Glasgow council could close schools and nurseries during strike action

Union UNISON confirmed on Tuesday that it had informed Glasgow City Council - one of nine across Scotland - that school and early years staff would be striking between September 6-8.

It says this is due to a lack of progress between itself and national local authority body COSLA over council pay.

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “We have now had the official notice of the intention of industrial action on 6, 7 and 8 September and a decision will be taken on whether our schools and nurseries will be able to stay open on these days.

“We will let families know as soon as possible if the decision is to close the schools so that they are able to make alternative arrangements.”

The strikes will go ahead at a time when waste and recycling staff across Scotland are also taking part in industrial action.

Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland head of local government, said: “We are in urgent negotiations with the employer to try and find a solution, but so far we have only had an offer of talks - we have not had a pay offer. Until we can explain to UNISON members how a pay offer might impact on them, council workers have been left with no choice but to strike.

“UNISON has been demanding pay talks for months and COSLA and the Scottish Government are still dragging their heels. Inflation is predicted to rise to more than 13%, and our members are struggling as fuel, food and household bills go through the roof.

“Until we have a decent pay offer that we can put to UNISON members our strike action will continue and thousands of school and early years workers will be talking action across nine councils in Scotland.”