Local Government Pay: Rejection sparks campaign
An 80% rejection result in UNISON's local government pay
consultation is to lead to a campaign and an industrial action
ballot in July, Scotland's local government committee decided
at their recent policy discussion.
"The consultation exercise has clearly demonstrated that
the employers offer does not go nearly far enough towards
meeting members' needs," said Dougie Black, UNISON regional
officer, and secretary to the trade union negotiators.
"Now we need to try and get a united front from our other
TU colleagues and start to build a campaign towards an early
industrial action ballot."
The Local Government policy forum discussed the pay dispute
and the results of the consultation exercise in some detail.
They agreed to further discussions with colleagues from GMB
and UNITE (T&G) at the next joint union side on 22 May and
to campaign during June, within the UNISON membership to lead
up to an industrial action ballot in the summer.
The offer from the Scottish employers, hasn't been improved
in recent discussions. It stays at 2.5% each year for three
years, with no weighting for the low paid, and no chance to
reopen negotiations should inflation continue to increase
over that period.
Stephanie Herd, Convenor of UNISON's Scottish Local Government
Group, said, "While we are always hopeful that the employers
will reopen negotiations, UNISON members have said that this
offer doesn't even meet current inflation, so they are not
likely to agree to it for three years! We also made it clear
that serious action is likely to be needed to change this
offer, and we now need to identify the most effective way
of delivering that."
A Local Government Conference has been called for the 29
May, where a full report on the current position will be made.
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