Local Govt Pay - CoSLA claim is nonsense

The real fact is CoSLA imposed a new two year offer after a one year deal had been accepted by UNISON members in a ballot. CoSLA's criticism of UNISON "dragging its feet" is therefore nonsense.

See the update from 6 September below for an outline of what actually happened. A further update will be given by UNISON week beginning 28 October 2013.


Pay Update 6 September 2013
The Scottish Employers have a made a new offer on pay to the trade unions. The offer is for a two year period 2013/14 and 2014/15 and is for 1% in each year. It also includes a Scottish Local Government Living Wage at £7.50 per hour from 1 April this year. This rate will be uplifted by the 1% offer from 1 April 2014 to £7.58 per hour with a further uprating if the Living Wage Foundation recommend an amount greater than this hourly rate.

This offer was again made outwith the agreed SJC Bargaining Framework for Local Government and despite the fact that UNISON had written to the Scottish Employers accepting the offer of 1% for the year 2013/14 following our unsuccessful ballot for industrial action. It is unacceptable for the employers to continue to act in such a way and show such disdain for the agreed bargaining machinery. We will now consider how best to respond to this.

This situation has also been exacerbated by Unite consulting and formally accepting the terms of the offer prior to the offer being made. Therefore not only are the employers acting outwith the agreed machinery but so also is one of the SJC constituent trade unions! The SJC Trade Union Side now requires to resolve this as soon as possible.

UNISON’s position following Friday’s Scottish Local Government Conference will be to write to the Scottish Employers restating the fact that we have accepted the original offer of 1% and the introduction of the Living Wage and pressing for this to be paid to members immediately. It is also our view that we should consult with branches on the content and shape of a pay claim submission for next year and build on our Fair Pay Campaign. Whilst the campaign did not deliver a vote for industrial action it has raised the issue of pay with our members and created the building blocks to take our campaign forward and be stronger next year. It is also our intention to write formally to Council Leaders outlining our position.