Charity staff in strike ballot

Over 300 Unite members at a leading mental health charity are to be balloted over strike action after management abandoned negotiations over a long-standing fight for a pay increase.

Low-paid support workers at the Scottish Association for Mental Health are asking for a 0.65 per cent cost of living adjustment set in the 2010 Scottish Joint Council salary scales to which their pay is linked – the same pay rates which have been frozen since 2011.

Unite regional industrial officer Elaine Dougall said: “It’s staggering that for three years SAMH management has refused to pay-up this meagre 0.65 per cent.”