Council workers in West Lothian have been recommended to reject the latest pay offer and take strike action.
Unison is consulting its members on whether they are prepared to take industrial action to secure a better offer.
A ballot for workers in West Lothian and across Scotland runs from April 13 until April 28, and comes after UNISON’s Local Government Committee agreed to recommend that members vote to reject the current pay offer and vote to take industrial action up to strike action to secure an improvement.
The current pay offer by The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) was made on March 15, over three months after the Joint Trade Unions submitted their pay claim, leaving little time to engage in meaningful negotiations prior to the normal pay implementation date.
COSLA is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers’ association for its 32 member authorities
Unison West Lothian Branch Secretary Stevie Dunn said: “Local government and its workforce are no longer the ‘poor relation’ of the public service - we have become the ‘distant relative’ which is never discussed and has long been forgotten.
“The current offer was simply lifted from the Scottish Governments announced Public Sector Pay Policy - a pay policy that the Scottish Government has itself breached in offering higher pay rises to other public sector workers. Our members deserve much much better.”
He added: “At the commencement of the National Lockdown Local Government services did not go into hibernation. In West Lothian the need for our services was not reduced, it was monumentally increased.
"Despite the difficulties and continued uncertainties Local Government workers have gone above and beyond the remits of their roles to respond to the crisis.
"Our members have proven to be committed to delivering services and maintaining vital support to the people of West Lothian.
"The pay offer from the Scottish Government does nothing to address issues of low pay that were present even pre covid and is completely unacceptable"
The Joint Trade Unions, representing the bulk of local government workers in Scotland, had previously given COSLA a deadline of the 1 April to present an improved offer.
No improvement to the offer was received by that date and the Joint Trade Unions confirmed their decision to consult members with a recommendation to reject.
The Joint Trade Unions state that local government workers have gone above and beyond in their response to the Covid pandemic – keeping local services going in the most difficult of circumstances.
COSLA have frequently praised their efforts and previously committed to ensuring that issues of reward and recognition would be addressed through these pay negotiations.
Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland head of local government said: “According to COSLA’s own figures over half of the Scottish local government workforce earn less than £25k per year and over 100,000 workers earn significantly below the average wage of £32k per year. The current offer does not address the issue of endemic low pay for these workers.
“Without these workers going above and beyond to keep services running over the past year their colleagues in the NHS would have been left without childcare, our mortuaries would have been overwhelmed, our children would have been left without an education and our elderly would have been left without care. Yet to date they have received no reward or recognition of their efforts at all. It’s simply not good enough.”
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