Edinburgh council to meet Unison over strike

By Caroline Lovell on August 24, 2007 in Adults, Children, Workforce

Officials at the City of Edinburgh Council will meet with Unison next week to avert further industrial action over cuts to adults’ and children’s services.

The 24-hour, authority-wide strike, saw over 21% of members walk out yesterday after last minute talks failed to reassure the trade union that cuts of up to £16m would not lead to redundancies.

At yesterday’s budget meeting, councillors approved savings of £10m for children’s services but failed to reach a decision over cuts in adults’ services.

It has identified savings of £4.6m for adults’ services but it is continuing its discussions with NHS Lothian before a decision is made. The alternative proposals for adults’ services will be reported to the council in September.

John Ross, UNISON’s service conditions convenor, confirmed that meetings between UNISON and the council’s chief executive management team and legal council will take place at the beginning of next week. “We want to see this resolved,” said Ross.

Yesterday, council leader, Jenny Dawe, said: “We are in discussion with Unison and while we did not manage to avert the strike action, we are making progress. There were several useful and productive aspects to our discussions with Unison and we will continue talking to them over coming weeks to avoid further industrial action.”

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