Scottish Borders to avoid disruption during planned bin strikes
Bin strikes are set to take place across Scotland next month in an ongoing dispute over pay.
But no disruption is planned in the Borders - after the number of workers who took part in a ballot on industrial action "narrowly missed the threshold required".
David Bell, convener of the Unite union at Scottish Borders Council, is hopeful a national resolution can be found.
He told Greatest Hits Radio: "There now does seem to be a possible direction that the Scottish Government wish to go in but, until such time that we have more firm action, the strike action across the rest of Scotland is still planned to commence on the 14th of August."
GMB members in 18 of Scotland's 32 local authority areas will strike, and the union said the action will mean bins are not emptied "from the smallest villages to the biggest cities".
That includes staff at Edinburgh City Council who will strike during the capital's busy summer festival period.
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It comes amid a dispute over council workers' pay, with the three unions involved - Unison, Unite and the GMB - having all rejected a 3.2% pay rise offered by local government body Cosla.
An offer of £1,290 has been made to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the National Joint Council (NJC). This equates to a rise of 67 pence per hour or 5.2 per cent for a council worker earning around £25,000 based on a 37-hour week.
In contrast, the COSLA offer of 3.2 per cent equates to £800 or a 41 pence per hour increase. The pay offer difference means that a Scottish council worker would need to earn above £40,000 to match the offer being made to council workers across the UK. This means the lowest paid council workers are being disproportionately hit by COSLA’s current pay offer.
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While talks between the unions, Cosla leaders and Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison took place on Tuesday, a deal to end the dispute has not yet been reached.
Speaking after the talks on Tuesday evening, Ms Robison said her officials will now "work at pace with local government officers to understand what an improved negotiating envelope may look like".
While the Scottish Conservatives are demanding that First Minister John Swinney intervenes in a bid to resolve the dispute, Ms Robison stressed the Government has "no formal role in local pay negotiations".
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