Local authority workers in Scotland are considering strike action because ‘employers are miles away from offering anything staff are likely to accept’.
UNISON said on Friday that none of the offers under discussion with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) would be accepted by the union’s members.
'Pay talks with COSLA have been cordial. But asking council workers to take a real terms wage cut once again is unacceptable,’ said UNISON local government committee chair Colette Hunter.
‘As things stand, employers are miles away from offering anything staff are likely to accept. It’s clear no lessons seem to have been learned from last year’s strikes over pay.’
A formal written pay offer is expected shortly, but UNISON said if there was ‘no substantial improvement’ it would move to the first stage of a strike ballot.
COSLA Resources spokesperson Cllr Katie Hagmann responded it was ‘disappointing that [UNISON] have chosen to go public today, before all options have been explored.’
She added that local government employers had ‘very little room to manoeuvre’ due to the flat cash settlement from the Scottish Government.
