Scottish pay dispute: Unison members vote to accept offer

Unison members in Scotland have narrowly voted to accept council employers’ body Cosla’s latest pay offer, following a protracted dispute involving two one-day strikes.

The country’s biggest local government union, representing nearly 100,000 members, accepted the offer of 3% in 2008-9 and 2.5% in 2009-10, despite the union leadership calling for members to reject it.

However, the BBC has reported that members of fellow union Unite have voted to reject the offer, while the GMB is due to announce the result of its ballot next week and has recommended rejection.

Two strikes

Members of all three unions staged one-day strikes on 20 August and 24 September. Though Cosla improved its original offer of 2.5% per year from 2008-11, it stressed it would go no higher than 3% in 2008-9 and 2.5% in 2009-10.

Unison regional organiser and lead negotiator Dougie Black said the offer was “not good”, with retail price index inflation currently running at 5%, but “circumstances have led to our members drawing this dispute to a close”.

Stephanie Herd, chair of Unison’s local government committee, said the resolution of the dispute would enable Unison and Cosla to “look at ways of tackling low pay in local government without the backdrop of a dispute”.

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Scottish unions consult on improved offer

More information

Cosla’s statement on its offer