Council staff to get pay freeze

Susan Lochrie • Published 30 Aug 2010 14:00

THOUSANDS of Inverclyde Council employees will have their pay frozen from next year after talks with unions broke down.

Local authority representative body Cosla announced that the three-year package will involve a 0.65 per cent increase backdated to April.

There is no increase planned for 2012 or 2013.

As a result it now looks likely council workers could be balloted on industrial action.

The deal affects all council staff except teachers, who work from a separate agreement.

Inverclyde’s local authority branch secretary Robin Taggart said: “We are having a conference next week and we will decide what action we take now.

"My own personal opinion is that if you have rejected a pay deal there is no other option but to ballot members on industrial action.”

The deal now in place is less generous than the one originally tabled, which was rejected by the three public sector unions, including Unison.

Cosla had offered them a one-per cent increase this year followed by a pay freeze next year and then a 0.5 per cent rise in 2012 to 2013.

But the unions were holding out for a three per cent pay rise this year or an increase of £600 for the lowest-paid workers.

A spokesman for Cosla, which negotiates on behalf of Inverclyde Council, said: “We hugely value our hard-working employees and on this basis made them an original offer which represented the absolute extremity of what councils could afford.”

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 30 Aug 10

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