Perth & Kinross Council to implement national pay deal
Last updated | 27/11/2008
Perth & Kinross Council is to implement the national 3% pay offer for its staff.
All eligible employees will receive the rise in January’s salary, backdated to 1 April 2008.
The move was unanimously agreed by the Council’s Executive Sub-Committee of Strategic Policy and Resources today (Thursday 27 November). This follows an earlier meeting with trade unions.
Council Leader, Councillor Ian Miller, said: “Over seventy per cent of our staff who have trade union membership are Unison members. Given that Unison has now accepted the pay offer, it seems unfair to the majority of our workforce to withhold the 3% pay increase until the situation is resolved nationally.
“There is clearly a delay in reaching agreement through the national negotiations. As this is adversely affecting a large number of our employees we felt the only reasonable thing to do for our workforce was to implement the pay offer now. In the current economic climate, and with all the associated costs of Christmas, I feel it will be of benefit to our staff to know that the pay award is being implemented. Because of the complexities of calculating back pay, the earliest possible implementation date will be January 2009.
“We of course recognise an individual employee’s right to continue to support their trade union’s position, and so employees will be given an opportunity to state in writing that they do not wish to receive the pay award at this point in time.
“In the event that a higher pay rise deal is struck with the unions, I can reassure staff that no-one would lose out just because we are implementing the current deal now.”
