Scottish Borders road workers to vote on industrial action

Council road workers in the Borders are to vote on industrial action.

Members of the Unite union in the region will hold a full postal ballot following "enforced changes to overtime payments and related terms".

The organisation criticised Scottish Borders Council for the lack of "meaningful consultation" on the move.

The local authority said it was applying terms and conditions which had been agreed with recognised trade unions including Unite.

According to the union, the dispute centres on changes announced on 15 April and scheduled to come into effect next week.

'Unilateral decision'

It said about 55 of its members would be affected by alterations to "long-established contractual arrangements".

It said that if they were not reversed it would act to pursue claims for illegal deduction of wages.

Mark Lyon, Unite regional industrial officer, said: "The unilateral decision by SBC to impose changes to terms and conditions of these workers, who keep our Borders communities safe, without any consultation is a disgrace.

"It breaches all the contractual arrangements we have had in place for many years.

"The legal advice Unite has been given is that the overtime rates are contractual."

He said all unions should fight to avoid a "race to the bottom" and argue for increasing overtime rates - not cutting them - to bring about equality.

'Fairly and equitably'

"Unite will stand up for our members and a ballot for industrial action is now being prepared to resist these imposed changes," he said.

A council spokesman said the terms and conditions had been "negotiated and agreed" with recognised trade unions.

"The council values its staff and is committed to ensuring they are treated fairly and equitably, whichever service they work within," he said.

"There had been an anomaly in the overtime rate paid to a very small number of staff within the roads section, which has been addressed.

"There had been open dialogue for a number of months but regrettably Unite was unwilling to engage in meaningful discussion on this issue."