Tayside and Fife school strikes suspended as Unison considers new deal

Strikes that were due to affect schools throughout Tayside and Fife have been suspended.

The union Unison is putting a new pay deal to its members who work in schools and early years buildings across Scotland.

It comes as local council body Cosla offered an improved deal to staff.

Unison was the only union to reject a previous pay deal when members originally voted to take industrial action.

This means planned strikes on Wednesday, November 8 in Fife, and Wednesday, November 15 in Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross will now be suspended.

School strikes called off

The new deal will be put to members who will ballot on it for the next few weeks.

Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland‘s head of local government, said: “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 10 local government workers.

“It was Unison members who stood on picket lines to fight for a better deal.

“It was Unison negotiators who brokered this deal.

“And it will be Unison members who determine whether it gets accepted.”

Mark Ferguson, chair of the local government committee, added: “The commitment to deliver a minimum of £15 per hour for local government workers is ground-breaking and should see above inflation increases for those on the lowest pay for at least the next three years.

“This will make a real difference to their lives.”