Thousands of council staff could strike over 'tenner a week' pay offer

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Thousands of council workers could lead a summer of crippling strikes over a “tenner a week” pay offer.The GMB trade union will alert council bosses today of their intention to ballot school, early years and waste and cleansing service members.

The move, which involves nearly 10,000 workers, is in response to council umbrella group COSLA ’s 2 per cent pay offer. Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland’s senior organiser, warned the offer amounts to a real-terms pay cut for frontline workers while disproportionately giving the biggest rises to higher earners.He said: “Tens of thousands of the lowest paid staff in local government will go from the frontline of public service delivery to below the breadline unless their pay confronts soaring inflation and eye-watering energy bills.“But instead of recognising the scale of the challenge and rising to meet it, political leaders are sleeping at the wheel and blaming each other for their inability to address it – it’s a far cry from their doorstep applause every Thursday night only two years ago.“Let’s be clear.

A pay rise of just 2 per cent for the workers earning under £25,000 a year is worth no more than a tenner a week. It will turn a crisis into a catastrophe for many working families and there is no trade union worth its salt that would leave that unchallenged.“Unless Cosla comes back to the negotiating table with a vastly improved offer that reflects the fact our members are working in the biggest cost-of-living crisis in 40 years, then industrial action looks inevitable”.ScotRail last week increased their pay offer to train drivers from 2.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent and now other unions are stepping up their calls for revised deals.COSLA is in favour to a bigger rise for the