Unite the union has today (8 January) announced that its local authority committee have recommended the rejection of the revised pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) following a meeting in Glasgow. The union will now hold a consultative ballot of its local authority membership on the pay offer commencing on Monday (14 January) with the recommendation. The ballot will close on 29 January. 

The committee’s recommendation was based on the current offer of 3.5 per cent (2018), 3 per cent (2019) and 3 per cent (2020) not including a ‘trigger clause’ to re-open the three year pay offer if, as economists predict, Brexit could result in rising inflation. The committee reiterated that the revised pay offer does not restore local authority workers to the levels of real terms pay from ten years ago.

Elaine Dougal, Unite regional coordinating officer, said: “Unite’s local authority representatives have recommended that our membership reject the revised pay offer. The reality remains that even with the slight increase for 2018, it still represents a significant pay cut and does not restore us anywhere close to real terms pay levels from a decade ago. The committee also judged that being tied into a three year deal in the context of all the uncertainties surrounding Brexit could in fact result in an additional pay cut if inflation rises.” 

Unite’s local authority members previously rejected the three per cent pay offer by 73 per cent in October 2018.

ENDS

For more information contact Elaine Dougal on 07810157904.

Notes to editors:

Unite Scotland is the country’s biggest and most diverse trade union with around 150,000 members. The union is led in Scotland by Pat Rafferty.