School staff call off dispute and accept pay deal

Strike action had closed schools across Scotland in recent months

School staff have ended a long-running pay dispute with council leaders after accepting a pay offer.

Unison members in schools and nurseries – including janitors and catering staff – had been involved in industrial action since September.

They have agreed a deal that sets a timetable for staff to be paid a minimum of £15 per hour by 2026, with payments backdated to April 2023.

Cosla welcomed the acceptance of the “strong offer”.

The dispute involved pupil support, cleaning, catering administration and janitorial workers in schools and early years centres across the country.

The Unite and GMB trade unions had already voted to accept the previous pay offer which will see the lowest-paid workers get a rise of about £2,000 a year while other staff would get rises worth at least 5.5%.

Unison staff had sought further guarantees over the pay uplift and voted for the fresh deal by a margin of 69.6%.

Industrial action had led to walkouts and school closures in multiple council areas between September and early November.

‘Long overdue’

Johanna Baxter, the union’s head of local government, said: “This deal is long overdue and was hard fought for by Unison members.

“Cosla urgently need to review the bargaining process to ensure that future pay negotiations progress quickly and with as little disruption as possible.”

Cosla resources spokesperson Katie Hagmann said: “Throughout this challenging process, we have listened carefully to our trade unions, met all their asks, and worked with Scottish government to put an incredibly strong half a billion pound pay package forward.

“For the sake of everyone in our local government workforce, who are delivering essential front-line services, I am pleased that the pay offer has now been accepted by all of our Trade Union colleagues.”

On Sunday, the deputy first minister said there was “no doubt” that Scotland’s public sector workforce will have to shrink due to funding pressures.

Shona Robison said there was “no doubt” that staffing for services would have to be reduced due to tight budgets and inflation-driven pay deals.