Public sector workers seem set on a collision course with local and national government over inadequate wage rises …
The General Secretary Designate of teachers union the EIS yesterday urged all of Scotland’s teachers to get active in the campaign to secure a 10% pay rise.
Ms Bradley addressed delegates on the final day of the EIS Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Dundee Caird Hall, and just ahead of a rally in support of the EIS ‘Pay Attention’ Campaign in the Civic Square outside the conference venue.
Addressing the AGM, Ms Bradley said, “The obvious and pressing priority is our Pay Attention campaign. We’ve staked our claim, nailed our colours to the mast … now we need to win.
“Listening to our speakers on the issue of pay over the last few days, I know we’ve got what it takes to win this. To win it because it’s simply unacceptable that teachers and other public sector workers would be expected to bear the burden of yet another crisis that’s been created by the economic vandalism of the Tory government and a Cabinet of millionaires …utterly morally bankrupt and more intent on callous racketeering and profiteering than they are on caring about people and supporting recovery.”
“We can’t allow COSLA to peddle the myth of the One Workforce agenda. Or the Scottish Government to quietly sit there on the side-lines being let off the hook by a raft of egalitarian-sounding rhetoric that’s in truth about pay suppression for teachers and by dint of that the rest of the public sector. We know One Workforce is utter fallacy and I have a sense that the other public sector unions know it as well.”
“If we’re to win a pay rise that protects teachers’ incomes from the worst of the cost of living increases, from every corner of the union, we need to keep building what will be a formidable display of our union strength. We’ve started building this – the press statements, the campaign materials, the branch meetings, the petition, the social media activity, and the demo outside this building later this morning.”
“With full-blown organising, comms and political campaigning… synchronicity of actions with local associations, we’ll be ballot ready, strike ready by October and with a strong industrial action strategy mapped out so that we’re strike ready and strike able.
“From the speeches and applause that we’ve heard this AGM about pay and the other inter-related injustices it sounds like you’re well up for taking this on …and so am I!”
COSLA STATEMENT ON PAY NEGOTIATIONS
COSLA is deeply disappointed that the First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance have refused the request of all Council Leaders to engage in discussions regarding the current settlement for Local Government and its significant impact on our ongoing pay negotiations.
The implications of the Scottish Government’s spending plans for the rest of the parliament are deeply concerning for communities across Scotland and have further increased the already strong likelihood of industrial action in the coming months.
Scottish Government continues to fail to respect the fundamental role Local Government and its workforce has in addressing their own priorities of tackling child poverty, climate change and a stronger economy.
The ‘Resource Spending Review’, published on 31 May, shows that Local Government’s core funding for the next 3 years will remain static at time when inflation and energy costs are soaring.
This “flat-cash” scenario gives no scope to recognising the essential work of our staff, whose expectations, quite rightly, are being influenced by Scottish Government’s decisions in relation to other parts of the public sector. A suggestion that increases in welfare payments will mitigate the cost of living crisis do not recognise that our staff should not have to depend on such payments to make ends meet.
As things stand, the only option available to Councils is yet fewer jobs and cuts to services that are essential to communities everywhere.
COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson Gail Macgregor said: “COSLA, every year, argues for fair funding for Local Government to maintain the essential services our communities rely on.
“No increase in our core funding damages these services and limits the options we have in successfully concluding pay negotiations. Refusal to engage in discussion will only see this continue and our communities will see and feel the difference.”
The Fraser of Allander Institute has recognised the impact on councils: “The local government budget will decline by 7% in real terms between 2022/23 and 2026/27 … the real terms erosion of the funding allocations of local authorities represents the continuation of a longer trend.”
UNISON, Scotland’s largest local government union, will be balloting its members in a dispute over pay. The union is planning targeted strike action – this means select groups of workers will be balloted.
UNISON is campaigning for a pay rise for ALL local government workers.
The groups that will be balloted for strike action are members employed working in schools, who provide services to the running and operation of the school, and all members working in early years and in waste and recycling services. The union is recommending that vote ‘YES’ in favour of strike action.
The ballot will run from 10 June and will close on 26 July. It is vital that all ballots are posted back in good time to ensure we receive them by closing date.
Why are we balloting?
Having consistently worked above and beyond to keep our key services going over the past two years of the pandemic, and with the cost of living spiralling, COSLA’s offer of a 2 per cent pay increase for local government workers is nothing short of an insult.
While politicians have raced to praise your efforts their warm words have not been matched by action.
