School strikes OFF as union considers improved Cosla pay deal
Unison has suspended the next round of rolling walkouts after the local government body found additional funding to meet the union's demands
Last updated 3rd Nov 2023
Strikes among non-teaching staff at schools across Scotland have been suspended, as a union considers an improved pay offer from local government body Cosla.
Unison said on Friday it has negotiated a “ground-breaking” commitment to deliver above-inflation increases for the lowest-paid workers for at least the next three years.
The new deal will now be put to members in a ballot, with the union recommending that they accept it.
Industrial action has already seen hundreds of schools shut
Support staff at 24 local authorities walked out for three days in September, while workers in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde took part in the first of a series of rolling strikes on Wednesday of this week.
Action planned for South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife on November 8th, and at Stirling, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Angus and Perth & Kinross on the 15th, has now been paused while members consider the deal.
Unison Scotland's head of local government Johanna Baxter said: "Over the past few months, from the employers' original offer to today, the action of Unison members has secured more than an additional £100 million into the pockets of local government workers. This includes an additional £17.2 million secured in the last couple of weeks.
New deal "will go a long way to tackling low pay across the sector"
"The improvements put forward today help address low pay and support those in the squeezed middle. The commitment to delivering a minimum rate of pay of £15 per hour for all local government workers by April 2026 will go a long way to tackling low pay across the sector.
"Backdating the full offer to April this year will see an improvement for four in ten local government workers."
Earlier on Friday council leaders said additional funding had been found to meet the "extra demands" of the union, and Cosla urged Unison to put the offer to members and stand down further strike action planned this month.
A statement from Cosla following a meeting of council leaders on Friday said: "Two of our three trade unions voted to accept the pay offer made on 21st September - at that point, there was no additional money available to increase that offer.
"Leaders recognise the importance of getting money into the pockets of our workforce"
"After intensive talks, the Scottish Government has identified a mechanism to underwrite limited additional one-off funding which can meet the extra demands of Unison.
"This will now allow councils to put additional funding into the offer, allowing all elements of the current offer to be backdated. Leaders recognise the importance of getting money into the pockets of our workforce as early as possible and today's decisions will hopefully make that possible.
"Given that an extremely strong offer was made to our trade unions back in April and then revised in September, it is disappointing that reaching agreement has taken so long.
"But the priority of leaders today is ensuring that nobody is left out of pocket ahead of the winter period, especially given the ongoing pressures of the cost-of-living crisis."