Unions want a 6.5% pay rise

UNION leaders have insisted demands for a 6.5 per cent pay rise for council workers are “realistic”.

Unison, Unite and the GMB want staff to have a salary increase of either £1,500 or 6.5 per cent, depending on which is greater.

The unions submitted their pay claim for 2018/19 to local government body Cosla, saying a rise of this level was needed for workers’ pay to increase in line with inflation. It is also designed to start to address the real-terms loss of earnings staff suffered when public sector pay was capped.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay fulfilled a pledge to lift the one per cent pay cap in his draft Budget.