Further council strikes planned

Unions are planning strikes over below-inflation pay deals

Scotland faces more council strikes after local government employers refused to increase a 2.5% pay offer.

Union members had hoped local council body Cosla would offer a new one year deal taking inflation into account.

However, Cosla said increasing the pay offer in the current economic climate would result in service and job cuts.

Meanwhile, hundreds of other civil and public servants voted for strike action which could cause serious disruption to the justice system.

Following a meeting with union officials, Cosla spokesman councillor Michael Cook said the pay offer for local government workers would remain at 2.5%.

This is a total misjudgement of local government workers' commitment to fight for a decent living wage Jimmy Farrelly Unite

He said: "The problem for us is that while we do sympathise with our workforce and the monetary pressures they are facing, we have a major difficulty because we are facing exactly the same pressures on budgets across the board.

"We have two roles and we have to strike a balance between that of an employer and that of a service deliverer."

He added that Cosla was willing to discuss the decision, alongside unions, with the Scottish Government.

He said while this might alert the government to "some of the pain" the decision could have on communities, it would be unlikely to result in more money being made available.

Unite, the GMB and Unison now plan to meet within the next week to co-ordinate further strike dates.

Unite official Jimmy Farrelly said: "This is a total misjudgement of local government workers' commitment to fight for a decent living wage.

"We are extremely disappointed with their decision which will lead to an escalation of strike action."

Spreading dispute

In a similar dispute over a below-inflation pay offer, Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) workers in five agencies and public bodies voted for strike action and work-to-rule.

Staff from the Scottish Courts Service, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, sportscotland and the National Museums of Scotland are unhappy with a 2% pay offer.

Eddie Reilly, PCS Scottish secretary, said a one-day strike could mean prisoners being held in custody longer than normal, and others granted bail.