Local Government Pay – Reject the Offer – Vote YES in the Strike Ballot
Scottish Local government trade unions have suspended planned strike action by bin and refuse workers following a last-minute revised pay offer from the employers CoSLA. An increase in funding following the intervention of the Scottish Government. The revised offer of 67 pence an hour or 3.6% (whichever is greater). However, local government pay has fallen by 25% in real terms over the last 14 years.
By Jim McFarlane, Dundee City UNISON Branch Secretary (Personal capacity)
At the same time the Scottish Government are recommending the basic annual salary for councillors is set to increase by 19% from next year. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by council workers.
The strikes across most of Scotland’s council areas was due to start this week for 8 days. Similar strikes 2 years were very effective in forcing the employers back to the negotiating table and more money was won for pay.
Unite, GMB and UNISON have called off the planned strike action to consult with members on the offer. Unite are recommending acceptance, GMB are making no recommendation but are saying this is the best offer that could be won through negotiation. UNISON have a smaller membership amongst this section of the council workforce and are recommending that members reject the offer.
At the same time the balloting for strike action amongst nearly 40,000 UNISON members working in schools and early years worker is continuing with activists urging a massive vote for strike action. The strike action by this section of workers last September was very effective and an indicator of the anger amongst many local government workers not just over pay but also the perpetual cuts imposed on local government for years. Their picket lines and demonstrations were amongst the most lively of any group of workers in the country. It brought in a new generation of young workers to strike action for the first time resulting in thousands of new members and just as importantly a new layer or trade union reps.
Socialist Party Scotland members in UNISON argued for and support the call to reject the offer and to proceed with the planned ballots for strike action. The SNP Scottish Government are now trying to claim that public sector pay deals will mean cuts elsewhere. The reality is they have been a conveyor belt for the cuts from Westminster to Holyrood then on to local councils. They have not once put up any resistance to austerity.
The schools and early years ballot runs to 29th August. Action will need to be called urgently with plans to escalate and widen the action if necessary. At the same time we should be demanding that the new Labour Government at Westminster scrap all the tory anti trade union laws, including on ballot thresholds and to allow unions to ballot in the best way they choose rather than being forced to use postal ballots.
All workers should support the planned strike action with practical solidarity. It is clear that the SNP and Labour have no real solutions to the funding crisis in local government. More and more trade unionists will draw the necessary conclusions that workers need a political party that genuinely represents their interests. Capitalism can’t deliver what is needed for the majority. We need a worker’s party based on the trade unions to put forward socialist measures of public ownership and a massive investment in public services and the wider infrastructure than can end the scandal of endemic low pay and cuts in public services.
