GMB union suspends bin strikes after members accept pay offer

A trade union in Scotland has scrapped plans for refuse workers to strike after members accepted a new offer.

GMB Scotland said 78% of members voted to accept the offer from Cosla, which will see a minimum increase of 3.6% for staff.

Unite the union and Unison also announced they would suspend planned strikes to ballot members on the new offer, but are yet to announce a decision, with Unison recommending members reject the offer.

Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland’s senior organiser for public services, was critical of the Scottish Government and local authorities.

“Council leaders’ lack of urgency and stubborn refusal to ask the Scottish Government for support meant negotiations and uncertainty went on far longer than necessary,” he said.

“It should not take imminent strike action to deliver a fair offer but, while it came too late, the deal was above inflation for all staff and weighted to benefit frontline workers most.

“That was what the unions had asked for and, given that, it is no surprise our members accepted it.”

The threat of strike action came at a moment of economic strife for the Scottish Government and the UK Government, with Scotland’s Finance Secretary Shona Robison putting spending controls in place.

Mr Greenaway added: “Ministers implying a fair pay offer for our members means cuts to spending are only diverting attention from the real cause of the crisis in our public services.

“We have endured more than a decade of cuts not because of staff being paid fairly but because our governments, at Westminster and Holyrood, have failed to properly fund the public sector.

“Government is about choices but, when our public services are struggling to recruit and retain skilled staff, paying council staff fairly is not part of the problem but part of the solution.”

Cosla and the Scottish Government have been approached for comment.