First Minister John Swinney blasts strike action in his Perthshire constituency

“Let me be absolutely clear with Parliament, I think there’s absolutely no justification for my constituents to be singled out and targeted just because I am the First Minister of Scotland.”

Perthshire North MSP John Swinney has said it is “absolutely unacceptable” that PKC has been singled out for schools’ strike action just because he is First Minister.

Mr Swinney – speaking in Holyrood during First Minister’s questions – had been responding to a question by fellow Perthshire MSP Murdo Fraser who asked him what the Scottish Government was doing “to stop this damaging action proceeding.”

Last week UNISON notified Perth and Kinross Council that non-teaching staff are set to strike, closing schools for two weeks from Monday, October 21.

The union had said PKC strikes should bring home to the First Minister the importance of finding “a fair settlement to the dispute.”

Council bosses previously said they are assessing how it will impact schools and they intended to minimise the impact on children, parents and carers as much as possible.

UNISON pointed out that a Scottish Government pay offer was not in line with other public service workers, many of whom have been offered 5.5 percent pay rises.

Conservative MSP Mr Fraser had said the industrial action “will impact on young people, many of whom have already had their schooling disrupted by Covid”, adding: “UNISON are taking this action after seeing similar pay rises for other workers already being awarded but school pupils are caught in the crossfire.”

He added: “So what is the Scottish Government doing to try and avoid this damaging action from proceeding?”

In response to Mr Fraser’s question, Mr Swinney said he took the matter “deadly seriously” adding that he hoped the matter could be dealt with urgently.

He pointed to the local government employers’ COSLA offer being accepted by two unions [Unite and the GMB] and rejected by a third [UNISON].

Mr Swinney replied: “Mr Fraser will not be surprised to know that I take this issue deadly seriously as a parent of a school pupil who stands to be affected by this in Perth and Kinross, as well as a representative of 64,000 people in my constituency whose families stand to be affected by this.

“Let me be absolutely clear with Parliament, I think there’s absolutely no justification for my constituents to be singled out and targeted just because I am the First Minister of Scotland.”

UNISON had said the PKC strikes should bring home to the First Minister the importance of finding a fair settlement to the dispute.

UNISON Perth and Kinross branch secretary Stuart Hope said: “Taking action like this is the last thing school and early years staff want to do.

“Employees are taking this first stand on behalf of all local government workers because they’ve seen a decade of pay cuts and they see other sectors being offered deals of greater value.

“A fair pay deal should have been in place from April 1 but, six months later, it’s still not been agreed.

“Instead, the employer has imposed a wage rise rejected by a majority of the workers UNISON represents.

“Yet again local government staff are being forced to strike to simply get fair pay.”

A PKC spokesperson said last week: “We have received notification from UNISON about intended industrial action by non-teaching staff in our schools as part of a national dispute over pay.

“We are currently assessing how this will impact our schools. Our intention is to minimise the impact on our children, parents and carers as much as possible and will be issuing further information as soon as possible.”

Councils where UNISON has a mandate for strike action in waste, recycling and street cleaning are: Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Fife, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross, South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian, plus Cireco, an arms-length waste management company.

Councils where UNISON has mandates in schools and early years include Perth and Kinross, as well as Shetland, Orkney, East Renfrewshire and Angus.

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