Unison members in Glasgow Council have voted 2 to 1 in favour of strike action in an effort to force the city's Labour leaders to back down over the threatened pay cuts to 4,500 low and middle earning workers as part of an inadequate, poorly funded equal pay review.  Sixty-six per cent voted to stand by this minority of the workforce who face cuts of up to £5,000 in just two years time. The local branch described the result as "a tremendous result on a relatively high turnout" and have called three days of all out strike action on 5 - 7 December, backed up by selective action.

The result shows that huge numbers of the so-called "winners" saw through the Council's divide and rule tactics and rejected the Council's offer of a back dated payment in December - in effect a bribe just before Xmas - and chose to show solidarity with their fellow workers. The strike action will see almost 11,000 workers called out and will have a massive impact on council services from residential homes, daycare centres, environmental services, libraries, sports centres, museums, financial collection, nurseries, etc.

It is unclear at this stage whether Steven Purcell, the Council Leader, will attempt to negotiate a new deal in light of the threatened strike action or will dig in for a battle with his workforce. Purcell and other leading Labour Councillors attempted to cut across the unions by inviting the "losers" to meetings to explain how the pay review was a scientific, transparent and well funded offer. The whole exercise backfired with the Councillors not understanding the services they are responsible for or their employees' jobs.  One even suggested that the workers could not read which led to some workers walking out in disgust and ripping up their new pay letters on the way out the door!

The SNP Councillors have not publicly opposed the pay cuts in any meaningful way, did not force a vote in the Council Executive and have gone along with the wholly inadequate pay protection arrangements which are a key element of the dispute. This failure to support ordinary workers is of course consistent with how they have conducted themselves in Falkirk having just imposed an equal pay deal on workers in that council (the trades unions in that council are now also moving to ballot their members for action). Battles over equal pay implementation are going to be a feature of industrial relations in local government over the next year or so. The SNP better choose whose side they are going to be on - the workers or the Scottish Labour establishment?