Unison Vote Settles 2021 Local Government Pay Dispute - Pay Rise Backdated To January 2021
29th November 2021
Members of Scotland's largest local government union have voted to accept a pay deal after the union secured an additional £48m funding on the paybill for an improved offer from COSLA.
UNISON announced the result of its ballot today (Monday 29 November 2021) with more than 75% voting in favour of the offer.
It means the majority of council workers will receive a pay rise of between 3.4 and 4.7%, with the pay offer being backdated to January 2021. More than 55% local government workers earn below £25k per annum and the flat rate increase of approximately £1,062 secured for those workers is the highest single uplift in a one-year settlement for the lowest paid that has been achieved.
UNISON is calling on COSLA to implement the pay deal as soon as possible and has warned that the principle of parity across the local government workforce must be maintained or the union will seek to reopen negotiations.
Johanna Baxter, UNISON's head of local government, said: "We're delighted to have secured an improved pay offer for our members which rightly puts more money into the pockets of those on the lowest pay - it is just disappointing that UNISON members had to threaten to go on strike for their employer to recognise their worth.
"Our dedicated local government workers have kept our services going throughout the pandemic and we will continue to fight for them and for the services they deliver. Empowering our local councils and communities will be critical going forward and we need the Scottish Government to invest in our local services and they key workers who deliver them."
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
