COSLA Resources Spokesperson, Councillor Katie Hagmann, said: “At the end of September, Scotland’s 32 Council Leaders agreed to implement the latest strong Scottish Joint Council (SJC) pay offer, which was accepted by GMB and Unite members, in order to ensure all staff can receive their pay uplift and backpay without further delay.

“The offer is worth 4.27% across the workforce and is aligned to the pay award for teaching staff, which has been agreed with the Teachers’ Panel. Looking at the detail, the SJC pay award of 3.6% or £0.67 (whichever is higher) offers a fair, above inflation and strong settlement for all our employees. It is at the absolute limit of affordability in the extremely challenging financial situation - there is no further funding available to increase the value of the offer.

“Importantly, over 75% of the SJC workforce will receive an uplift above 3.6% - with up to 5.63% for the lowest paid at the request of all Trade Unions.

“This pay award meets the collective requests of all three of our SJC Trade Union partners, which was made in a joint letter to council Leaders on 31st July. Leaders fully considered the views of our three Trade Unions, including the concerns expressed by GMB and Unite about the cost of living and financial pressures which continue to affect many across our workforce, and their desire for the offer to be implemented as soon as possible.

"We are aware that communities will be concerned about the detrimental impact industrial action would have, particularly for our children and young people. Industrial action is in nobody’s interests, and we urge Unison to reconsider the strong offer, which was accepted by both GMB and Unite.

“Council leaders agreed to implement the award rather than impose it, which means discussions will continue with the goal of reaching a collective agreement. COSLA remains fully committed to the negotiation process and we will continue dialogue with all our Trade Union partners, including UNISON, if at all possible. In response to the scheduled industrial action in Perth & Kinross, COSLA officers have been actively seeking to arrange formal meetings and contact has been maintained between COSLA and union officials as we seek to understand UNISON’s aspirations for an agreed settlement within the funding envelope available." [END]