Earlier this year we ran an online consultation to see what you and other local government members thought of the employers’ 2022 pay offer. It was no surprise that the overwhelming majority of you voted to reject the offer and indicated your willingness to take action to achieve a better deal.
Nothing has changed since then and we now need you to vote YES to take strike action to remind your employers exactly how you feel.
This offer is derisory. It is less than the Scottish Public Sector Pay policy, falls far short of our pay claim and is significantly below current levels of inflation. It will exacerbate the gap between those on the lowest and those on the highest rates of pay.
And it is in sharp contrast to the 5.2% increase that councillors themselves have just received from 1st April 2022.
GMB Scotland has attacked “failure at all levels of government” as an industrial action ballot across local government gets underway this morning (Monday 6 June) against the threats of a 2 per cent pay offer and swingeing cuts to local jobs and services.
Nearly 10,000 GMB members in waste and cleansing and schools and early years services will be asked if they back strikes in the face of a pay offer from employer body COSLA amounting to less than £10 a week for staff earning under £25,000 a year.
Joint trade unions in local government wrote to the First Minister and the Finance Secretary last week seeking urgent talks and warned about the consequences for council workers of significantly below inflation pay with the cost of living at a forty-year high.
The ballot, which runs throughout the summer until Tuesday 26 July, also takes place amid dire forecasts for local government budgets following the Scottish Government’s spending review plans.
GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Keir Greenaway warned: “Council workers and the vital services they deliver are firmly in the sights of Kate Forbes’s cuts agenda, and if left unchallenged the lowest paid will pay the highest price in the biggest cost-of-living crisis for 40 years.
“This is what years of failure at all levels of government looks like – a decade of failed austerity, the passing on of cuts to communities, and a meek acceptance of the consequences locally. It’s a far cry from the doorstep applause of virtue-signalling political leaders just two years ago.
“It shows everyone there are no political superheroes and if you want wages that confront soaring inflation then you need to organise and fight for it.
“That’s exactly what our members are doing and unless an improved pay offer is tabled then industrial action looks inevitable.”
RMT launch 3 days of national strike action across the railway network
Over 50,000 railway workers will walkout as part of 3 days of national strike action later this month, in the biggest dispute on the network since 1989.
The union will shut down the country’s railway network on 21st, 23rd and 25th June, due to the inability of the rail employers to come to a negotiated settlement with RMT.
Network Rail and the train operating companies have subjected their staff to multiyear pay freezes and plan to cut thousands of jobs which will make the railways unsafe.
Despite intense talks with the rail bosses, RMT has not been able to secure a pay proposal nor a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.
In a separate dispute over pensions and job losses, London Underground RMT members will take strike action on June 21st.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Railway workers have been treated appallingly and despite our best efforts in negotiations, the rail industry with the support of the government has failed to take their concerns seriously.
“We have a cost-of-living crisis, and it is unacceptable for railway workers to either lose their jobs or face another year of a pay freeze when inflation is at 11.1pc and rising.
“Our union will now embark on a sustained campaign of industrial action which will shut down the railway system.
“Rail companies are making at least £500m a year in profits, whilst fat cat rail bosses have been paid millions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This unfairness is fuelling our members anger and their determination to win a fair settlement.
“RMT is open to meaningful negotiations with rail bosses and ministers, but they will need to come up with new proposals to prevent months of disruption on our railways.”
A snap poll from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Opinium showed the cost of living was the top issue for 75% of the Scottish electorate when casting their ballot in May.
This was followed by 60% citing the NHS as their primary concern, with public services (21%), housing (15%), Brexit (20%) and the environment (19%) all taking voter preference over the constitution (14%).
The news was cited as a ‘wake-up call’ from the Scottish Trades Union Congress leader Roz Foyer, who will host a specific cost of living crisis summit on June 17th with the Poverty Alliance.
Ms Foyer said: “These elections should be a wake-up call to all levels of government – local, Scottish and UK – that workers throughout the country need urgent and sustained help in the face of this brutal attack on their living standards.
“By far and away, with 75% of the electorate in Scotland citing the cost of living crisis as their top concern, with health, housing and the environment their taking preference over the constitution, all incoming councillors must make this their most urgent priority.
“Our local government manifesto made clear we need sustained investment from the Scottish Government to local authorities throughout the country, helping to deliver a real terms pay increase for our public sector workers. This is in addition to delivering on rent freezes, settling equal pay disputes and introducing universal free school meals throughout the country.
“This is the type of real terms action we need from councillors and government throughout Scotland. Our movement, with affiliates currently balloting for industrial action across the country, are not standing idle whilst workers face this material threat to their living conditions.”
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