Last Updated: 15 August 2008

All out for Scottish strike

(15/08/08) Around 100,000 UNISON members working for Scotland’s local councils will join colleagues from other unions and strike on Wednesday 20 August.

Members of the country’s largest council union, and colleagues from GMB and Unite, have all voted to down tools as part of the campaign against the below-inflation pay offer made by the councils.

UNISON in Scotland

The 24-hour stoppage will affect all council services. Schools, cleansing and environmental protection, housing, leisure and recreation services, home and residential care and libraries will all be disrupted as around 200,000 staff take action across Scotland.

Stephanie Herd, chair of UNISON’s Scottish local government service group, said: "Our members do not want to have to take strike action. They want to do what they do best – provide vital services to the people of Scotland.

"We apologise for any disruption to those services, and we hope the public knows that our members need to be treated fairly. However, they are angry that the employers want to lock them into 2.5% increases for the next three years, while inflation is way ahead of that already and set to continue rising."

She continued: "The 2.5% pay offer is already a pay cut. Food is up 6%, transport 7%, mortgages 8%, electricity and only recently gas up by an additional 35%."

General secretary Dave Prentis will address a lunchtime rally in Glasgow on the day of the strike, as well as visiting members on picket lines across Scotland.

UNISON has dismissed employers' claims that they can't afford a decent rise.

Regional organiser Dougie Black, secretary of the trade union negotiators, pointed out that councils have at least £100 million in unallocated reserves, with members helping to deliver £170 million in 'efficiency savings' over the past year alone.

"It is time for members to share in the savings that they have made," he said.

Support a fair deal for public service workers in Scotland
Show your support for some of the UK's lowest paid workers by pinning a message on Google Earth.

Local government workers in Scotland are amongst the lowest paid workers in the public sector – yet employers are asking them to take a pay cut.

They empty our bins, clean our streets, look after our children in nurseries and schools, and take care of our older people in homes and the community. Now we need to show our support for them.

Add your support
You can email, text or call in with your message of support.

• Send your message to scotlandstrike@unison-scotland.org.uk
• Text your message to ACTION at 81025
• Freephone your message on 0800 883 0575

Remember to include your first name and the first four digits of your postcode - so we can pin your message on the google map we will be building on the UNISON Scotland website.