A strike procession will take place in Paisley tomorrow as school catering, cleaning, pupil support, administration and janitorial staff walk out for three days, closing all schools and most council run nurseries.
The procession will begin from County Square in Paisley at 12pm and strikers and supporters will march to Cotton Street, the home of Renfrewshire Council at 12.30pm.
On Friday, Unison confirmed they rejected the latest deal, and their members will strike on 26, 27 and 28 September. Extra talks over the weekend failed.
Unite and GMB unions said they were suspending the strike while their members were consulted.
Speaking after Unison rejected the new offer on Friday, Mark Ferguson, chair of Unison’s Scottish Local Government Committee and Renfrewshire Branch Secretary, said: “UNISON lay members take decisions on industrial disputes.
“Our local government committee, made up of local government workers, rejected the revised COSLA offer because although there had been progress on pay for some employees, it short-changed the majority. And UNISON’s commitment to winning a £15 per hour minimum rate, wasn’t satisfactorily addressed.
“Furthermore, the failure to provide any new money to back this offer means councils will have to take from other budgets to fund it, meaning further service cuts and job losses. UNISON will not accept a position where the union is asked to trade pay for jobs and services.
“For these reasons, UNISON Scotland’s local government committee, decided to continue with mass school strikes. Personalising this decision to one person shows complete ignorance of trade unions and disgracefully dismisses the views of 84,000 local government workers, and the democratically elected committee that I chair.
“UNISON will carry out the wishes of our committee and ballot our members next week on this offer. UNISON’s local government members will decide whether to accept the offer, no one else. No-one takes the decision to strike lightly. But council workers in Scotland deserve far better than this.”
In Renfrewshire, all schools will be closed on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, however a number of nurseries will remain open.
Headline Photo: Unison are getting ready to stand at picket lines
Photo Credit: Unison