Members of the GMB union across Scottish local government have overwhelmingly rejected the Scottish Government’s £800 increase for staff earning under £25,000 a year.
Following the close of the union’s consultative ballot, 93% of members voted to reject the offer tabled by the Finance Secretary Kate Forbes in the recent Scottish Budget, increasing the prospect of significant industrial action across local services this summer.
GMB, which represents 20,000 local government workers - predominantly in services like home care, refuse, school support, and roads and maintenance - will now write to the First Minister and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities' leaders to call for fresh negotiations and a significantly improved offer.
GMB Scotland senior organiser for public services Drew Duffy said: “This is a clear demonstration from key workers across Scottish local government that Kate Forbes’ valuation of their efforts isn’t anywhere near good enough.
“It’s been a wretched year and a desperate decade for council workers, especially the lowest paid and the services they deliver.
“Home carers, refuse workers, and school support staff have got on with the job for all of us despite being failed on PPE, testing and safe working guidelines - furthermore, they did this after years of political austerity, which cut their pay in real-terms and gutted their services.”
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