Schools and nurseries across Tayside may have to close if strike action over staff pay goes ahead.
Council employees who work in education roles, including school cleaners, janitors and dinner staff, have voted for strike action, taking place over three days next month, after rejecting a 5% pay offer.
A strike ballot of about 25,000 council workers across the country from the Unison, Unite and GMB unions is thought to be the largest in more than a decade.
Why are staff taking industrial action? When is it likely to happen? And how will local schools and nurseries be affected?
We answer the key questions on the pay row.
Why are school staff going on strike?
Staff are unhappy about a pay offer put forward by COSLA – the body representing local authorities.
They were initially offered a 2% wage rise, but all three unions representing council staff demanded a £3,000 boost and a minimum wage of £12 an hour for all employees.
Workers were then given an updated offer of a 5% wage rise, but unions have said there is not enough detail about how it will affect the lowest paid workers.
Unison says that with inflation predicted to rise to more than 13%, the current offer on the table is unacceptable.
When is the strike going to happen?
Unite union members in Dundee and Angus schools and nurseries – which includes administrative workers, cleaners, caterers, and classroom assistants – are scheduled to to take industrial action on September 7, 8 and 9.
Unite members employed by Tayside Contracts, who provide catering and janitorial services to schools across Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross councils, are also going on strike on the same dates.
How will local schools be affected?
Schools and nurseries will close as a result of the action, according to the union, but this is yet to be confirmed by the local authorities.
Local councils in Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross are working with Tayside Contracts to establish the potential impact of any strike action by Tayside Contracts staff.
They say they will then identify what contingency plans can be put in place to minimise disruption.
Schools and nurseries in Fife are not affected, only waste services will be disrupted after Unite members balloted to strike.
What are the unions saying?
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite’s members across local government are taking strike action because the politicians have failed them miserably.”
Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland head of local government, said: “Until we have a decent pay offer that we can put to Unison members our strike action will continue and thousands of school and early years workers will be taking action across nine councils in Scotland.”
Response from Cosla
Cosla Resources spokesperson, Councillor Katie Hagmann said: “The reality of the new offer is that the lowest paid 12% of our workforce will get more than a 5% increase meaning that those on the Scottish Local Government Living Wage will see an overall 7.36% increase.
“This amounts to one of, if not the best offer in decades for Scottish Local Government workers during some of the most trying times for councils to continue to deliver the everyday essential services that our communities rely on.”
SQA vote for industrial action
The Scottish Qualifications Authority workforce has voted for industrial action which will hit student appeals.
Unite the union has confirmed that its members from the exams body have voted to strike on September 8, 15 and 16.
Industrial action will disrupt the standard appeals stage of the process with the trade union estimating that up to 22,000 standard appeals will be ‘severely delayed’.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “Unite’s SQA members have emphatically supported strike action due to a derisory pay offer which is worth as low as 1.7% for some workers.
“There are serious concerns over education reform in Scotland, and specifically what this means for the jobs of our members going forward.”
Could teachers also strike?
A national strike by teachers over pay could be held in October.
Teaching union Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) plans to run a ballot amongst its members asking for industrial action if no settlement is reached before then.
In June a strike by Dundee secondary school teachers over creation of faculties was called off at the last minute.
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