Renfrewshire school workers continue fight for fair pay as three days of strikes come to close

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Union bosses slammed the Scottish Government for “failing pupils and parents” as three days of strike action drew to a close.School cleaners, caterers, administrators, classroom assistants and janitors walked away from Renfrewshire Council’s 62 schools on Tuesday as Unison staged the first of three days of strike action.It has seen picket lines drawn at the school gates across the local authority ever since, while workers marched from their schools to Renfrewshire House on Tuesday afternoon where a Unison rally demanded better pay for all local government workers.The rally heard from Paisley-based Mark Ferguson, chair of Unison’s local government committee, and Brenda Aitchison, chair of the union’s Renfrewshire branch.They told hundreds of people – who turned out despite torrential rain – that they would continue to fight for a fair wage for a good day’s work.Unison rejected an 11th-hour proposal from Cosla and the Scottish Government at the weekend which would have seen the lowest paid receive a £2,006 uplift in wages.Fellow local government unions Unite and the GMB suspended industrial action in order to ballot their memberships.

But Unison has urged its members to reject the offer outright.One worker, who joined Unison recently, said she felt compelled to take action over what has been years of campaigning that has resulted in staff receiving their final pay increase months after it is due.She told the Paisley Daily Express: “We have already been waiting since April for a decent offer and this is now the end of September.“Five months on and we are still working on last year’s rate of pay while council tax has risen by six per cent.