Union calls for key worker bonus payment for council workers

A union is calling for council workers who worked during the Covid-19 lockdown to receive a “key worker” bonus.

GMB members will protest outside the Scottish Parliament on Thursday as part of a campaign to receive the additional payment.

Council workers, including carers, bin collectors and school cleaners, are campaigning for a £2 an hour additional payment for every hour worked during the lockdown.

The GMB says this would result in around £85 extra a week for each worker.

They call on the First Minister to “pay up for key workers”, having previously submitted an 8,000-strong petition to her in July.

GMB Scotland senior organiser Drew Duffy said: “While workers that can will work from home again, our key workers will continue to go the extra mile. The least the First Minister can do is recognise and reward their incredible value to our communities and country.

“However, the bulk of the frontline response will continue to be delivered on the backs of low paid and often exploited workers, many of whom are women or from BME backgrounds, and earn just under or just over £10 an hour.

“After the applause of the first lockdown, many workers have been left to get on with it, and in some cases the working practices put in place to mitigate the spread of Covid are being eroded by employers who want to get ‘back to normal’.

“This shouldn’t sit comfortably with anyone who wants Scotland to be a ‘fair work’ nation and as we head into what looks like a turbulent autumn and winter, where the threat of covid is rising again, we cannot ignore our frontline heroes.

“Claps and kind words are welcomed but they won’t improve the conditions of the chronically low-paid or help their families in these tough times, and that’s why we are again asking the First Minister to pay up for our key workers.”