Unison have told their members to accept the deal.
Unison are today recommending their members accept a proposed pay deal from the Scottish Government.
Scottish health unions are currently consulting their NHS members after the Government offered workers a pay rise on top of an existing £500 one-off payment for their hard work during the pandemic.
Unisons advice comes despite GMB and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) advising their members to reject the deal which falls significantly short of the 12.5% to 15% they have been calling for.
Under the proposed deal, those on pay bands of 1 to 4 would receive a flat uplift of £1,009, band 5 to 7 would receive a 4% pay increase, bands 8a to 8c would receive 2% pay increase, and bands 8d and 9 would receive a flat uplift of £800.
If accepted the proposed rise would be backdated to December 2020.
Sustained and substantial industrial action.
In an online document, Unison justifies the decision by explaining that the offer is “substantially higher than public sector pay deals” and “sustained and substantial industrial action would be required to bring the new government back to the table after the election”.
A statement reads; “On the eve of our industrial action ballot last December the government announced a £500 payment for health and social care workers. UNISON then focused on bringing the government and employers back to the table to win a serious and substantial pay rise for health workers.
“Following UNISON’s campaigning the government agreed that they would not wait for the Pay Review Body (PRB) to report and to start negotiations and that the deal would be backdated to December. Negotiations include all health trade unions and this offer reflects the differing priorities of those groups. Other unions would not support UNISON’s ask for a flat rate pay rise.
“UNISON believes that this is the best offer that can be achieved through negotiation”