Fifers are being urged to prepare for school closures and significant disruption to services when thousands of council workers walk out at the end of the month.
The warnings from council officials come less than three weeks before many employees are due to down tools and take part in industrial action on Wednesday November 30.
Education could be one of the worst-hit areas after it emerged last week that EIS members have voted overwhelmingly to strike the first national strike by the union’s members in almost quarter of a century.
However, services across the board from refuse collection to office staff are likely to be affected as members of the largest public sector trade union UNISON also take part in the protest over proposed changes to pensions.
Over 12,700 council employees are said to be members of a trade union, meaning over half the local authority workforce in Fife could be missing.
While it is not known how many workers will take part, the council admitted on Wednesday that there is likely to be disruption to normal services, with one senior official also suggesting that school closures are ”inevitable” although it is not clear how many schools will close.
Council chief executive Ronnie Hinds said staff are working behind the scenes with trade union representatives to protect the most vital services, but said there are no guarantees.
Mr Hinds said: ”We are in discussion with the unions in the hope that staff working in such areas will be exempt from strike action. Management teams are looking at their business continuity plans and we will issue more advice to customers nearer the time.”
The EIS said last week that 24,426 of its members 82.2% of those who responded to the ballot backed strike action after union officials slammed a UK Government ”triple whammy” to force teachers to work longer, pay more and receive less in their pension.
And that means a sizeable number of Fife’s 186 schools are likely to remain closed on November 30, giving thousands of pupils a day off and parents a childcare headache.
Education service executive director Kenneth Greer suggested parents and carers should prepare themselves.
Mr Greer said: ”As ever, we will do our best to keep schools open but, with both teaching and non-teaching staff involved in the industrial action, I think it’s inevitable that there will be significant disruption to schooling on the 30th.
”Nearer the day we will give parents more information about whether their children should attend school once we have established likely patterns of disruption. We will also use our alerts system to notify parents and carers of any closures.”
He added: ”In the meantime I would encourage parents to think about their options for childcare in case it’s needed, and to make sure their contact details are up to date, or to sign up for, school closure alerts.”
Fife EIS spokesman David Farmer said there have been meetings between trade unions and the council about the impact of the strike.
He said: ”Our expectation is that schools will be closed to children. I don’t think anybody wants to go on strike people do it as a last resort.”
He added: “We hope parents will understand that what we are fighting for here is protection of our conditions.”To register for the closure alert services visit www.fifedirect.org.uk