Scottish school strikes: Unions split as parents brace for school closures

Strikes that will close schools across Scotland are to go ahead after a union rejected a new council pay deal.

The Scottish government freed up £80m so local authority body Cosla could make the improved offer, which includes a rise of about £2,000 a year for the lowest paid.

It has been rejected by Unison, whose members will walk out on 26, 27 and 28 September in 24 council areas.

The union described the latest offer as "too little, too late".

However, the Unite and GMB unions said on Friday morning that they were suspending their planned strikes while their members were consulted on the new offer.

It means there will now not be any strikes in Falkirk or North Lanarkshire next week, while Unite and GMB members in many other areas could face the prospect of having to cross Unison picket lines.

Unite's lead negotiator Graham McNab said the latest pay offer "should have been put on the table months ago if it were not for the dithering and blundering by Cosla and Scottish government ministers" and was recommending that its members accept it.

The GMB said the new offer was "significantly better" but also questioned why it had taken Cosla so long to put it on the table, adding: "lessons should be learned from these needlessly protracted negotiations to ensure workers, parents and pupils do not endure similar uncertainty in future."

The dispute is over a pay offer for non-teaching school staff including janitors and canteen workers.

The vast majority of schools in the 24 areas are expected to close if the Unison strike action goes ahead, although the picture is varied across the country and some secondary schools have said they will open to senior pupils.

Unison Scotland's Johanna Baxter said: "As the largest union in local government across Scotland, Unison represents council and school workers in all roles and at every salary level.

"The union's local government committee decided to reject the revised Cosla offer because, although there had been progress on pay for some employees, it short-changed the majority.

"Unison is committed to winning a £15 per hour minimum rate, which wasn't addressed in Cosla's most recent proposal."

Ms Baxter added that the "failure" to provide any new money for this offer meant councils would have to cut services and jobs.

"Unison will not accept a position where the union is asked to trade pay for jobs. No-one takes the decision to strike lightly. But council workers in Scotland deserve far better," she said.

A deadline was originally set for 17:00 on Wednesday for Cosla to make an improved pay offer - but it asked for an extension to seek funds from Deputy First Minister Shona Robison.

Unison has rejected the new pay offer and will strike in schools in these 24 areas on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week:

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh City, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Moray, North Ayrshire, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Shetland, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire,

The GMB has called off strikes in these 10 areas:

Aberdeen City, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Dundee City, East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk, Glasgow City, Orkney, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire,

Unite has called off strikes in these 11 areas:

Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Dundee City, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Fife, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, South Lanarkshire.

Further details of school closures are available on council websites.

The funding package for the latest offer is understood to be nearly £580m - although it involves no extra money for councils overall.

The new money for pay would previously have been used for something else within the council budgets.

The Scottish government has said councils would need to use existing budgets to fund a better deal.

After the latest offer was rejected, Deputy First Minister Shona Robison called for talks to continue to try and avert future strikes.

She told BBC Scotland News: "It is disruptive to children and parents and that is why we found with great difficulty the extra £80m to try to help to resolve the dispute.

"My plea would be that discussions continue and that they try to discuss over the weekend with the hope of still potentially calling off the strikes.

"If that's not possible and strikes can't be averted they need to keep talking to try and avoid further strikes beyond that."

Cosla's Katie Hagmann said it was "heartened" by the news that Unite and the GMB were suspending next week's strike action while it consulted its membership on the pay package.

"This is good news, and I welcome the decision to suspend next week's strike action by both the Unite and GMB trade unions," she said.

"We have met every ask of our trade union colleagues throughout these negotiations and this best and final offer which will see every single local government worker receive an in year pay rise of between 6 and almost 10% was made on the basis that strikes would be suspended.

"I am pleased that these two trade unions have recognised this."

Ms Hagmann said the pay package was targeted at lower-paid members and recognised the cost-of-living pressures on the workforce.

"I am pleased with today's decision from Unite and the GMB because this is the best funding package that Scottish and local government can provide and I would hope that their members accept the offer," she added.

Leanne McGuire, of the Glasgow City Parents Group, told BBC Scotland's The Nine programme that parents would be feeling "deflated" and "frustrated" at the prospect of strike action.

She said: "This is now the fourth school year that we're going into which isn't classed as a 'normal' school year.

"It's hard as a parent to have that sympathy when it's affecting you so much."

A previous pay offer, made last week, was rejected by the three unions.

The swift rejection of the new pay offer by Unison was a surprise.

The hope had been that the offer would, at the very least, lead to strike action being suspended while members were consulted over whether to accept it.

The consultation will still go ahead but the union's frustration is clear.

While the strike itself is over pay, it's likely that pickets and protesters next week will want to make wider points about the funding of council services.

Unions feel council staff are being asked to do more and more with tighter resources and that local services are not financed well enough.

Meanwhile, many parents will be planning to take time off work or arrange childcare.

It will be the second time within a year that schools have been closed by strike action.

Some are still worried about the lasting impact of the pandemic on education so the loss of three school days can never be taken lightly.

But that is also a reason why the unions thought the mere threat of more school strikes could have been enough to resolve the dispute.