Strike action by council workers across Scotland could be on the cards after union members rejected the pay deal they were offered.
Public sector union Unison had previously urged its local members to turn down the council’s offer of a 1% increase this year, 0% next year and 0.5% the year after, with the union holding out hope of a 3% one-year increase for 2010-11.
With the public sector union Unison’s ballot resulting in an overwhelming 80% rejection of the three-year deal, the possibility of industrial action has not been ruled out as council employees vent their anger at the pay proposals put forward.
Unison has argued that members would effectively be tied into a three-year pay cut if they accepted the current offer, pointing out that chief officials in some local authorities have been given an increase of 2.5% and teachers 2.4%.
Dougie Black, Unison trade union side secretary and lead negotiator, said union leaders will meet other union representatives later this week to decide on what course of action to take now, but he added, “Industrial action is one of a range of possible options we will be considering.
“We will also be seeking an early meeting with the employers to re-open negotiations following this decisive rejection of their offer.”
The Scottish Joint Council trade unions were offered 2.5% for 2010-11 as part of the final year of a three-year pay deal agreed in 2008, although that offer was rejected.
At that time, similar multi-year offers were made to the teachers and chief officials, which was accepted.
Many private sector workers have not had a rise for a number of years now, while finance secretary John Swinney has also publicly come out in support of pay restraint within the public sector in the current financial climate.DundeeKen Guild, leader of Dundee City Council, called for a sense of “realism” in negotiations over public sector pay.
Councillor Guild said he believed strike action would be counter-productive for the unions and said he hoped a fair agreement could be reached.
He said financial constraints on councils Dundee has to make savings of £15 million in the next year meant both sides had to be realistic in what they were asking for.
“All council pay is done through CoSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities). The individual councils don’t enter into individual agreements with employees,” he said.
“This is something that will be handled at national level but obviously we will be very much in contact with CoSLA over the latest developments.”
Unison regional officer Rory Malone said his members were also keen to avoid strikes which he said would cripple the local authority but were standing up for their rights.
He said, “Quite clearly the membership have stayed firm and rejected this offer as it is a three-year pay cut. The latest position is that the joint trade union side are calling for the employers to get back round the table to discuss the way forward to resolve an issue that potentially may lead to a dispute.
“What will happen if the employers refuse to accept our position is we will have to go to a full ballot of the membership asking the question over industrial action.”
He said, “The joint trade union side is going to be meeting on Friday and the call has already gone out to the employer to meet again. I believe that will take place in the next couple of weeks and hopefully constructive talks will come out of that.
“We understand the difficulties from next year and thereafter and we are willing to talk with the employers on what is best.”FifeJust under half of Fife Council’s 22,000-plus workforce are understood to be members of a union and that could mean widespread disruption if talks over the coming weeks between union bosses and local government fail to find a compromise.
Council chiefs in Fife have repeatedly urged against strike action down the line, while the Conservatives nationally branded the move “politics of the madhouse” and called on the unions to see sense.
In light of the ballot outcome, Fife Council leader Councillor Peter Grant said yesterday the council “remains committed” to the national collective negotiation process for employee pay and conditions.
He said, “While I understand the concerns of our employees, this final offer was right at the extremes of what we could afford and it’s disappointing that it has been rejected.
“The Independent Budget Review last week confirmed that even with extremely tight pay restraint the whole public sector in Scotland is facing severe financial difficulties.
“We’ve been up front about the fact that we will need to reduce our workforce by between 10%-15% to deal with funding cuts of around £120 million by 2014.
“Any upward pressure on pay can only be met by further reductions in the number of people we can afford to employ.
“Every 1% increase on Single Status pay awards means another £3.3 million worth of savings would have to be found in the budget.
“This may have a further impact on jobs and services.”
Fife has already confirmed it is seeking to trim its workforce by 10-15% over the next four years and, although it hopes to do that through natural wastage, early retirement and voluntary redundancy, compulsory job losses have not been ruled out.AngusAngus Council’s leader has said he hopes the authority’s staff will “open their eyes” to the crisis facing the public sector and avoid the industrial action that could throw local services into chaos. Bob Myles said Angus was playing a waiting game to learn just how severe cuts may have to be and what the mood of the council workforce at local level is.
“CoSLA is negotiating at national level, but I am very disappointed with the outcome of yesterday and I think they (workers) need to open their eyes and see what is happening out there.
“Surely they can see and hear from what is going on all around and the discussions which are taking place that there are severe cuts happening in the public sector,” Mr Myles said.
“We have had considerable discussions within every department to see where savings can be made and we want to go down the road of efficiencies before going down the route of redundancies.
“Nothing is a sacred cow any more, but there are really only two options open to us: it is either a pay freeze or people will get paid off.
“It seems crazy that they are trying to exacerbate the situation by insisting on a 3% pay award, which would have a massive effect on council budgets,” he added.
“These negotiations will continue to take place but I think that the staff do realise the situation and they have to speak to the unions.”Perth and KinrossPerth and Kinross Council refused to comment on speculation that the rejection of a 1.5% pay increase would lead to strike action.
A spokeswoman for the council said they expected the unions to meet this week and they would not be making any statement prior to learning the outcome of that meeting.
However, she added that they were fully behind CoSLA, the agency brokering the pay deal with council workers.
She said, “The pay deal for all councils is negotiated at a national level by CoSLA and we support them in this matter.”
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