Unison union members at the Scottish local authority began a two-week strike on Monday
Strikers on the picket line in Perth and Kinross on Monday (Picture: Perth and Kinross Unison)
By Sarah Bates
Monday 21 October 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue
Over 1,000 workers have taken their fight for higher pay to the doorstep of Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney.
Unison union members shut down every primary school and early years centre in Swinney’s Perth and Kinross constituency.
The local authority workers’ two-week strike, which started on Monday, also closed two secondary schools.
Stuart Hope, Perth and Kinross Unison branch secretary, told Socialist Worker that strikers were “full of spirits this morning” on Monday. “It’s a big ask for our members to go out for the whole of Scotland,” he said.
“But it’s absolutely solid—everybody is up for the full two weeks.”
Local authority workers are fighting against the Scottish National Party (SNP) government’s imposition of a 3.6 percent pay deal
The predominantly women strikers largely work as teaching assistants, cleaners, catering workers and in administrative roles.
Ahead of the action, Swinney fumed that there was “absolutely no justification” for workers to walk out. But these workers, who are already low paid, are right to fight back against yet another rubbish pay deal.
His government say there’s no more money to give workers a better deal. And it’s refusing to sit down with Unison to resolve the dispute.
Stuart said strikers were “extremely disappointed” with Swinney’s intransigence. “They’re seeing pay rises given to other public sector workers and millions of pounds put into other projects,” he said.
“They start to question whether they’re valued.” Schools and early years workers and waste, recycling and street cleaning workers have mandates to strike in 17 other councils in Scotland.
Unison should bring them all out. Strikers in Perth and Kinross are leading the way with their inspiring action, but it will take national action to win.
Local government ballot misses turnout threshold
Some 82,000 local government workers in England and Wales have voted for strikes—but missed the turnout threshold demanded by Tory anti-union laws which is still in force.
Some 80 percent of Unison union member who voted backed strikes over pay, but turnout was only 29 percent.
Three branches—Knowsley and Wirral on Merseyside and Barnet in north London—managed to get over the 50 percent threshold.
Helen Davies, Barnet Unison branch chair and a Unison local government service group executive rep for London, said the result reflects a “contradictory picture”.
“A third of members is saying pay is an issue and they want to strike—that’s not a majority but it’s not insignificant,” she said. “At some point, those voices need to be heard.”
The ballot was beset by technical difficulties, such as postal ballots not arriving at workers’ houses and a poor quality database provided by Unison nationally.
This, alongside the union bureaucracy’s sluggish attitude, meant it was extremely difficult for branch activists to speak to let alone convince people about the need to vote.
“This shows there’s been no lessons learnt from previous years,” says Helen.
“There were a lot of things put in the way of this becoming a successful ballot. We had a consultative ballot which confused people and then there was a long gap until the statutory ballot.
Helen says that recent local strikes in Barnet have “deepened” the anger about pay and conditions in her workplace—and made it easier to build the ballot.
“In the ‘adults’ department—where we had the strike—the response was a lot more emphatic than the year before,” she said.
It’s an example about how striking builds union organisation in workplaces.
Over 1,000 workers have taken their fight for higher pay to the doorstep of Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney.
Unison union members shut down every primary school and early years centre in Swinney’s Perth and Kinross constituency.
The local authority workers’ two-week strike, which started on Monday, also closed two secondary schools.
Stuart Hope, Perth and Kinross Unison branch secretary, told Socialist Worker that strikers were “full of spirits this morning” on Monday. “It’s a big ask for our members to go out for the whole of Scotland,” he said.
“But it’s absolutely solid—everybody is up for the full two weeks.”
Local authority workers are fighting against the Scottish National Party (SNP) government’s imposition of a 3.6 percent pay deal
The predominantly women strikers largely work as teaching assistants, cleaners, catering workers and in administrative roles.
Ahead of the action, Swinney fumed that there was “absolutely no justification” for workers to walk out. But these workers, who are already low paid, are right to fight back against yet another rubbish pay deal.
His government say there’s no more money to give workers a better deal. And it’s refusing to sit down with Unison to resolve the dispute.
Stuart said strikers were “extremely disappointed” with Swinney’s intransigence. “They’re seeing pay rises given to other public sector workers and millions of pounds put into other projects,” he said.
“They start to question whether they’re valued.” Schools and early years workers and waste, recycling and street cleaning workers have mandates to strike in 17 other councils in Scotland.
Unison should bring them all out. Strikers in Perth and Kinross are leading the way with their inspiring action, but it will take national action to win.
Local government ballot misses turnout threshold
Some 82,000 local government workers in England and Wales have voted for strikes—but missed the turnout threshold demanded by Tory anti-union laws which is still in force.
Some 80 percent of Unison union member who voted backed strikes over pay, but turnout was only 29 percent.
Three branches—Knowsley and Wirral on Merseyside and Barnet in north London—managed to get over the 50 percent threshold.
Helen Davies, Barnet Unison branch chair and a Unison local government service group executive rep for London, said the result reflects a “contradictory picture”.
“A third of members is saying pay is an issue and they want to strike—that’s not a majority but it’s not insignificant,” she said. “At some point, those voices need to be heard.”
The ballot was beset by technical difficulties, such as postal ballots not arriving at workers’ houses and a poor quality database provided by Unison nationally.
This, alongside the union bureaucracy’s sluggish attitude, meant it was extremely difficult for branch activists to speak to let alone convince people about the need to vote.
“This shows there’s been no lessons learnt from previous years,” says Helen.
“There were a lot of things put in the way of this becoming a successful ballot. We had a consultative ballot which confused people and then there was a long gap until the statutory ballot.
Helen says that recent local strikes in Barnet have “deepened” the anger about pay and conditions in her workplace—and made it easier to build the ballot.
“In the ‘adults’ department—where we had the strike—the response was a lot more emphatic than the year before,” she said.
It’s an example about how striking builds union organisation in workplaces.
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