Cosla tables new pay offer in bid to avert bin strikes

Waste workers in Glasgow walked out over a pay dispute in 2022

Council waste and recycling staff have been offered a new pay deal in a bid to avoid summer strikes.

Local government body Cosla said it had tabled a “strong, fair and credible” offer to staff after three unions successfully balloted for walkouts across Scotland’s councils.

Under the new deal, workers would receive a blanket 3.2% rise for a one-year period between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

The GMB, Unison and Unite unions will meet to consider their response to the deal over the coming days.

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”.

The majority of Scottish councils would be affected if strike action goes ahead.

But Cosla resources spokesperson, Councillor Katie Hagmann, said the offer was “at the absolute limit of affordability” for councils.

A previous strike in Edinburgh left streets littered with rubbish

She said: “It is a strong, fair and credible pay offer, reflecting the high value council leaders place on the local government workforce and the invaluable work they do every day serving communities across Scotland.

“It is important to stress that this revised, fair offer is at the absolute limit of affordability for councils, given the severe financial constraints local government is facing.

“We request that our trade union colleagues seek their members’ views on this improved offer and that they suspend any plans for industrial action whilst this is considered.”

'New offer should not have taken strike threat'

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.

Colette Hunter, Unison’s local government committee chairwoman, said on Wednesday that a repeat of those scenes across Scotland was likely unless Cosla made a better offer.

The union’s head of local government, David O’Connor said it would consider the proposal, but added it should not have taken the threat of a strike to jolt Cosla into action.

“We clearly have a way to go to reach an agreement," he said. "However, we want to do everything we can to avoid strikes.

“We should not have to threaten rubbish piling up in the streets just to get a revised pay offer on the table.”

Unite said its local government committee would meet to consider the offer on Monday.

Industrial officer Graham McNab said: “We are clear that the present situation, whereby Unite has a strike mandate across 16 councils in waste and cleansing services, would not have developed if Cosla had properly and seriously engaged with the trade unions at a far earlier stage.”