Two unions reject latest school workers pay offer

Two unions have rejected the latest pay offer for school janitors and pupil support staff in Scotland's schools.

Council body Cosla said the two-part offer would give workers at least a £1,929 increase in annual salary by 1 January 2024.

Strikes are due to take place in a fortnight that could close three out of four schools.

The Unison union said Cosla had until 20 September to "significantly improve" the offer and prevent walkouts.

GMB Scotland dismissed the latest offer as "far too little, far too late" to avoid the upcoming strikes.

The other major council union, Unite, is still to respond to the new pay offer.

Cosla insisted "the simple fact of the matter" was that there was no more money available for pay without real cuts to jobs and services.

The proposed strikes on 26, 27 and 28 September will also involve catering and cleaning staff in schools and early years centres.

Cosla said the latest offer would have seen the lowest paid local government workers receiving a 21% pay increase in two years.

It added that it would cost councils just under £500m.

Unison said the offer "contains no improvement whatsoever to the one presented to us in April and which members have already rejected".

Union spokesman Mark Ferguson said: "Cosla have not approached, and continue to refuse to approach, the Scottish government for additional funding to make a meaningful improvement to the pay offer.

"Given the state of local authority budgets we believe this to be a dereliction of the duty to stand up for local government and fight for the funding needed to both properly reward the local government workforce and keep our public services running."

He added: "The strike mandate we have is the strongest show of strength by our members in decades - their resolve to fight for the decent pay rise they, and all their colleagues across local government, so richly deserve is clear."

GMB Scotland, which represents more than 21,000 workers across Scotland's 32 councils, said that "after a long, frustrating process" its members were left with no choice but to go ahead with strike action.

Spokesman Keir Greenaway said: "This offer, like the previous offer, does not come close to maintaining the value of their wages as prices rise. It is far too little and far too late.

"Why should local authority workers in Scotland be offered less than in England? Why should they be asked to accept the unacceptable?"

Cosla's resources spokesperson Katie Hagmann said: "Whichever way you cut it, this is a very strong offer in the financial climate we find ourselves. We have a duty to ensure that services are sustainable within the funding for pay we have available.

"I am disappointed with today's rejection. However, we will continue to engage as positively as we can with the trade unions as strike action is in nobody's interests."

Unison and the GMB's decisions mean the threat of a three-day strike which could cause widespread school closures remains very real.

The other big council union - Unite - is still to respond to the new pay offer but is widely expected to reject it too.

But is any further improvement in the pay offer possible?

Because any new offer has to be affordable to all 32 councils, it would seem unlikely that they would be able to fund any further improvements out of their existing resources.

The unions are probably looking to the Scottish government to provide extra resources to help councils. It has already indicated that there will be no more money this year to help councils with pay.

But will this position hold?

The first minister is proud of the fact there have been no strikes in the NHS in Scotland this year - the threat of a pay strike by junior doctors was averted. Will they now step in to help avoid a strike in schools or will councils have to find the solution themselves?