Scottish council workers embroiled in a pay dispute are set to vote in a strike ballot as pressure grows for an improved offer from local authorities.
Trade union Unison says council workers are “worth more” than the £850 offer made by umbrella body Cosla.
The union says it has notified councils – including those in Tayside and Fife – of its intention to ballot members on strike action, which could see a Scotland-wide walkout among local authority workers.
Cosla had previously offered staff earning less than £25,000 a flat rate rise of £800.
After the initial rise was rejected, Unison says Cosla came back with a revised offer of an increase of £850 – working out at approximately 97p per week for the lowest-paid staff.
But the union says this fell short, with council staff who have kept services and schools running throughout the pandemic deserving a proper pay rise.
The union also claims the offer will do little to address low pay – which has “become endemic following a decade of austerity”.
And after a “decade of cuts and jobs losses”, the union says delivering services had become increasingly stressful for the workforce.
Unison is due to meet Cosla leaders and the Scottish Government again of Friday.
The ballot will take place among targeted groups of workers, which will include members working in cleaning, catering, janitorial services in schools as well as those working in waste and recycling services.
Mark Ferguson, chair of Unison’s local government committee, said: “The last 18 months have taken an enormous toll on council staff who have been working flat out for no reward.
“Their courage and sacrifices need to be rewarded, yet the employers are failing to recognise their efforts.
Workers ‘left feeling exhausted and undervalued’
“These workers, mostly women, are amongst the lowest paid in the country and have seen their pay drop substantially in recent years.
“The pay offer falls far short of their colleagues in the NHS and local government workers are left feeling exhausted and undervalued. Scotland’s council workers deserve fair pay.”
Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland head of local government, said: “We’ve all relied on council staff to keep our communities clean and safe, protect the most vulnerable and to work in our schools throughout successive lockdowns to allow others to work.
“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 – our council staff are worth more.”
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
In a statement, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Public sector workers – including local government staff – are integral to tackling the pandemic in Scotland.
“Despite the pandemic exerting unprecedented pressures on our budget, the 2021-22 local government finance settlement of £11.7 billion includes an additional £375.6 million, or 3.5%, for day-to-day revenue spending.
“In addition, the value of our overall Covid-19 support package for councils now totals more than £1.5 billion.
“The Scottish Government is not involved in the local government pay negotiations. Pay settlements for council workers (excluding teachers) are a matter for Cosla and are determined through negotiations at the Scottish Joint Committee (SJC).
“The Scottish Government is not a member of the SJC and council pay is therefore not a matter it can intervene in. It is for trade union colleagues to reach a negotiated settlement with Cosla.”
A Cosla Spokesperson said: “We appreciate everything that local government workers have been doing, and continue to do, to support people and communities during the pandemic and as we begin to recover.
“We continue with ongoing constructive negotiations.”