Hundreds of schools close as support staff take strike action

Janitors, cleaners and classroom assistants are among those taking strike action across four local authorities in Scotland on Wednesday.
School support workers, who are members of Unison will walk out in four local authorities on Wednesday (Jane Barlow/PA)
PA Wire
Lauren Gilmour1 November 2023
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

School support staff at four local authorities will walk out on Wednesday in a continuing dispute with councils over pay.

Workers including janitors, cleaners and pupil support assistants are among those who will take strike action in East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Glasgow – which will see hundreds of schools close.

Some schools may remain open for pupils in S4-6 preparing for exams.

Wednesday’s action is part of rolling strikes by Unison members, scheduled to take place across the country in the coming weeks after the union rejected a pay offer from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).

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 will rise to £11.89 per hour – equivalent to a 9.6% increase.

Unison has also served notice of further strike action to South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife councils – which will take place on November 8.

Members are also expected to gather on Buchanan Street in Glasgow for a rally at 12pm on Wednesday.

Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland 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.”

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

Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland head of local government

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 £2,006 pay increase for lowest-paid workers, which the unions asked for, and £1,929 or at least 5.5% for everyone else, is as far as local government can go without impacting service and jobs,” she said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in