Strike action that would have seen many schools in Scotland close next week has been suspended, it emerged this afternoon.
In a dispute over pay, school support staff walked out in Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde on Wednesday.
However, action planned next week for South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh and Fife has now been paused while members of the union assess the deal.
Last month, Unison rejected a pay deal from local authorities body Cosla, which was accepted by the Unite and GMB unions.
Today, Cosla said more funding has been found to meet the “extra demands” of Unison.
The offer will be put to Unison members - including school janitors, cleaners and pupil support assistants - in the coming weeks.
Unison Scotland’s head of local government, Joanna Baxter, said: “Over the past few months, from the employers’ original offer to today, the action of Unison members has secured more than an additional £100 million into the pockets of local government workers. This includes an additional £17.2 million secured in the last couple of weeks.
“The improvements put forward today help address low pay and support those in the squeezed middle. The commitment to delivering a minimum rate of pay of £15 per hour for all local government workers by April 2026 will go a long way to tackling low pay across the sector.”
Ms Baxter added: “Backdating the full offer to April this year will see an improvement for four in 10 local government workers.”
‘Additional one-off funding’ to meet pay demands
A statement from Cosla following a meeting of council leaders on Friday said: “Two of our three trade unions voted to accept the pay offer made on 21 September - at that point, there was no additional money available to increase that offer.
“After intensive talks, the Scottish government has identified a mechanism to underwrite limited additional one-off funding which can meet the extra demands of Unison.
“This will now allow councils to put additional funding into the offer, allowing all elements of the current offer to be backdated. Leaders recognise the importance of getting money into the pockets of our workforce as early as possible and today’s decisions will hopefully make that possible.”
The Cosla spokesperson added: “Given that an extremely strong offer was made to our trade unions back in April and then revised in September, it is disappointing that reaching an agreement has taken so long.
“But the priority of leaders today is ensuring that nobody is left out of pocket ahead of the winter period, especially given the ongoing pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.”
