School strikes Scotland: Staff to strike in 24 Scottish council areas

The industrial action is expected to close schools in 24 council areas across Scotland

Mass school closures are set to take place in Scotland as early as next month unless a last-minute pay deal can be struck after staff in 24 council areas voted overwhelmingly to strike.

Edinburgh and Glasgow will be among the council areas impacted by planned strikes by non-teaching school staff. It comes after members of Scotland's biggest council union Unison rejected an average pay increase of 5.5 per cent.

Unison’s local government committee is set to meet on Monday to decide dates for the planned strikes.

Non-teaching staff at schools are set to strike in 24 council areas across Scotland. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The Scotsman understands the strike action could take place as early as next month, ahead of the first school term break of the year.

Unison claimed the decision represented the largest ever vote for strike action in the country.

And the strikes are certain to lead to widespread closures across the affected council areas, given the inability to open schools without key staff, unless a revised deal can be reached with council umbrella body Cosla.

Cleaning, janitorial, catering, pupil support and administration staff are covered by the strikes, including those working in both schools and early years’ centres.

Other council areas to be impacted by the strikes include Aberdeen City, Dundee City, Fife, Perth & Kinross, South Lanarkshire and Stirling.

Unison Scottish secretary Lilian Macer said workers had been put in an "untenable" position by Cosla, adding: “This is Unison’s strongest-ever strike mandate in local government, which shows the level of anger felt by staff.

“The union will do everything possible to get back around the table with Cosla to resolve this dispute. School staff would prefer to be in school working with children, not on picket lines and closing dozens of schools.

“But the Scottish Government and Cosla should be in no doubt about the determination of school staff and they’ll do what it takes to get an improved pay deal for all local government workers."

At least 85 per cent of members who turned out in the council areas where strike action will take place voted yes to industrial action. The vote closed at 10am on Friday.

School staff will also strike in Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Dumfries & Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Highland, Inverclyde, Moray, North Ayrshire, Orkney Islands, Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire.

The eight remaining council areas, including Midlothian and Falkirk, also backed the strikes, but failed to achieve the required 50 per cent turnout for industrial action to go ahead.

Two of Scotland’s other largest council unions, GMB and Unite, also have mandates for industrial action.

GMB Scotland members are due to go on strike on September 13 and 14 in ten councils after confirming the industrial action last week.

Council leaders were set to hold a special meeting to debate whether the pay offer could be improved in a bid to resolve the dispute.

Unison members had been offered a 5 per cent pay increase, backdated to April, as well as an additional increase that varied depending on an individual’s salary payable from January next year.

Cosla resources spokeswoman, Councillor Katie Hagmann, said the meeting had been called to try and find a "swift" resolution.

She told the BBC: "Cosla leaders are confident this is a strong offer. However, they recognise that the unions have rejected this so we have to absolutely listen to those concerns and respect the outcome of any ballot."

Unison Scotland local government committee chair Mark Ferguson said: “School staff across Scottish local government have voted to strike in unprecedented numbers.

“Cosla must address the union’s calls for improved fair pay that recognises and rewards them for the vital work they do in their communities ... if they fail to address the reasonable demands on the back of such a significant mandate, schools across Scotland will close and nobody wants that.”

The strikes loom after separate action involving teachers was called off earlier this year.

Twenty days of rolling strikes had been planned by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union, targeting every local authority between March 13 and April 21.

But the strike action was suspended after unions recommended their members accepted a new pay offer.