Union rejects council pay offer aimed at avoiding bin strikes

Council bosses hoped to avoid a repeat of a strike in Edinburgh in 2022

The biggest union representing council waste and recycling staff has rejected the latest pay offer aimed at avoiding summer strike action.

The offer had been described by local government body Cosla as “strong, fair and credible”, but Unison sad it put "absolutely no more money on the table".

The union confirmed strikes are set to go ahead with the majority of Scottish councils to be affected.

The deal would have seen workers receive a blanket 3.2% rise for a one-year period between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

The GMB and Unite unions are still considering their response to the Cosla offer.

Unison said waste, recycling and street cleaners in 13 councils in Scotland had voted to strike, and they will be balloting 38,000 school, early years and family centre staff next week.

The union's local government spokesman David O'Connor said: “Cosla’s revised offer puts absolutely no more money on the table. They have not moved one iota since we advised them that we are preparing for strikes.

"At today’s talks we told them local government staff are looking for a pay deal that addresses a cost-of-living crisis and that the value of their pay has dropped 25% over the past 14 years.”

Mounds of rubbish

Unison members were the latest to vote in favour of strike action, doing so with an overwhelming majority in favour.

They described Cosla’s previous offer, which would have seen staff receive a 2.2% increase from 1 April and 2% from 1 October, as “inadequate”.

Waste workers walked out in Edinburgh for 12 days during the city’s festival season in 2022, leading to mounds of rubbish littering the streets.