Municipal workers set to strike across Scotland

An independent review of the system of adult social care in Scotland has endorsed action on fair pay and called for the establishment of sector collective bargaining. The review has been welcomed by public services union UNISON which points out that the review highlights the structural challenges in the social care sector that inhibit workers ability to collectively bargain for improved pay and conditions. The union underlines the importance of better training, standards, pay and fair working conditions for improving the quality of care and as a boost to the economy.

Members of the RCN nursing union in Scotland have voted overwhelmingly to reject a 5% pay offer and a majority has given support to strike action. The union in England and Wales will launch a ballot next month with a similar recommendation from the leadership to reject the pay offer and support industrial action. This opens up the prospect of the first ever UK industrial action by the union. In England and Wales the union’s main pay demand was for a rise of 5% above inflation (currently 11.8%), to combat years of wage stagnation and the cost-of-living crisis. The government has announced an