School strikes to go ahead across Scotland as union rejects pay deal
Cosla says it has already made its "best and final" offer to unions, with cleaners, caterers and janitors set to walk out for three days next week
Strikes among non-teaching staff at more than three quarters of schools across Scotland will go ahead next week, after a union rejected the "best and final" pay offer from council leaders.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) said its "significantly improved in-year offer" would mean workers on the Scottish local government living wage would see an uplift of around £2,000, or almost 10%.
"Too little, too late"
But Unison, one of three unions involved in the negotiations, has called the offer “too little, too late” and said strikes will go ahead as it has rejected the deal.
Unison Scotland head of local government, Johanna Baxter said: “It has taken COSLA 6 months to send us a revised pay offer which, for the vast majority of staff is an increase of only 0.5% in-year. These are not well-paid staff, they are on less than the Scottish average wage and it is simply not acceptable.
“Far from learning the lessons of last year’s dispute the situation has been worse this year, caused further delay local government workers’ pay during a cost-of-living crises and created uncertainty for parents. This is no way to conduct industrial relations.”
It means many schools across the country will be closed, as staff including cleaners and janitors walk out for three days from Tuesday.
An extra £90 million was found for the latest offer, including the £10 million previously allocated by council leaders in the previous deal offered to unions on September 13.
Cosla going "beyond limits" in latest offer
Cosla said the new offer was made on condition that the unions take it to their members for full consideration and that strikes are suspended with immediate effect whilst they do so.
Its resources spokeswoman Katie Hagmann said: "This really is our best and final offer, we have nowhere to go after this.
"We have gone beyond our limits in a bid to satisfy our workforce and avert next week's strikes."
Unions have warned more than three-quarters of schools will close if the strike goes ahead, affecting 26 of Scotland's 32 council areas.
Unison, Unite and GMB Scotland rejected the previous "measly" pay offer from Cosla, saying it would lead to an increase of 38p per week for the lowest paid.
Cosla had said the previous offer would have provided at least a £1,929 increase in annual salary for workers by January 1, and the lowest paid would have seen a 21% rise over two years.
Ms Hagmann said on Thursday that no new money had been identified for the latest offer, and there will be "delays to programmes and projects within communities" to meet the pay demands.
She said: "Despite the extreme difficulties this presents us with, Scotland's council leaders have listened and acted on the ask of our trade union colleagues to get us to this position today.”
GMB accuses Cosla of dragging process out
Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland's senior organiser in public services, said on the new offer: "Our members have absolutely no interest in last-minute deadline dramas. All they want is a fair pay offer.
"Cosla could have made such an offer months ago but instead, despite our best efforts, chose to drag the process out for no good reason.
"We will now look at the detail of this latest offer. If it is a significant improvement on the last one, we will take it to our members.
"If it is not, the strikes will go ahead as planned."