Council workers represented by Scotland’s largest trade union have voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest pay offer for council staff.
Unison say thousands of staff employed by councils are unhappy with the latest pay proposal put forward by COSLA with 86 per cent of those balloted choosing to reject it.
The union says the offer includes an hourly uplift of £0.67 or a 3.6 per cent increase, whichever is higher.
However, Unison has claimed it falls short of expectations given the 25 per cent 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 per cent pay rises.
The vote means waste collection strikes in Stirling – which were called off last month – could still go ahead.
Unison has mandates for strike action by waste and recycling workers at 13 councils, including Stirling Council.
The union’s local government committee, made up of senior stewards from across Scotland, will discuss next steps over the next few days.
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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.”
Unison Scotland co-lead for local government David O’Connor said: “Councils are in crisis. They struggle to recruit because workers are expected to deliver even more with fewer staff and lower wages.
“That puts workers and the services they provide under intolerable pressure. It’s unsustainable it can’t go on.”
COSLA has said it is “deeply disappointed” to learn that the “strong, above inflation” pay offer was rejected by Unison members.
A spokesperson said: “This offer is at the absolute limit of affordability for local government and fully exhausts all available additional funding from Scottish Government.”