Dear GMB Member
GMB Scotland in Local Government – COSLA Pay Deal 2018/19 Derek Mackay Meeting Update
The priority of GMB Scotland is the defence of your interests.
That’s why yesterday (Thursday 10 May), along with me, your fellow GMB member Dinah Turnbull, a cleaning supervisor in Falkirk Council, took our COSLA pay campaign for to the Scottish Government and Derek Mackay.
GMB cannot support a deal that increases the pay of the highest grades by £1,600 a year while staff on the lowest grades get between £250 and £600. It is unfair and unacceptable – that why we are urging you to reject the COSLA offer.
Yesterday, Dinah pressed Mr Mackay on the pay offer: “Did he think that she was worth eight times less than her boss?” Mr Mackay’s response was that the lowest paid and the highest paid in local government are “equally valued“.
Unfortunately, it would seem that Mr Mackay thinks that some local government workers are more equal than others.
That’s why we need to send a clear message to COSLA and the Scottish Government that they must do more for the lowest paid in local government. You can do this by strongly rejecting the COSLA offer in our live consultative ballot.
After ten years of cuts to pay, conditions and services, you deserve better.
Our consultative ballot runs until Friday 15 June. GMB organisers and reps are conducting workplace ballots. Postal ballots for members in remote areas will be sent over the next week.
In the meantime, if you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us at gmbscotcampaigns@gmb.org.uk
If you are not a member and want to be part of Scotland’s campaigning trade union in local government, you can join online – www.gmb.org.uk/join
Drew Duffy
GMB Scotland Senior Organiser
P.S. Remember! GMB is urging you to reject the COSLA offer – it is unfair and unacceptable.
Posted: 11th May 2018