Council chiefs have made a revised pay offer to staff in a bid to avert strikes that are set to close schools
Umbrella group COSLA backed a plan by 24 votes to 8 which would give £2000 to the low paid and cap the cash given to more affluent staff.
The offer, which will now be considered by the trade unions, comes after a prolonged dispute with COSLA over pay during the cost of living crisis. Failure to agree a deal resulted in First Minister Nicola Sturgeon chairing a summit yesterday in an attempt to hammer out a compromise. The meeting lasted until ten minutes to midnight.
Under the offer, staff on low incomes would receive 5% or a £2,000 uplift, whichever is the larger amount.
COSLA documents say this would provide 10.2% for the lowest paid and a 7.7% rise for workers on £24,984.
Further up the pay scale the offer is 5% or £1,925, whichever is higher, capped at £3,000 for those earning more than £60,000.
COSLA states: “It will ensure that 87% of the workforce receive no less than £1,925.”
It is now expected that three trade unions - GMB, Unite and Unison - will discuss the offer before consulting their members.
Council and Government sources are hoping the bin and school staff strikes scheduled for next week will be suspended.
Councillor Katie Hagmann, COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson, said: “The revised offer made shows that Scotland’s Council Leaders have listened to the concerns of our workforce and have responded positively.
“Council Leaders have said consistently throughout these negotiations that we very much value and are grateful to the Local Government Workforce.
“We have sent letters to our union colleagues following today’s meeting and hope that this enables strike action to be suspended and allows our workforce to get back to doing what they do best, delivering high quality essential services for the people within our communities right across Scotland.”
Labour MSP Mark Griffin said: “This news will come as a relief to millions of Scots and our hard-pressed council workers - but the blame for these weeks of chaos lies squarely with this SNP government.
“Communities across Scotland have suffered weeks of disruption and disarray due to the intransigence of this SNP government.
"It is simply not good enough that it took weeks of industrial action to embarrass the SNP government into action.
“This will not be the last industrial dispute of the year. With sector after sector balloting for action, the SNP government must realise that it cannot continue to approach industrial relations in this slapdash and damaging fashion."
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