Strikes that will close schools across Scotland are set to go ahead after a union rejected a new council pay deal.
The Scottish government freed up £80m so local authority body Cosla could improve the offer, which would have included a rise of about £2,000 a year for the lowest paid.
It has been rejected by Unison whose members will walk out on 26, 27 and 28 September in 24 council areas.
The union described the latest offer as “too little, too late”.
The GMB and Unite unions are still considering the deal.
The dispute is over a pay offer for all council workers other than teachers – who are covered by a different deal.
A number of councils – including Glasgow – have already said schools will close if the action goes ahead.
Unison Scotland’s head of local government, Johanna Baxter, said: “We cannot agree to a pay offer that will result in further cuts to our members’ jobs and the services they provide.
“These are not well-paid staff, they are on less than the Scottish average wage and it is simply not acceptable.”
A deadline was originally set for 17:00 on Wednesday for Cosla to make an improved pay offer – but it asked for an extension to seek funds from Deputy First Minister Shona Robison.
‘Disruptive to children and parents’
The funding package is understood to have been worth nearly £580m – though it involved no extra money for councils overall.
The new money for pay would previously have been used for something else.
The Scottish government has said councils would need to use existing budgets to fund a better deal.
After the latest offer was rejected, Shona Robison called for talks to continue to try and avert future strikes.
She told BBC Scotland News: “It is disruptive to children and parents and that is why we found with great difficulty the extra £80m to try to help to resolve the dispute.
“My plea would be that discussions continue and that they try to discuss over the weekend with the hope of still potentially calling off the strikes.
“If that’s not possible and strikes can’t be averted they need to keep talking to try and avoid further strikes beyond that.”
The last pay offer, made last week, was rejected by the three unions.
‘Significant offer’
It offered workers at least a £1,929 increase in annual salary by 1 January 2024.
Cosla said the deal would have seen the lowest-paid local government workers receiving a 21% pay increase in two years.
The local authority body’s resources spokesperson Katie Hagmann said she was disappointed with Unison’s decision and accused the union of “putting our communities, especially our children and young people, through the turmoil and mayhem of strikes next week with their actions”.
She added: “We have met every ask of our trade union colleagues throughout these negotiations and this best and final offer was made on the basis that strikes would be suspended.
“We absolutely value all our local government workforce and throughout these negotiations council leaders have reiterated the value we place on the workforce and the work that they do.
“It is totally unacceptable that with such a significant offer on the table that our trade union colleagues are putting our communities and our young people through the turmoil of strikes.”
The swift rejection of the new pay offer by Unison was a surprise.
The hope had been that the offer would, at the very least, lead to strike action being suspended while members were consulted over whether to accept it.
The consultation will still go ahead but the union’s frustration is clear.
While the strike itself is over pay, it’s likely that pickets and protesters next week will want to make wider points about the funding of council services.
Unions feel council staff are being asked to do more and more with tighter resources and that local services are not financed well enough.
Meanwhile, many parents will be planning to take time off work or arrange childcare.
It will be the second time within a year that schools have been closed by strike action.
Some are still worried about the lasting impact of the pandemic on education so the loss of three school days can never be taken lightly.
But that is also a reason why the unions thought the mere threat of more school strikes could have been enough to resolve the dispute.
