Vice-prime minister John Swinney characterized the action in Edinburgh as “very worrying” for public health as bin strikes continue throughout thirteen Scottish authorities.
Since the 18th of August, cleaning personnel in Edinburgh have been on strike, resulting in garbage piles throughout the city.
Mr. Swinney stated that the problem was “very disturbing on multiple levels, including public health.
Six additional councils will join the strike on Friday.
On Wednesday evening, the unions and Mr. Swinney continued their discussions, although no agreement has yet been reached.
The unions have requested that the Scottish government “actively engage” in future negotiations with Cosla, the organization that represents local government.
Cosla stated that its rejected pay offer would have resulted in more than a 5% raise for the lowest-paid 12% of council employees.
The trade unions are requesting additional funds from the Scottish government to pay for a better compensation package.
Mr. Swinney stated that the local government pay deal had already been awarded £140 million in new funds.
When questioned about the effects of the strike in Edinburgh, he replied: “I consider the current state of Edinburgh to be profoundly troubling on a variety of fronts, not least in terms of public health.
“Therefore, I recognize the seriousness of the issue, which is why I want the strike to end and would prefer that it not expand to other regions of the country.”
Johanna Baxter, head of local government for Unison Scotland, stated that the union was “a long way” from the agreement.
After the discussions with Mr. Swinney, she added: “We appreciate that he listened to Unison’s concerns and was eager to investigate how he could help get council pay negotiations back on track.
“It was made plain that we need to review not only the structure of the pay offer to ensure that those with the lowest incomes are treated fairly, but we also need to investigate methods to enhance the overall funds available to make a fair offer.”
Government talks
Unite’s industrial officer, Wendy Dunsmore, reported that Mr. Swinney told them he would now “engage Cosla on a structure that could facilitate finance, but not directly from the Scottish government.”
The unions now want the Scottish government to “actively engage” in negotiations with Cosla, she added.
Unite stated that Cosla’s offer constituted an offer of between £900 and £1,250 for more than half of local government employees, but the UK government is offering council workers in England a flat rate salary offer of £1,925.
The GMB termed the offered package as “very disappointing and frankly disgraceful.”
According to Colsa, the new wage offer is “one of, if not the strongest offer in decades for Scottish local government employees,” with some staff receiving a 7.36 percent raise.
