Unison urged to ‘stand down’ strikes as council chiefs fund more cash for pay

Union leaders have been urged to “stand down” strike action which has closed schools in Scotland, as council leaders said more money has been found for workers’ pay.

The local Government body Cosla said that after “intensive talks” with the Scottish Government, a way had been found to underwrite some “limited one-off funding”.

This cash would allow for demands made by Unison – the one union which has not yet accepted the local government pay deal – to be met, Cosla claimed.

In a statement, the organisation which represents all of Scotland’s 32 councils, said: “This is the final £17.2 million to get a package worth more than half a billion over the line, which will increase the wages of our lowest-paid employees by £2,000 a year, for the second year in succession, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.”

It comes after Unison this week announced more schools were facing strike action from support staff including janitors, cleaners and pupil support assistants.

The GMB and Unite trade unions have already accepted the deal put forward by Cosla in September – with Cosla leaders now calling on Unison to put the revised deal to their members and “give the workforce a chance to decide”.

The local government body stated: “In doing so, we would very much hope that they stand down all strike action to ensure our children and young people experience no further disruption.”

Cosla said the additional funding that could now be put into the offer would allow for all elements of the pay deal to be backdated.

It stressed: “Leaders recognise the importance of getting money into the pockets of our workforce as early as possible, and today’s decisions will hopefully make that possible.”

Insisting that the offer made to council workers was already “extremely strong”, Cosla stated it was “disappointing” that an agreement on pay had not yet been reached.

But it said: “The priority of leaders today is ensuring that nobody is left out of pocket ahead of the winter period, especially given the ongoing pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.”

It comes after tens of thousands of children missed lessons on Wednesday as school staff in Glasgow, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire walked out.

As that happened, Unison served notice of strike action in Stirling, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Angus, and Perth and Kinross on Wednesday November 15 – with this to take place a week after a walkout already planned for South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife on November 8.