UNION members are readying themselves for a further wave of strike action in Scotland’s schools and early years centres this week in a continuing dispute with councils over pay.
School support staff in East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire, including janitors and crossing patrollers are preparing to hold a one-day strike on Wednesday, meaning hundreds of schools may have to close.
The demonstration is part of rolling strike action scheduled to take place across the country in the coming weeks after Unison rejected a pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).
The revised offer represents a minimum increase of £2006 for workers on the Scottish local government living wage, and a minimum of £1929 for those above the rate.
The living wage of £10.85 will rise to £11.89 per hour – equivalent to a 9.6% increase.
Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland's head of local government, said: “The last thing we want is to cause disruption for pupils and parents, but school staff have been left with no other option.
“Workers are taking action because they want children to be educated in well-resourced, well-staffed schools and they want to start trying to reverse the years of under-investment in both the workforce and services.
“While no deal has yet been reached, we continue to have constructive dialogue with Cosla and we remain committed to resolving this dispute as soon as possible.”
Mark Ferguson, chair of Unison Scotland’s local government committee, said: “Our members voted overwhelmingly to reject Cosla’s pay offer and are determined to fight for the improved pay offer they deserve.
“Cosla and the Scottish Government need to give school staff a decent wage rise, fund any increase properly and commit to implementing a minimum underpinning rate of pay of £15 per hour for all local government workers.”
Katie Hagmann, Cosla’s resources spokesperson, previously said it had put “an incredibly strong half a billion pound pay package on the table” and that the results of Unison’s strike ballot was “disappointing”.
“Offering almost 10% or a £2006 pay increase for lowest-paid workers, which the unions asked for, and £1929 or at least 5.5% for everyone else, is as far as local government can go without impacting service and jobs,” she said.
