New wave of strikes announced as schools in Scotland forced to close

Strikes in a further five council areas in Scotland will force schools to close as workers walkout in an ongoing dispute over pay.

Staff in schools and associated early years facilities in Stirling, Clackmannanshire, Dundee City, Angus and Perth and Kinross councils will walk out on Wednesday, November 15, Unison has announced.

It comes as workers walk out in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde on Wednesday.

Next week, on Wednesday, November 8, further industrial action will see strikes across South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife.

Unison said further strike dates will be announced.

The union rejected a pay deal from local council body COSLA that was accepted by other unions last month.

COSLA said it had secured additional funding from Scottish Government of £94m in order to make the “extremely strong” revised pay rise.

The offer represents a minimum wage increase of £2,006 for those on the Scottish Government’s living wage and a minimum increase of £1,929 for workers who are earning above the living wage.

Unison Scotland’s head of local government Johanna Baxter said: “The strength of feeling among Unison’s 91,000 local government members, who voted overwhelmingly to reject COSLA’s latest pay offer, is clear. They are determined to continue to fight to get an improved pay offer.

“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.

“COSLA and the Scottish government need to give local government workers 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.”

A COSLA spokesperson previously said: “Whilst there was good progress made on Friday, there will be a further meeting of council leaders later this week. No further comment today.”