Schools in Scotland will be forced to close as support staff go on strike again this week in a row over pay.
Unison members in eight council areas will be walking out from today (Wednesday, November 1) after voting overwhelmingly to reject Cosla's latest pay offer, with another strike planned next week.
The union said it will be carrying out a rolling programme of industrial action with further school strike dates and more councils to be announced in due course.
Read more: Why are school support staff striking in Scotland? Explained
Unison argues the latest revised pay offer, which was accepted by Unite and GMB unions, represents a real terms pay cut to workers.
Johanna Baxter of Unison Scotland said: “No one wishes to cause disruption for pupils and their parents, but school staff have left with no other option.
“The strength of feeling amongst Unison’s 91,000 local government members, who voted overwhelmingly to reject Cosla’s latest pay offer, is clear. They are determined to continue to fight to get an improved pay offer.”
But Humza Yousaf said there is "no more funding" for a further pay offer. The First Minister said: "We have significant additional funding in order to get a really good pay deal on the table for our local government workers, and that’s why two out of three trade unions have accepted the deal.”
It comes after more than 21,000 workers took industrial action in September, forcing 75 per cent of Scotland's schools to close.
Which Scottish council areas are on strike on Wednesday, November 1?
On Wednesday (November 1), school staff in the following areas will go on strike. Full list:
-
Glasgow City
-
Renfrewshire
-
East Renfrewshire
-
Inverclyde
A large number of schools in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, and Renfrewshire will be closed during this day of industrial action.
In Glasgow, all nurseries, primary schools, and additional support learning school will close. While secondary schools will only open for S4-S6 students. Glasgow Gaelic Secondary School will be closed to all pupils.
In East Renfrewshire, all primary schools, nursery classes within schools and Isobel Mair School will be closed, while secondary schools will be closed to S1-S3 pupils. The position will be similar in Renfrewshire.
Inverclyde council has said primary schools will be closed to all pupils. While secondary schools will be closed to all S1-S3 pupils. St Columba's High in Gourock will be open to S4-S6 pupils. Early year establishments will be closed except:
-
Binnie Street Children’s Centre
-
Gibshill Children's Centre
-
Glenbrae Children's Centre
-
Glenpark Early Learning Centre
-
Hillend Children’s Centre
-
Larkfield Children's Centre
-
Rainbow Family Centre
-
Wellpark Children's Centre
Which Scottish Council areas are on strike on Wednesday, November 8?
Schools in the following Scottish council areas will be affected by industrial action on Wednesday, November 8:
-
South Lanarkshire
-
Dumfries and Galloway
-
Edinburgh
-
Fife
The council areas have not yet announced which schools will be closed on this strike day, but this article will be updated as soon as more information is available.
Which Scottish council areas will close on Wednesday, November 15?
Unison has just announced a further wave of strikes taking place on Wednesday, November 15. The Scottish council areas affected will be:
- Angus
- Clackmannanshire
- Dundee City
- Perth and Kinross
- Stirling
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here