Waste strikes in Scotland are expected as UNISON members voted against the latest pay offer from local government employers, despite Unite the Union members voting in favour of the deal.
Eight days of strike action by Scottish waste and cleaning workers were suspended in August after the latest rounds of talks resulted in an improved pay offer of £0.67 an hour or 3.6%, whichever is better.
UNISON, the largest union in Scotland, recommended staff reject the offer, which represents a minimum annual salary increase of £1,292 for a 37-hour working week.
The £0.67 per hour uplift also results in a 5.63% increase in the Scottish Local Government living wage and is better than the offer to Local Government Workers in England and Wales.
The Union said the offer fell short of expectations because of a “25% real-terms pay cut” over the past 14 years and of the 5.5% pay rise given to other public service workers.
UNISON said it has mandates for strike action by waste and recycling workers at 13 councils, and its local government committee will discuss the 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.”
Unite the Union members vote to accept pay deal
Unite the Union confirmed that 71% of local government members supported the minimum cash increase of £1,292 in a consultative ballot.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, commented: “Unite’s members have overwhelmingly voted to accept COSLA’s revised pay offer. A minimum increase of nearly £1,300 for the lowest paid will be a welcome boost to the pay packets of our members who provide vital frontline local services.
“Make no mistake that it was down to our members’ guts and determination that an improved pay offer was finally put on the table which will now help to deliver better jobs, pay and conditions for workers across all Scottish councils.”
Graham McNab, Unite’s lead negotiator for local government, said: “Unite’s council representatives once again took the lead in securing a credible pay offer which has been backed by the wider membership. The deal will lift the pay of all council employees above inflation for the first time in years.
“Time and again we end up in a summer farce over council pay. Unite wants to be perfectly clear that we want council pay resolved at a far earlier stage in the process. It should not take until the cusp of strike action for COSLA and the Scottish government to come up with a fair pay offer.”
Unite said the accepted offer represents a significant improvement on the initial one made in May which amounted to 2.2% running from 1 April to 30 September, and 2% for a 12-month period running from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025.
