John Swinney under pressure to ‘break the gridlock’ as Scotland bin strikes loom

Unite has warned a “stinking Scottish summer looms” unless Cosla, the umbrella group for Scottish councils, and the Scottish Government provide more money for a pay deal, insisting the latest offer “grossly undervalues” workers and would leave the lowest paid worse off than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK.

GMB Scotland said time was running out to halt proposed strike action, which is expected to take place in August – running alongside Edinburgh’s festivals season. Unison, the largest trade union in Scotland’s councils, rejected the 3.2 per cent pay offer on Friday.

Council leaders will hold a crunch meeting on Wednesday to plot their next move, with union bosses looking to a 4 per cent increase to match the offer to workers at English council. The GMB has now written to the First Minister, calling on him to intervene in the stand-off.

At a Cosla leaders’ meeting last month, SNP councillors voted down a call to approach the Scottish Government for assistance despite cleansing and refuse workers preparing for industrial action.

Louise Gilmour, GMB Scotland secretary, urged council leaders to reconsider that position at the special meeting.

She said: “Councils have limited finances and Cosla claims an improved offer is impossible. If the Scottish Government does not come to the table, there will be no meaningful discussions, no route to a resolution and no chance of halting strike action.

“The gridlock has been caused by some council leaders blocking attempts to approach the Scottish Government. The First Minister could and should break that gridlock.”

Ms Gilmour stressed any offer to Scottish council workers must, at a minimum, match the 4 per cent offered in England’s local authorities, particularly since the new UK government is hinting at even higher awards to teachers and nurses south of the border. She said the special meeting of council leaders was one of the final chances to avert industrial action.

“If there is no fair offer, this dispute will only escalate causing disruption for the millions of Scots relying on the frontline services delivered by our members,” she said. “Strike action can be averted, but only with the support of the Scottish Government. That support needs to arrive as a matter of urgency.”

But Mr Swinney has stressed the Scottish Government does not have any extra money to bring to the negotiating table.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Swinney said: “As I’ve said extensively, as I did during the election campaign, there are huge pressures on public finances and the Government’s budget has been fully allocated.

“We are wrestling with financial pressures through demand for services which are increasing the financial pressures on government. So the realities that I set out on the public finances during the election campaign remain the realities that we face today.

“That’s why I’ve made such a call for the UK to end austerity, because austerity is undermining our ability to operate effectively at the public services of our society.”

When asked if he would step in in a similar way to former first minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2022, he said: “The negotiations are for local authorities to resolve with trading partners. I regularly encourage local authorities to get on with business they are there to undertake, which I will respect. But of course I will engage with local authorities as I do on an ongoing basis.”

Labour leader of Edinburgh City Council, Cammy Day, has called on SNP ministers “to get round the table, as they have done in the last number of years, and help avert any strike action”.

He said: “The trade unions, who I have met this week, are calling for the same – they want the Scottish Government to get round that table.

"They understand the pressures that local government is under and that without interventions and support from the Scottish Government, they can see the strike action going ahead into the summer and festival time here in Edinburgh, which is the last thing we want to see.”

Cllr Day added: “I want to put on record my full support for the trade unions and their right to strike. It’s disappointing we’ve not yet got to a settled figure. I absolutely accept workers’ right to strike to make sure they can get a fair pay deal, which is all they are asking for.

“The national agreement agreed just over 4 per cent and I hope that’s where we might be able to get to in Scotland. But we may well require the support of the SNP Government, who have come around the table in the last few years with additional resources to help provide the necessary funding to support our local government workers across Scotland.

“These are care workers, bin men and women and people who run frontline public services in cities and councils and towns across Scotland. I call on the Scottish Government to join local government, which has been slashed from them over the last decade or more and ask them to get round the table and help bring the potential strike action to an end.”

On Monday, Cosla’s resources spokeswoman Katie Hagmann, said the organisation was “extremely disappointed to hear that all three unions have rejected the revised offer”.

She said the 3.2 per cent offer was “at the very limit of affordability for councils given the challenging financial situation we are facing”.

Cosla declined to comment further ahead of Wednesday’s leaders’ meeting.