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| Unison members accept pay offer | Unison members accept pay offer |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Unison members in Scotland's councils have voted to accept a pay deal. | Unison members in Scotland's councils have voted to accept a pay deal. |
| Local authority workers were sent ballot papers seeking their view of the latest local government pay offer by Cosla of 3% for 2008 and 2.5% for 2009. | Local authority workers were sent ballot papers seeking their view of the latest local government pay offer by Cosla of 3% for 2008 and 2.5% for 2009. |
| Unison had recommended that members reject the offer. However, members voted by a narrow majority to accept. | Unison had recommended that members reject the offer. However, members voted by a narrow majority to accept. |
| The ballot covered 100,000 members working for Scotland's 32 local councils, local joint valuation boards and fire and rescue staff. | The ballot covered 100,000 members working for Scotland's 32 local councils, local joint valuation boards and fire and rescue staff. |
| Ballot papers were also sent out to members of the Unite and GMB unions over the offer, with the results due this month. | |
| Council umbrella body Cosla had warned the package would be taken off the table if staff did not accept it. | |
| Unison regional organiser Dougie Black said the closeness of the result gave a clear message to local authorities that staff were unhappy with the present pay offer. | |
| "This offer is not good but circumstances have led to our members drawing this dispute to a close," he said. | |
| "They have made a pragmatic decision based on the perilous state of local government finance, the unsettled wider economy and the fact that Christmas is almost upon us." | |
| Initially, Cosla had offered a three-year deal of 2.5% each year which was rejected, and the unions staged two one-day strikes. | |
| Stephanie Herd, chair of Unison's local government committee, urged employers to use the result as a starting point for "constructive and meaningful discussions on pay for the future not simply the end of a hard fought bitter dispute". |