More schools to shut in Scotland as further Unison strikes confirmed

Unison staff have rejected a pay offer from council body Cosla

Schools are set to shut in five Scottish council areas after further staff strikes were announced.

Unison staff in Dundee City, Stirling, Clackmannanshire, Angus and Perth and Kinross will walk out on 15 November, with further dates to be confirmed.

The dispute involves pupil support, cleaning, catering administration and janitorial workers in schools and early years centres.

Council body Cosla has argued that a bigger pay rise is unaffordable.

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It came as strikes shut schools in four other council areas on Wednesday.

The one-day walk-out by some workers in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde follows a three-day strike in September.

A further one-day strike will take place in South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife next Wednesday.

Unison members held a rally on the Buchanan Galleries steps in Glasgow city centre

Unison members voted for strike action in October after members of the other two main council unions - Unite and the GMB - voted to accept Cosla's revised pay offer.

Trade union membership varies between schools, so some schools have been able to remain open.

As a general rule, primary schools in the four areas will be closed but some secondary schools will be open to S4, S5 and S6 students working towards assessment and exams.

Glasgow City Council said its janitors were represented by AMEY, and schools were able to arrange a cold, self-service lunch for senior pupils without using catering staff.

Full details of the closures are on council websites.

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The pay offer from Cosla would see the lowest-paid workers get a rise of about £2,000 a year while other staff would get rises worth at least 5.5%.

Unison Scotland's head of local government, Johanna Baxter, said: "The strength of feeling among Unison's 91,000 local government members, who voted overwhelmingly to reject Cosla's latest pay offer, is clear.

"They are determined to continue to fight to get an improved pay offer.

"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."

She added: "Cosla and the Scottish government need to give local government workers 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."

Cosla previously stated that the proposal was "as far as local government can go".

'I hope we return to normality soon'

Myrto Tsakatika has juggled working and childcare during the strike day

Dr Myrto Tsakatika is a politics professor at the University of Glasgow.

The strikes have forced her to juggle working from home alongside caring for her twins, who are in primary one.

She told BBC Scotland News: "This is the second time we are being affected by the strikes at the school.

"Obviously when there is a strike we need to stay home which means there are childcare arrangements.

"But today it has just meant that I have been working home with my kids, so trying to juggle both work and childcare.

"Fortunately my work is very flexible, but not everybody is in that position. I understand that for some people it's more difficult than for others."

Prof Tsakatika added that she supported the workers' right to strike, especially during a cost of living crisis.

She said: "I do very much sympathise with and understand the people who are on strike.

"I hope that there is resolution and things can return to some kind of normality some time soon."

Council leaders from across Scotland are due to decide on Friday whether to implement the offer despite Unison's opposition.

This would mean workers would receive a pay rise, backdated to April, in time for Christmas.

However, it also risks escalating the dispute, with Unison threatening to ballot other council workers, such as refuse collectors, on strike action.

The revised offer represents a minimum increase of £2,006 for workers on the Scottish local government living wage, and a minimum of £1,929 for those above the rate.

The living wage of £10.85 would rise to £11.89 per hour - equivalent to a 9.6% increase.

'Confident there will be escalation'

Mark Ferguson, chairman of Unison Scotland's local government committee, said it was below the rate of inflation and his union was looking for "an inflation-proofed offer".

He urged Cosla not to impose the offer following "constructive dialogue" on Monday.

"If imposition happens then I'm pretty sure and confident there'll be an escalation, our members' resolve is quite strong and they want a settlement that means something to them in this cost of living crisis," Mr Ferguson told the PA news agency.

The Scottish government said it had already committed £235m to a pay rise for council workers and pay negotiations were a matter for local authorities.

A spokesperson added: "We have a shared position with Cosla that local authorities will ensure that schools and learning establishments remain open as far as is practical, taking into consideration staffing levels and individual establishment risk assessments.

"Only where it is not safe or practical to have a school or learning establishment open will closures occur so that disruption to learning and teaching is avoided as far as possible."