The branch is outraged by the council leader’s response to our members who have emailed asking him to support a decent pay rise for his council workers.
Instead of standing up for council services and the workers who deliver them; instead of thanking them for all the work they have done to support the citizens of Aberdeenshire through the Covid crisis, he has passed the buck, stating that “Cosla leaders group have appointed negotiators who are engaged in their role in this matter – as such it would not be appropriate for me to comment further.”
He fails to say that it is council leaders who meet to discuss our pay claim and it is them that decide what any offer will be.
The officers on the SJC (negotiating group) that they appointed are there to put that offer forward and to discuss with the trade unions. They have no remit to make any other offers without the council leaders’ agreement.
So it is council leaders that make the decisions on your pay and them and them alone that can improve the miserly offer you have been made.
Please continue to email the council leader at cllr.a.kille@aberdeenshire.gov.uk The more of us that email him, the more he will see the strength of feeling amongst the workers who have kept our communities afloat over the past year.
Aberdeenshire Council can and should put pressure on CoSLA to up their offer to our members in Aberdeenshire and across Scotland.
Kate Ramsden, branch co-chair said: “Our members should have been able to expect better from the council leader.
“But for us the council could not have continued to provide services throughout the pandemic.
“Our most vulnerable citizens would have been left without essential care and support; our key workers would not have had child care to enable them to go to work; our children would not have had education and our bins would not have been emptied – to name but a few examples of the services the citizens of Aberdeenshire have depended upon.”
Inez Kirk, branch secretary added: “We would have expected Councillor Kille to value the work of our members and to use his influence to press CoSLA to give us a decent pay rise to say thank you.
“Instead he has passed the buck.”
Please continue to email the council leader at cllr.a.kille@aberdeenshire.gov.uk. The more of us that email him, the more he will see the strength of feeling amongst the workers who have kept our communities afloat over the past year.