UNISON Scotland will ballot all Local Government members on the CoSLA pay offer from 12th to 28th April.We are calling on members to vote to ?????? the pay offer and vote ??? for industrial action. We must give CoSLA a clear message that we deserve better!”
Don’t miss out on having your say. Please make sure that your membership details are up to date and we have a current email address for you by clicking here.
UNISON has joined UNITE the Union and GMB in recommending rejection of the offer to our members and move to strike action. Please look out for your email ballot from next week.
Branch secretary, Inez Kirk said, “Our members deserve better. Local Government and its workforce must no longer be the poor relation in public services. From caring for the most vulnerable in society, to supporting Covid prevention measures, Local Government workers never stopped working.
“Our members have been providing essential, preventative and life saving services throughout the pandemic without a break. Many of them have worked beyond their normal hours and in difficult circumstances to continue with the provision of essential services in the communities in which they live, work and serve.
WITHOUT OUR MEMBERS:
- Key Workers would not have been able to continue to attend work.
- Our environment would have been adversely affected – Increasing the risk of virus transmission.
- Our children would not have continued with their education across early years and schools.
- Our vulnerable and elderly would not have been provided with essential care and support.
- If we hadn’t agreed to work from home – services would have ground to a halt and our community, local businesses and those seeking urgent help could not have been supported.
- Our Registration Services, Cemeteries and Temporary Mortuaries—could not have continued to be delivered.
- Vaccination and asymptomatic testing centres could not have operated.
- Social Work, HR, Payroll, Corporate & Senior Management Teams, Social Care, Finance, Environment & Infrastructure and Mental Health Support etc. – all working to ensure that the unprecedented response required was delivered – saving many more thousands of lives across our Community.
Kate Ramsden, Branch chair added, “Not only is a decent pay rise a just reward for all our members who went above and beyond throughout the pandemic, sometimes at risk to themselves and their families, it is essential for economic recovery.
“Council workers spend around 80p of every £ earned in their local economies AND they pay their taxes. The more public service jobs there are, and the better public service workers are paid, the more money goes back into local shops and businesses.
“So it’s not that the Scottish Government and CoSLA can’t afford decent pay for council workers. With 55% of our members earning less than £25,000 per year, they can’t afford NOT to.