No fewer that 270 budding sports coaches from all over Argyll and the Islands – Continue reading
Tag Archives: local authority
Childrens’ Champion sought: choose a Councillor
In an interesting and worthwhile initiative, Continue reading
Argyll & Bute first council fully connected to high-speed broadband
The £70million Pathfinder North scheme, which began Continue reading
2 of 6 proposed Special Protection Areas for Golden Eagles are in Argyll
Environment Minister, Roseanna Cunningham, has announced 6 sites Continue reading
Skykon contract for Europe’s biggest onshore wind farm
‘Scotland has become the most positive and the most interesting renewables Continue reading
Islay High School drama teacher sues Argyll & Bute Council
A drama teacher at Islay High School in Bowmore is claiming Continue reading
Labour’s closing down sale
In a fire sale in a buyer’s market, the UK’s Labour Government Continue reading
Unison members accept and Unite members reject local government pay offer
All three trade unions representing local authority workers in the ongoing pay dispute recently ballotted their members, recommending rejection of the latest offer.
Unison has now reported that the result of its ballot of 100,000 members is a narrow acceptance of the offer – 3% for 2008 and 2.5% for 2009. Dougie Black , Unison’s regional organiser, says that the close result sends a clear message to local authorities that staff are not happy with the offer. He says: ‘This offer is not good but circumstances have led to our members drawing this dispute to a close. They have made a pragmatic decision based on the perilous state of local government finance, the unsettled wider economy and the fact that Christmas is almost upon us’.
Unite and GMB together represent a further 100,000 workers. Jimmy Farrelly, for Unite, says that the response for their ballot was over 50% and that about 60% of that response had rejected the offer. He says that the union will now be meeting its local authority shop stewards to decide on further action.
The result of the GMB ballot is expected soon.
Cosla’s Jurassic Park news service
Talk about trapped in amber. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) is not the sharpest on the communications front. A visit to the ‘News Room’ on their website this morning found a single item on the long and still running Scottish local authority pay dispute – dated 19 August 2008. Ironically, the item was trumpeting Cosla’s rejection of accusations that it had been slow to react. Case proved?
But there is a further delight. If you click on ‘Press Releases’ you are promised an archive of ‘older’ stories. How old is old? The ‘latest’ story is growing whiskers already.
Presumably someone is paid to run this ‘service’ – and doesn’t realise that ‘old news’ is a contradiction in terms?
Cosla represents all of Scotland’s local authorities. They are involved collectively in a long running dispute with employees over pay. This dispute has seen everyday life throughout Scotland disrupted by several one-day strikes, with more industrial action promised if agreement is not reached. Scotland needs new news on this as soon as – and the internet is the soonest of them all.
This dispute affects everyone in the country. Presumably it matters to the local authorities represented by Cosla that their case and their stance on changing circumstances is speedily in the public domain?
With a slow lead-time like this, it is hardy surprising that Cosla’s online news has not yet caught up with the big financial story of the hundreds of millions of pounds invested in Icelandic banks by Scottish local authorities. Yet this very day Council Chiefs involved are meeting in Edinburgh to discuss the impact on their finances and service provision of the failure of these banks – Landsbanki, Heritable (a Landsbanki subsidiary) and Glitnir.
(1.30pm) This meeting has now ended and Pat Watters, Cosla President, has said on television that the decision has been to write to UK Chancellor Alastair Darling and to Scottish Government Finance Secretary John Swinney asking for Scottish Local Authority representation in any national discussions on this problem.
See our report on the current position on relevant Scottish local authority investments.
Unions urge Scottish local authority workers to reject pay offer
Just as the RMT rail strike planned to run for 24 hours from yesterday lunchtime was suspended, the GMT union, followed later by Unison, have advised members to reject the recent pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla). GMT and Unison are two of the three unions – with Unite - involved in the long running dispute over a time-tied and below inflation pay offer.
Cosla had recently increased its offer from 2.5% to 3% for one year followed by 2.5% for the following year. The three unions have taken time to consider this offer but the omens are not now good for the averting of yet another crippling strike affecting local authority services from ferries, to schools, to refuse collections…