Members vote YES for action

The Local Government Pay Ballot, which closed at lunchtime today, 29 September 2014, has delivered a Yes vote for industrial action on the basis of 53.5% to 46.5%.

UNISON Scotland's Local Government Committee will meet in Glasgow on Friday 3rd October to discuss the way forward and a full update with follow then.

Branch calls on all members to join the March and Rally on 18th October 2014 in Glasgow to call for "A Just Scotland"

The branch is calling on all our members and their families and friends to join us at the "A Just Scotland" March and Rally in Glasgow on 18th October 2014 which will call for decent work and dignified lives.

 

The March and Rally is part of Challenging Poverty week and has been organised by the Scottish Trade Unions Congress (STUC) . The march will muster in Glasgow Green at 10am and will march off at 10.30am to a Rally in George Square.

See more information on the STUC website

 

It has been timed to coincide with the TUC's mass demonstration in London, "Britain needs a Pay Rise."

 

Kate Ramsden, Branch Chair said, "The Referendum has been and gone and the Scottish people have spoken. However if the independence debate did one thing that was to engage great swathes of the Scottish people, young and not so young, in the debate about what kind of Scotland we want to see, and to put social justice and equality high on the political agenda.

 

"Creating decent work and providing dignity for those who cannot work is at the heart of the battle for social justice and against austerity, and tackling inequality. Those of us who believe in this must come together now from both sides of the Referendum debate and work together to win social justice in Scotland.

UNISON Scotland local government strike ballot Vote YES for Fair Pay

UNISON Scotland is balloting all its council members on strike action for fair pay. Ballots were sent out from 9th September and the Branch is encouraging all our members to vote and to vote YES.

Inez Teece, Branch Secretary and member of the Scottish Local Government negotiating team explains the background to the dispute.

"The Scottish Employers have imposed a pay award of 1% on our members from 1 April 2014.

"Further they have refused to negotiate on UNISON's claim for this period which was:

• An additional £1 per hour for all staff conditioned by the Scottish Joint Council
• Consolidation of the Living Wage
• Deletion of spinal column points below the level of the Living Wage

"This action by the employers is quite unacceptable and shows a blatant disregard for the agreed bargaining structures and threatens the future of nationally agreed pay awards.

Meat hygiene inspectors strike for fair pay

Meat hygiene inspectors, vets and support staff took two days of strike action last week in a long-running dispute over pay. They staged two four-hour walkouts from 6.30am-10.30am on Tuesday, August 26, and again on Wednesday, August 27.

This follows a ballot earlier this month, which saw UNISON’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) members overwhelmingly vote for strike action over an imposed pay offer of just 0.75%, while most other public service workers have been offered a 1% increase.

UNISON has previously invited the FSA to resolve the pay dispute through independent conciliation. Even as late as last week, UNISON asked them to reconsider and go to ACAS for arbitration, but they refused.

Kate Ramsden, Branch Chair said: “Our Branch is one which hosts members in the Food Standards Agency Sector. We stand fully behind our members' action.