Council services look set to be crippled during a summer of discontent as unions plot strike action.
Schools, waste and recycling and cleansing services will all be hit in Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire as three unions aim to inflict maximum misery on local authorities.
They are on a collision course with councils and the local government umbrella body CoSLA - which handles pay negotiations - over a two per cent pay offer to members branded “derisory” by one union.
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It comes amid claims the Scottish Government is willing to stand by and allow local government workers to become the lowest paid in the UK.
GMB says its members have been left with “no choice” but to take strike action.
Its members in Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire’s schools and waste services look set to strike after members voted for industrial action.
Union bosses are still meeting to discuss a blueprint for the outcome.
They blasted the two per cent offer against rising inflation and stark cost of living increases as a real terms nine per cent cut and said it would offer the equivalent of less than £10 per week for most members.
And they have vowed that if the Scottish Government doesn’t up its offer, strike action is inevitable.
GMB Renfrewshire organiser Kirsten Muat said: “Workers across Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire are facing a cost of living crisis with rising energy bills, transport and food costs, and housing costs.
“In failing to make a better than two per cent pay offer, the Scottish Government and COSLA are choosing to make local government workers in Scotland the lowest paid public sector workers in the UK. Members have, therefore, been given no choice but to take strike action.”
She added: “After working on the front line, local government workers are angry and have had enough of being taken for granted.
“If East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire Council want to avoid these strikes, they need to pick up the phone to the Scottish government and COSLA, and push for a pay offer which reflects the true value of the work GMB members do in the community.”
Unite also say its local government worker members in both Renfrewshire authorities will also take industrial action - among 26 councils set to be hit.
Staff in schools and cleansing will down tools.
The union says it will be finalising strike dates in the coming week, with action in refuse and waste services expected to kick off in mid-August and schools looking set to be hit from early September.
It branded COSLA’s offer as “unacceptable”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The message for both the Scottish Government and COSLA is crystal clear – thousands upon thousands of members won’t tolerate real terms pay cuts anymore, and they have had enough.
“Our members are being forced to take this action due to a derisory pay offer, and we will support them in this fight for better jobs, pay and conditions in local government.”
It had previously warned that if the pay offer was not revised, councils would see strikes this summer.
Its figures suggest more than half of Scotland’s 250,000 council workers are earning less than £25,000 for a 37-hour week.
Wendy Dunsmore, Unite industrial officer, added: “Our members are at the end of their patience.
“They are being forced to take this action due to being completely undervalued, despite working throughout the pandemic.
“Let’s be clear here – a two per cent pay offer when the broader cost of living is at 11.8 per cent is a punishing real terms pay cut.
“In the coming weeks, we will now plan for targeted strike action in 26 councils across Scotland and the blame for this lies squarely with COSLA and the First Minister.”
Scotland’s largest local government union, Unison, says its members in East Renfrewshire will also take industrial action, set to disrupt schools, early years centres, nurseries and waste and recycling centres in the largest strike ballot among council workers in more than a decade.
It will, however, not pull staff in Renfrewshire.
Johanna Baxter, UNISON head of local government, said: “COSLA leaders meet tomorrow and must put an improved offer on the table if we are to avoid large-scale disruption to council services across Scotland.
“Council workers south of the border yesterday were offered a flat rate uplift of £1,925, which for those on the lowest pay equates to a 10.5 per cent increase.
“You have to wonder why council workers north of the border have only been offered a measly two per cent increase when the cost of living continues to spiral.
“UNISON has been calling for a flat rate payment to help those on lower incomes.”
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