COUNCIL workers in Scotland are moving “full steam ahead” towards strike action this summer after rejecting a “derisory” pay offer, Unite said today.

General secretary Sharon Graham said members rejected outright Cosla’s offer of 2.2 per cent effective from April 1 to September 30, and then two per cent for the following 12-month period.

“We are clear that our members shouldn’t settle for anything that doesn’t come close to meeting their demands,” she added. 

Unite industrial officer Graham McNab added: “The pay offer doesn’t come close to meeting the aspirations of our members in local government.

“Unite also opposes the pay anniversary date being moved to October as nothing but a cynical attempt to kick the can down the road.”

Cosla said the offer is “at the limit of affordability, given the severe financial constraints councils are facing in the context of a flat cash local government settlement.”