By Tara Fitzpatrick for STV News
Council workers in the GMB union, including cleaners, carers and bin collectors, have overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer.
More than 20,000 members of the GMB union took part in the ballot, with 94% rejecting the pay offer from COSLA, the country’s governing body for local authorities.
The union said the offer, which amounts to around 5.5%, is “effectively a pay cut” due to the current rate of inflation and cost of living crisis.The ballot results were announced days after the Office for National Statistics revealed inflation in the UK is running at 10.1% while food prices are climbing by 19%.
Responding to the result, GMB Scotland senior organiser for public services, Keir Greenaway said: “Given the continuing cost of living crisis, it is absolutely no surprise workers are unwilling to accept what is effectively a pay cut. The offer was clearly not good enough.”
He said: “This offer would short-change Scots council workers by hundreds of pounds compared to colleagues in England and Wales.
“Given the strength of feeling and determination to secure a pay offer that reflects the rising cost of living, it is now imperative that Cosla and Scottish Government work together with urgency and commitment to fund a fair and acceptable offer.
“If, for whatever reason, that does not happen and happen quickly, we will waste no time in escalating this dispute to ensure serious negotiations can begin.”
COSLA is expected to respond to the GMB ballot after other trade unions Unison and Unite reveal the results of their own ballots.
Ah the Brexit bonus continues.
Stagnant economic growth and the highest inflation in the G7. What a success story. The GMB and their members however don’t think so – nor the junior doctors, the nurses, the train drivers, the passport office civil servants and many more.
And the shortages. The shortages of medical consultants and doctors, the nurses, the lorry drivers and all the rest of the foreigners who left in the orgy of foreigner sentiment, is another example of our great British success story.
Ah well we voted for it so let us all enjoy the benefits.