered a two per cent rise, those on £40-80,000 offered a 1% rise, and anyone earning over £80,000 is being offered a flat rate of £800.

Despite offering an extra £50 for the lowest paid, Cosla did not revise its offer for any other employees.

Unions argue that staff have been working throughout the pandemic, just the same as NHS workers , and deserve a pay rise equal to their offer of 4%.

READ MORE: Scottish Greens in line for opposition funds even if in Government

Ms Baxter said: "There is significant anger out there. The words that were used in our local government committee meeting that I heard were 'insulting', 'a lack of integrity from the employer', 'a slap in the face.'

"Unison is not a union that rushes to action, and this is not a move we've taken lightly, but we have tried everything that we can to move the employer and the Scottish Government.

"A decade of austerity has led to below-inflation increases for many years. That wasn't the case in the last pay round but it wasn't far off it. That decade of austerity hasn't just impacted pay. It has impacted the number of people employed in local authorities. A number of members have gone because their roles have been cut.

Those that have been able to stay have faced additional workloads and had responsibilities placed on them - constantly being asked to do more with less.

"That is bad enough, but when you add a global pandemic on top of that.... I just can't emphasise enough the impact of that."

READ MORE: SNP told to 're-set' councils' relationship after £937m cuts revealed

Ms Baxter said staff had been left feeling demoralised and unappreciated, adding: "These are some of the lowest paid workers in the public sector and if it hadn't been for them, people receiving care at home would have been left alone, and wouldn't have had care. If our members hadn't kept going during this time NHS workers wouldn't have been able to get to work but for the childcare hubs our members set up and manned, hospitals would have been overwhelmed because of the number of bodies they were collecting. The list is endless.

"The stress of all of that, combined with that decade of cuts and additional pressure, losing family members to Covid themselves and seeing other parts of the public sector being given more generous settlements in whatever guise they have come about... Last pay round it was teachers, this pay round it's NHS workers and not for a moment would we say that any of them are not deserving of those payments.

"But the message our members have had over the decade is 'You're not deserving' but they are - they deserve no less than any other key worker."

Despite appealing directly to the Scottish Government's finance secretary Kate Forbes for help to increase the pay offer, Cosla chiefs came back empty handed following a meeting last month.

In March ministers announced councils would receive £40m in extra funding,and would have "autonomy" to choose how to spend it.

However opposition politicians have argued that SNP minister have continuously offered an unfair deal for councils over the past decade.

Ms Baxter said that Ms Forbes should be willing to take funds from reserves, explaining: "You see money being funnelled into reserves. Reserves are there for authorities to use in times of crisis, and if we're not in a time of crisis right now, I don't know what they classify a crisis. And we know there is other money in the system.

"There just doesn't seem to be any recognition that the situation needs to change, or that elected politicians need to make different political choices to prioritise their workforce.

"All we have seen in the past 18 months is Cosla saying they recognise the contribution but the situation with pay is the Scottish government's fault and Scottish government saying 'Its nothing to do with us, you need to resolve the issue with the employer'

"Our members' cannot continue to be used as a political football between the two organisations and I suspect the result of our ballot will indicate they are no longer prepared to be used as such."

Scottish Labour said local authority staff were being treated with "utter contempt".

Local Government spokesman Mark Griffin MSP said: “The SNP are treating Council workers with utter contempt.

“Throughout the pandemic they have worked tirelessly to keep essential services running and protect the most vulnerable.

“The SNP’s refusal to engage in good faith to negotiate a fair pay deal is an insult to these workers, and it speaks volumes about their attitude towards local government.

“No-one wants a strike, but if it comes to that responsibility will lie squarely with the government. They must sit down with Cosla and the unions and make a proper pay offer so we can avoid this unnecessary disruption.”

The Scottish Government insisted it was Cosla's responsibility to negotiate pay settlements, with a spokesman adding: "Public sector workers – including local government staff – are integral to tackling the pandemic in Scotland.

“Despite the pandemic exerting unprecedented pressures on our budget, the 2021-22 local government finance settlement of £11.7 billion includes an additional £375.6 million, or 3.5%, for day-to-day revenue spending. In addition, the value of our overall COVID-19 support package for councils now totals more than £1.5 billion."

Cosla said: "We appreciate everything that Local Government workers have been doing, and continue to do, to support people and communities during the pandemic and as we begin to recover.

“We continue with on-going constructive negotiations.”