Schools and bins disruption put on hold as unions secure revised public pay offer
dailyrecord.co.ukUnions have called off strikes which were set to leave schools closed and bins unemptied across Stirling this week.The industrial action was set to force all nurseries, primaries and Additional Support Needs (ASN) settings to shut their doors for three days this week, while waste workers were also set to head off on a second bout of strike action beginning today.However, following meetings last week between the First Minister, Deputy First Minister, COSLA and unions, Unison members will now be presented with an improved pay offer, with a recommendation to accept.The offer means that the action has now been suspended, with all council services returning to a normal schedule this week.A statement on the Stirling Council website read: “Planned industrial action for the week commencing September 5 has been suspended pending a deal being agreed between Unions and COSLA.“All Stirling Council schools, nurseries and ASN settings will open as normal and bin collections will resume their usual schedule from Monday, September 5.“We’d like to thank residents for their patience and understanding during this period of disruption.”Unison officials hailed the new offer as a success for their members and paid tribute to workers for putting the pressure on through agreed walkouts to secure the deal.Johanna Baxter, Unison’s head of local government, said: “This offer is a victory for Unison members.“It has taken eight months and the industrial might of UNISON members in schools and early years and waste and recycling workers to drag £600m out of Scottish Government and COSLA and into the pockets hardworking people.“COSLA originally offered 2 per cent, then 3.5 per cent, then 5 per cent – we now we have £600m on the table, which is a 7.5
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