Hundreds of police staff in Tayside could strike over threats to cut their allowances.
George McIrvine, who represents police support staff for trade union Unison, said there is an “appetite for industrial action” among shift workers set to lose up to £5000 a year under proposals from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).
A closed-doors meeting with the Tayside Police Joint Board will take place on Monday to decide whether the cuts are to be imposed, with Mr McIrvine saying members would “definitely” be balloted if that goes ahead.
That could see 500 walk out as Mr McIrvine estimated up to 80% of the civilian staff, such as control room and custody court workers, are union members.
He said: “Members are coming into us in droves and there is an appetite for industrial action with the way things are just now.
“People are up for a fight as they are potentially losing thousands of pounds. Shift allowances would cost 15% on average of a worker’s salary.
“Cosla are just at the capers. I can’t see them imposing it but if they do we will definitely go to members and ballot for industrial action.”
Cosla says the existing system is unsustainable across Scotland and, without the pay cuts, redundancies would be the only option.
In a letter to Unison, Cosla’s Tom Young said: “If we do not modernise and rationalise shift allowances it is likely future cost pressures will have a detrimental impact on the workforce, resulting in job losses.”
However, Mr McIrvine said that what is on offer needs to be looked at again with unions and that he is prepared to sit down with officials from the body of council representatives.
“I can get our point across and say we have got to get back around the negotiating table with Cosla,” he said.
Vice-convener of the Tayside Police Joint Board, Councillor Archie MacLellan, said no decision had been taken locally on whether to impose the cuts and Monday’s meeting was a chance for negotiation.
“The cuts will be discussed on Monday but there is no certainty that will be the line taken.”
The difficulty we are facing is the possibility of redundancy if we go with other methods. We can’t rule out other avenues we have to make cuts somewhere.
“There will be a debate amongst the police board members but the position is by no means certain and it is not the only option being looked at.”
Fellow vice-convener George Regan said: “We are obviously concerned about all cuts in the police. I can understand the concerns but we are in the early stages regarding implementation.”