Council staff in Scotland belonging to UNISON have voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest pay offer from local government employers.
Thousands of staff employed by councils indicated they were unhappy with the latest pay proposal put forward by Cosla with 86% of those balloted choosing to reject, UNISON says.
The offer includes an hourly uplift of £0.67 or a 3.6% increase, whichever is higher.
However, members have made it clear that this falls short of expectations given the 25% real-terms pay cut over the past 14 years, and council workers in Scotland are angry their pay offer is not in line with other public service workers, many of whom have been given 5.5% pay rises.
UNISON has mandates for strike action by waste and recycling workers at 13 councils, and for education and early years staff at five councils. The North Lanarkshire branch has a mandate for striking in waste.
The union’s local government committee, made up of senior stewards from across Scotland, will discuss next steps over the next few days.
UNISON Scotland local government committee chair Colette Hunter said: “Cosla and the Scottish government need to understand the anger among council staff. They want a fair increase to stop their pay consistently falling behind, and for their wage increase to be in line with other areas of the economy.
“The last thing anyone wants to do is go on strike, but local government workers deserve better. This result must be a wake-up call and get the employers and government to invest in local services and the staff who deliver them.”
Find out all the latest news on the Scottish Local Government Pay claim here: Local government pay campaign 2024/25 – UNISON Scotland (unison-scotland.org)