School and early years branch members will be on strike on 6th, 7th and 8th of September, in support of a decent pay rise for all council staff.
They will join UNISON waste and recycling members who will have already started their strike action on 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September. UNISON has a mandate to call out 13,000 workers on strike across Scotland.
These members have voted to take action on behalf of all UNISON members in local government and we send them our solidarity and best wishes.
The school staff and waste workers strike will disrupt schools, early years centres, nurseries and waste and recycling centres in Aberdeenshire and across Scotland, in the largest strike among council workers since the Trade Union Act was introduced in 2016.
Inez Kirk, branch secretary and one of our lead negotiators said: “We are in urgent negotiations with the employer to try and find a solution, but so far the only offer made falls far short of inflation and far short of what has been offered to our colleagues south of the border. Council workers have been left with no choice but to strike.”
Meanwhile talks continue to end the dispute. However a meeting held on 23 August reached no agreement.
Inez added: “It was a very long meeting but unfortunately there has been no breakthrough and we are a long way from a pay offer that we would be able to recommend to our members.
“COSLA negotiated within the cost envelope that leaders mandated them but that simply isn’t enough and goes nowhere near matching the pay offer provided to council workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“The only thing that both parties could agree on is that we need the urgent intervention from the Deputy First Minister to put additional funding in place.”
That request was made on 23 August and a meeting between the joint unions, CoSLA and the Deputy First Minister will take place on Wednesday 24 August.