Strikes continued on Wednesday after a further round of talks between council leaders and public sector unions on Tuesday failed to reach an agreement on a pay dispute affecting around 155,000 council workers. Bin workers went on strike in some councils on Wednesday. Others are due to walk out on Friday, and in early September cleaning, hygiene, catering and student support workers in schools and early years services will strike for three days. Councils from Orkney to Inverclyde are affected. Union leaders have accused the Assembly of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the Scottish National Party-led umbrella group of 32 councils, of failing to understand the severity of the cost of living crisis. Most of their members earn less than £25,000 a year. John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister and deputy finance minister, is due to meet union and Cosla leaders later on Wednesday to help resolve the dispute, but earlier refused to accept that councils needed more money. It recently gave councils an extra £140m to help fund the better pay offer, but Kosla and union leaders believe the Scottish Government must provide more funding to ensure the strikes end. Speaking to reporters as he unveiled last year’s Scottish public spending figures, which showed councils received just 1.8% more overall, Swinney said he “faced a host of difficult financial challenges and demands”. Keir Greenaway, senior organizer for GMB Scotland, which organized the Edinburgh waste workers’ strike, said it was “bitterly disappointing and frankly embarrassing” that Cosla would not discuss the unions’ demands for a single, blanket pay settlement. The three unions, Unison, Unite and GMB, have urged councils to agree a flat rate wage of £3,000, which they say will significantly help low-paid workers. After initially offering 2% and then 3.5%, Cosla’s latest offer is 5%, with a very slightly higher rate for the lowest paid. Unions said a percentage increase would unfairly benefit higher-paid staff unless there were much larger differences for the lowest. “Our members are angry at the lack of value shown to them by political leaders and fearful at the prospect of pay that doesn’t address a cost-of-living crisis that is worsening every week,” Greenaway said. The strikes have now expanded to include SNP-run councils, which opposition leaders said was bringing the row closer to Nicola Sturgeon’s door. Edinburgh is run by a minority Labor administration, leading to senior SNP figures accusing Labor of mismanagement. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Mark Ferguson, chairman of Unison Scotland’s local government committee, said: “With inflation currently running above 10% – and only set to rise – this offer would be nothing short of a significant pay cut and a offer that our members simply cannot afford. as they struggle to meet rising fuel, food and household costs.” Meanwhile, seven Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative MSPs covering Edinburgh have jointly written to the first minister, calling on her to use an emergency budget expected to be announced by her government to increase council funding, to help workers are better paid. Alex Cole-Hamilton, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and MSP for Edinburgh Western, said the devastation left by the strikes in the city was “disgraceful”. “The strikes are a direct result of your government’s steady, year-on-year erosion of the local government funding arrangement. Cosla is not in a position to offer workers a significant wage increase,” he said.
