Councillor Katie Hagmann today (Tuesday) welcomed the response from GMB and UNITE members in voting to accept the strong pay offer totalling half a billion pounds which COSLA has made to the Local Government workforce.

Commenting Councillor Hagmann, COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson said: “I am delighted with today’s response from members of both the GMB and UNITE trade unions in voting to accept the strong offer COSLA has on the table.  Their Union negotiators also deserve a great deal of credit for the pragmatic approach they took in recommending acceptance to their respective memberships.

“It is pleasing that these two Trade Unions see the value Scotland’s Council Leaders place on our workforce.

“We have listened to our Trade Unions, met all their asks, and worked with Scottish Government to put an incredibly strong half a billion pound pay package forward.

“When you extrapolate the votes across all unions it shows that only around one local government worker in five (excluding teachers) has voted to reject the strong pay offer presented.  Significantly, membership of the two unions who have accepted predominantly comprises those in lower paid roles across Local Government and this is where we were asked to focus the deal.

“This is a realistic response from the two trade unions who have recognised that not only have we as employers targeted those workers on the lowest pay as they requested, but they have also recognised that as employers we have gone as far as we can go without impacting service and jobs.

"These are not empty words - we have put our very best and final offer to the Unions – councils have been more than fair in this strong offer and the GMB and UNITE unions have done well in accepting it without the need to take industrial action.

“Both GMB and UNITE have recognised the reality of where we are at this time, on behalf of their memberships, and that is a positive outcome for all.”