YES for action on pay

#councilfairpay Scottish local government UNISON members have voted Yes for action on pay. The ballot which closed at lunchtime today has delivered a Yes vote for industrial action by 53.5% to 46.5%. UNISON Scotland's Local Government Committee will meet in Glasgow on Friday 3rd October to discuss the way forward and a full update with follow then.

Local Government Pay Ballot Helpline Number

#YestoFairPay

 

PAY BALLOT HELPLINE NUMBER  -   UNISON Direct 0845 355 0845.

The UNISON Direct number above can deal with enquiries regarding members who have not received/need replacement ballot papers.

This number will be available between 10 July and 12 noon on 7 August. No ballot papers will be sent out after this period. We have been advised that it will take up to 3 working days for replacement/other ballot papers to reach members.

(Details of the Yes to Fair Pay campaign are online at http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/localgovt/pay2013/index.html )

Inflation up – Scotland’s local government workers deserve fair pay

#YestoFairPay

 

UNISON Scotland said today that inflation rising to 2.9% is grim news for hard pressed workers struggling to make ends meet.

The public services union is currently balloting members in local government on strike action to win an improvement on COSLA’s pay offer of just 1%.

Scottish Secretary Mike Kirby said:

“Sustained high inflation, coupled with a prolonged pay freeze, then squeeze for millions of public sector workers across the UK, has hit families hard.

“Parents are cutting back on food, clothes, even on things for their children – they are being priced out of basic living. Meanwhile, it is still boom time for British bankers who are dominating the EU bankers’ rich list.

UNISON calls on councillors to back Fair Pay as strike ballot opens

Tue 2 July 2013

Local government union UNISON today (Tuesday) emailed Scotland’s councillors asking them to support Fair Pay for council workers.

UNISON is balloting members in local government on strike action to win an improvement on COSLA’s pay offer of 1%. The ballot opens tomorrow (Wednesday 3 July) and runs till 13 August.

Scottish Secretary Mike Kirby said: “We have asked every councillor in Scotland whether they think it is fair that their employees have been offered a miserly 1%, when the value of staff pay has fallen by more than 10% in the last three years.”

The email to councillors points out that there is money available to improve the offer. Indeed the Labour group in COSLA had proposed an offer of 2.5%. Although this was not carried, it shows they believe the money can be found.

Mike Kirby added: “The employers’ offer is the first in three years and in that period housing costs, domestic fuel and travel to work costs have risen considerably. Our members work hard delivering quality public services day in and day out. We believe they deserve fair pay and a commitment to annual rises in the Living Wage. That is why we are balloting on strike action to win a better pay offer than the miserly 1% which was offered and rejected.”

“We believe a better pay offer is affordable - and it would in fact benefit local economies in a big way as council workers spend more than half their wages locally.”

Pictures from UNISON's #YestoFairPay Day in Dundee, part of #AusterityUncovered

Pictures from UNISON's Fair Pay Day in Dundee today, part of the STUC Austerity Uncovered tour.

Report on STV news, at about 14 minutes in.

Rory McKinnon's report in the Morning Star.

Fair Pay Day of Action for local government workers

#YestoFairPay #AusterityUncovered

Unions today (Tuesday) launched a Fair Pay Day supporting Scottish local government workers as they prepare to vote on strike action.

Trade unionists on the STUC Austerity Uncovered tour asked why council workers are being offered a ‘measly’ 1% pay rise when ‘fat cats’* on the Sunday Times Rich List saw their wealth soar by £116 billion in the last three years.

UNISON branches across Scotland are holding workplace events and lobbying councillors today as they campaign for a Yes vote in the strike ballot, which opens next week.

And in Dundee the Austerity Uncovered anti-cuts ‘battle bus’ continues its tour of local communities hit hard by the UK Coalition Government attacks on jobs, pay and benefits that are hitting the most vulnerable so hard.

Fair Pay Day of Action around Scotland - and in Dundee for #AusterityUncovered

#YestoFairPay Please help publicise UNISON Scotland's next Fair Pay Day of Action on Tuesday 25 June. Branches are campaigning across Scotland for Fair Pay for local government workers and Yes to Strike Action for Fair Pay.

Also on 25 June, Our Fair Pay Day Family Fun and Rally in Dundee is part of the STUC's Austerity Uncovered There is a Better Way tour from 21-29 June.

Delegates say Yes to Fair Pay campaign

#unlgc13 Scotland delegates to UNISON Local Government Conference stand up for Fair Pay. Ballot papers coming out soon. Be sure to vote for action! #YestoFairPay See http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/localgovt/pay2013/index.html

#austerityuncovered in Scotland with #STUC's There is a Better Way 21-29 June

13 June 2013
The STUC is organising a series of events and meetings this month under the banner of Austerity Uncovered and There is a Better Way.

Details from There is a Better Way website...

"AUSTERITY UNCOVERED:

"A nationwide tour, gathering the evidence to convict government policies. Austerity is hurting, but it isn’t working.

No UNISON member is handing back a knighthood - #YestoFairPay

UNISON Scotland can confirm today that no members of the public service union will be handing back a knighthood.

The union confirmed that, unlike James Crosby, former chief executive of HBOS, none of the union's 160,000 members who work delivering public services across Scotland will be the subject of a meeting of the Honours Forfeiture Committee.

A spokesperson for UNISON Scotland said:

“Whatever embarrassment the disgraced banker now known as Mister Crosby might be feeling will, we are sure, be eased by the fact that he still has a yearly pension of £406,000.

UNISON and STUC on Call Kaye about the falling value of wages #YestoFairPay

12 June 2013

The BBC Scotland Call Kaye programme had contributions today from UNISON's Dave Watson and Dave Moxham, from the STUC.

The subject was the falling value of wages, something Dave Watson blogged on yesterday.

The full programme is online here, with the start of this topic just after 3 minutes in.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02117ds

#YestoFairPay day of action today - new pay analysis shows importance to economy

11 June 2013

Today UNISON local government branches across Scotland are organising workplace events and action campaigning for Fair Pay. (Resources and info here)

Dave Watson, UNISON's Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, has blogged on today's new TUC research showing billions lost to the economy because of the falling value of pay.

".....Council workers are the lowest paid group of public service staff. We know that low paid workers will spend much of their fair pay and Living Wage in their own communities – building the local economy. A study by APSE on the Economic Footprint of Local Services estimates that local government employees re-spend 52.5p of every pound in their pay locally. A similar study in Stoke put the figure at 63p.