Scottish Unison unanimously backs one-day general strike

Socialist Party Scotland reporters.

Social care workers on strike in Scotland, February 2011, photo by Duncan Brown

Unison workers on strike in Scotland, February 2011, photo by Duncan Brown   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

All 200 delegates representing 160,000 Unison members working in local government, health, education etc have unanimously supported a motion from the Glasgow city branch calling for a coordinated industrial action strategy, beginning with a one-day strike across Scotland.

The motion also calls on the Scottish TUC to coordinate the one-day strike in Scotland with action by trade unions across the UK.

This needs to be repeated in other unions to force the STUC to name the day for a one-day strike of all affiliated unions as early as practical in 2013.

There is no shortage of issues that unions can ballot on. The Scottish National Party (SNP) government has imposed a second year of pension contribution increases for 250,000 workers in the NHS, police, fire service and the civil service.

CoSLA, the local government employer dominated by Labour and SNP politicians, offered a miserly 1% pay rise for 2013/14.

This fourth year of effective pay cuts would mean local government workers will have seen a 16% drop in income since 2009.

Unison’s Scottish local government conference agreed to go back to the employer telling them the offer is “unacceptable”.

A recall conference will be held in January where a strategy to reject the 1% and a ballot for industrial action will be debated.

The key role played by Socialist Party Scotland members in formulating a fighting policy against austerity was clear from both conferences.

A special bulletin for both events calling for a 24-hour general strike, a fighting policy on pay and highlighting the recent victory of the witch-hunted Unison Four were enthusiastically received.

The outcome of these important conferences also indicates the mood and desire for effective action by the Unison membership in Scotland against the savage attacks members face every day.