On 16 October, Unite the Union announced that its local government membership rejected the revised pay offer from COSLA and voted to authorise the union to move towards an industrial action ballot.
Following a month long consultation, 73% of Unite members voted to reject. Of those who rejected, 88% indicated support for industrial action.
COSLA’s offer was a
- 3% rise for employees paid up to £80,000
- £1,600 rise for employees paid over £80,000.
Some members across Scotland would receive less than £10 more per week. Unite questioned COSLA’s ‘commitment’ to parity of pay awards across all bargaining groups as employees earning more than £80,000 were being offered a flat rate of £1,600.
Ann Farrell, Chair of Unite Scotland’s Local Authority committee said:
Unite members have emphatically rejected the revised pay offer. This outcome was inevitable in light of COSLA’s failure to properly and fairly reward the lowest paid workers in local government. The reality for thousands of Unite members was a comparatively worse position as a result of this offer, which is completely unacceptable. Unite will now move towards a legal ballot following the mandate we have received from our membership whereby we will be urging all Unite members to vote for industrial action.
Industrial action ballot
The next step is a ballot for industrial action.