Council workers vote to go on strike in dispute over 3.5-per cent pay offer

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Stirling Council workers are among those preparing to strike across the country after they rejected a 3.5 per cent pay offer.Members of UNISON union, the largest in local government, rejected the revised offer from Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) outright and voted overwhelmingly to continue with their strike plans in councils across Scotland.UNISON said the offer still fell far short of the Joint Trade Union’s claim (submitted in January) and far short of the current rate of inflation, which continues to rise.It also pointed out that council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who have been offered a £1925 flat rate uplift, which equates to a 10.5 per cent increase for those on the lowest wages.The first wave of strike action, focused on waste and recycling services, is expected to take place on August 26-29 and September 7-10 in several local authority areas including Stirling and Clackmannanshire, as part of a wider co-ordinated plan of industrial action by the three trade unions across local government.The dates that UNISON members in waste and recycling will walk out are the same as those chosen by the GMB for the same groups of workers.Click here for more news and sport from the Stirling area.Dates for further strike action by schools and early years workers are yet to be announced.Stirling UNISON branch secretary Lorraine Thomson said: “I am incredibly proud that Stirling UNISON members have voted to take part in upcoming strike action.“Our members always see industrial action as the last resort.

It shows a strength of feeling that they have for an offer which is effectively a massive pay cut when taking inflation into account.“They see their counterparts in England and Wales being