Councils, justice and schools in firing line
COUNCILS
About 25,000 staff working in schools, nurseries, waste and recycling centres, and other local services, are to be asked to consider industrial action.
Unison, Unite and the GMB unions have warned ministers in a joint letter that action ‘would close schools across the country and see waste piling up on the streets’. Johanna Baxter, Unison head of local government, condemned SNP ministers for refusing to hold pay talks.
TEACHERS
Teachers have rejected a 2.2 per cent pay increase – with unions demanding a 10 per cent hike. EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said teachers are prepared to strike if a resolution is not reached on the dispute.
In a speech at the EIS annual meeting, he said teachers are ready to ‘fight back’ and school staff ‘deserve better’ after their efforts during the pandemic.
He added: ‘Cosla and the Scottish Government are on notice that come the autumn we will be strike-ready if required.’
RAILWAYS
Train drivers were initially offered a 2.2 per cent pay rise by ScotRail and many of them have already been refusing to work rest days.
The Aslef union had threatened further action, but its Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay hailed a ‘breakthrough’ on Thursday as ScotRail offered a package including a 5 per cent basic pay rise. Members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 13 train operators, including ScotRail, will walk out on June 21, 23 and 25, in what is being regarded as the biggest outbreak of industrial action in the industry in a generation.
POLICE
While it is not a trade union, the Scottish Police Federation has threatened to launch industrial action for the first time in over a century unless officers get a bumper pay deal. Options which would be considered include refusing to attend sports fixtures or stopping issuing fixed penalty notices.
No UK force has launched strike action since 1919, when legislation outlawed police membership of trade unions.
Calum Steele, general secretary of the SPF, said ‘no other category of worker’ was in the same position as police officers, who were struggling to tolerate their treatment.