“COSLA will need to dig a bit deeper if we are to avoid industrial action.”

Unite members working in Scotland’s local authorities have voted to reject the revised pay offer put to them by Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the body that represents councils in Scotland.

The result of the ballot on the revised offer was 55% to reject and 45% to accept.

The revised offer of 3.5 %(2018), 3%(2019) and 3% (2020) did not include a ‘trigger clause’ which would allow for the re-opening of the three year pay offer if, as predicted, Brexit causes inflation to rise. The revised pay offer also fails to restore local authority workers to the levels of real terms pay from ten years ago.

The ballot for Unite craft members working across Scotland’s local authorities will close on 4^th February.

Unite representatives will now hold a meeting to discuss the next stage in the process which could result in strike action.

Wendy Dunsmore Unite industrial officer said:

 “This result is clear indication that our members remain unhappy with COSLA’s offer. Our members have suffered pay freezes followed by real terms cuts for far too long. This has impacted most on the lowest paid workers across the councils. COSLA will need to dig a bit deeper if we are to avoid industrial action.”