SCHOOL services, homecare, libraries, leisure centres and bin collections will be disrupted as members of three unions hold a one-day strike.
Union, Unite and GMB members in East Dunbartonshire are to hold industrial action on September 12 over a long-running dispute about changes to pensions and conditions of service, including major cuts to voluntary redundancy packages.
Four days of action took place in June, but follow-up measures scheduled for the following month were delayed to allow for further talks. Next month’s 24-hour strike could cause more disruption to the public as it takes place during term time. Notice has been served to both the local authority and its leisure and culture trust.
Last night Vaughan Moody, the joint leader of the LibDem-Tory administration, said the council had to cut redundancy costs.
Council officers were tasked with acting on this area while the previous minority SNP administration was in power.
That party quit the leadership over proposals to change terms for workers, which it did not have the numbers to block.
Councillor Gordan Low, SNP ex-council leader, said his group “fundamentally rejects” the administration’s “agenda”, adding: “The council has long-established mechanisms for negotiating with our workforce. Unfortunately the administration has chosen to ignore the established partnership-at-work framework, and instead has tried to impose these draconian cuts by dictat.
“The actions taken by the LibDem and Tory groups over the last year have undermined staff morale and the partnership between the council and the workforce that we rely on to deliver our frontline services.”
Moody said: “The reality of the financial climate means that the current discretionary elements of the redundancy payments framework is far beyond the national average and is not sustainable.
“Most other councils in Scotland have made significant changes to reduce their policy over the past two-three years to ensure best value of the public pound.
“We have presented a revised enhanced proposal which we believe takes account of the financial impact of the level of additional discretionary payments that only some employees may ever benefit from.”
Simon Macfarlane, Unison regional organiser, said: “Talks between the council and unions has resolved issues on annual leave, overtime payments, unsocial hours payments.
“However Unison members emphatically rejected the council’s latest pensions voluntary redundancy package.
“We have still not resolved this final issue so we are now required to serve notice of further strikes and a continuing work to rule.
“The unions are ready to hold further talks to avoid further strikes and the disruption to service users. We are extremely close to a full settlement of all outstanding issues and hopefully the leadership of the council can complete the successful negotiating process with some urgency.”
Kenny Jordan of Unite added that his organisation is “hopeful that continued constructive dialogue with the council can lay the way to minimise the disruption”.
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