Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Press Release

22 November 2000

For Use: Immediately

Continuing Unison Industrial Action

The Convener of Comhairle non Eilean Siar today welcomed the decision of Unison to engage in conciliation talks at a national level and agreed with the union's wish to see this dispute resolved. Mr Alex Macdonald said, 'I am very aware of the difficult position of our local Unison staff . I am grateful for their co-operation at a local level to protect vulnerable groups in our society from the effects of the industrial action. It is very welcome that dialogue will resume at a national level and I urge both sides to approach these talks in a constructive manner. For our part, we have consistently stressed the need for fair pay within expenditure limits.'

The Comhairle has had a long held policy in support of fair pay and have 5 consistently asked Central government to fund local government pay awards adequately. Vice Convener Roddy Murray also paid tribute to the local co-operation during the three recent one-day all out strikes. He added "The Comhairle has positively recognised the protection afforded to vulnerable groups by deciding that the deduction from staff who took action would be at the minimum level of 1/7th of weekly pay rather than the recommended 1/5t'.

The continuous -selective action has resulted in major IT systems being unsupported since I November 2000. While every effort is being made to avoid loss or distress to the public, a large backlog of processing is building up in several major sections of the Comhairle. Chief Executive, Bill Howat said, 'we are concerned that a rumour has started to the effect that we are considering outsourcing our IT services. I want to make it clear that we are not. The Comhairle's position remains firmly grounded in our policy of avoiding anything that might be construed as strike breaking or provocative. Any changes to any part of the Comhairles services or structure will go through our normal processes, such as Rest Value Reviews, as and when the dispute is settled. Our wish, shared by Unison, is to get back to normal working as soon as possible.'

At a national level the Employers side has asked local authorities to pay the partly agreed pay offer before Christmas. This will not be possible locally because the selective industrial action means that payroll systems would be unsupported during very complex processing, compounding the pressure facing the Payroll Section.

Ends

Issued by Nigel Scott

Communications Officer