Lanarkshire school staff are being balloted for strike action

Unison has created a ballot over pay dispute for 30,000 school staff in every council in Scotland.

The vote will close on August 25 and if staff vote to strike there could be mass school closures in September.

Earlier this year, Unison consulted its entire local government membership, which consists of 84,000 workers, on CoSLA’s pay offer. This was a five per cent increase from April 2023 as well as an additional increase that varied depending on an individual’s salary payable from January 2024.

Members voted overwhelmingly to reject this offer and nine in ten who rejected the offer also voted in favour of taking some form of strike action.

Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland head of local government, said: “CoSLA’s offer falls short of Unison’s pay claim, it is also less than the offer made to the lowest paid local government staff south of the border.

“And it would be a real-terms pay cut during the cost of living crisis.

“Despite efforts to move negotiations along, we’re now at an impasse. CoSLA has refused to improve its pay offer, which Unison members overwhelmingly rejected.

“It also says it doesn’t have the cash to offer more but is also refusing to ask the Scottish Government for additional funding.

“Council and school staff are fed up. All school staff should look out for their ballots, which will arrive in purple envelopes. Please vote and post back as soon as possible.”