MEMBERS of GMB Scotland have voted to accept a new pay offer, cancelling planned strikes among cleansing workers.

The union was one of three which had planned to walk out, but it has confirmed that 78% of members voted to back the deal, which offers up to 5.6% for frontline staff.

However, despite the planned action being scrapped, Keir Greenaway, the union’s senior organiser in public services, commented: “Council leaders’ lack of urgency and stubborn refusal to ask the Scottish Government for support meant negotiations and uncertainty went on far longer than necessary.

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“It should not take imminent strike action to deliver a fair offer but, while it came too late, the deal was above inflation for all staff and weighted to benefit frontline workers most.”

We told earlier this month how both Unite the union and Unison also suspended bin strikes to allow workers to vote on a new pay deal.

GMB Scotland has criticised the Scottish Government, however, after saying ministers froze non-essential spending within 24 hours of the offer being made before warning of more cuts this month.

Greenaway added: “Ministers implying a fair pay offer for our members mean cuts to spending are only diverting attention from the real cause of the crisis in our public services.

“We have endured more than a decade of cuts not because of staff being paid fairly but because our governments, at Westminster and Holyrood, have failed to properly fund the public sector.

“Government is about choices but, when our public services are struggling to recruit and retain skilled staff, paying council staff fairly is not part of the problem but part of the solution.”

The National has approached Cosla and the Scottish Government for comment.