More industrial action on cards as unions reject council pay offer

Published on Tuesday 25 August 2009 09:42

TRADE union leaders today raised the threat of further industrial action across the city as they prepared to reject the council's plans to change the way staff are paid.

While the current work-to-rule and overtime ban has impacted only a small number of roles including bin men, street cleaners and gardeners, a new round of action would impact almost every council service.

The trade union Unison, which represents 8,000 workers in more than 4,000 separate job roles, is set to oppose the council's proposals when its consultation finishes later this week.

It plans to meet again with council officials to get them to address some of its concerns.

But John Stevenson, Unison's branch president on the city council, is concerned that, if no agreement can be reached, the council will push ahead with its plans anyway.

"We'd need to then agree about what to do about that," he said.

"The underlying issue is that the (equal pay) scheme is under-funded. It is half the percentage of any other local authority in Scotland.

"There is a lot of anger that people were told that 80 per cent of staff would not lose out when, in fact, they will. It is a bit of semantics by the council.

"For them to attempt to introduce equal pay on the cheap is just not acceptable."

Unison believes many of its members, including low-paid women who the scheme is meant to benefit, will lose out because they would be paid less for overtime and emergency work.

The Unite union has already started its official industrial action amid concern by bin men and street cleaners that they could lose up to 3,000 a year under the new scheme.

Unison's warning suggests more may follow. Among its members that are worst affected are low-paid staff in roles including social work, home care and care homes – but its membership spans most council departments.

Although the vast majority of people will not see their basic salary reduce, it is thought that many will suffer reductions in incentive, overtime or emergency work payments.

Mr Stevenson said: "They rely on people and their co-operation and these people thinking that their employer believes they're worth something. This is really hitting morale."

City leader Jenny Dawe said: "The council is committed to meeting its obligations on equal pay. The proposals we have put to the unions are obviously designed to meet them, and they have been independently assessed by an external expert in equal pay.

"A fair pay system will be in the interests of staff because we will be paying appropriate wages, helping to recruit and retain people who will deliver excellent public services.

"The unions have all acknowledged that we can't continue with the situation as it stands, so we remain hopeful that we can reach an agreed settlement."