Fife schools face closure later this month as Unison and Unite have announced they will hold three days of strike action over their on-going pay dispute.

The two unions announced they will take strike action from Tuesday, September 26, to Thursday, September 28.

These strikes are expected to affect primary and secondary schools in Fife and several other local authorities.

Unison’s members across a total of 24 authorities will take industrial action, which is expected to see mass closures across the country. Unite's action will hit 11 council areas.

Members of Unison and Unite set to strike include janitors, cleaners, caterers, classroom assistants and administrative staff.

Johanna Baxter, Unison Scotland’s head of local government, said: “Going on strike is always a last resort – our members want to be in schools supporting children, not on picket lines outside them. But they have been left with no option.

“Local government workers overwhelmingly rejected Cosla’s below-inflation pay offer back in March and despite our repeated representations, no improvement has been forthcoming. A real-terms pay cut in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis is a cut our members simply cannot afford.

“This is not a highly-paid workforce – there quarters of local government workers earn less than the average Scottish wage.

“All they want is to be paid fairly for the vital work they do supporting Scotland’s communities – Cosla and the Scottish Government need to get back round the table and work with us to deliver that.”

Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, added: “Cosla and the Scottish Government have been given warning after warning that strike action will be inevitable unless there is an improved pay offer.

“The entire blame for this situation is down to Cosla’s ineptitude, and the Scottish Government’s dithering.”

The third major union, GMB Scotland, postponed industrial action which was planned for Wednesday and Thursday this week (September 13 and 14).

Keir Greenaway, senior organiser in public services, said: “We wanted to give parents, children and local authorities as much clarity around our plans as possible.

“We had served notice for two days of strike action this month but as our sister unions could not join us on these dates, these have been withdrawn and we are actively discussing joint action later in the month.

“Cosla has the opportunity to avert that action if they can offer our members a fair pay rise and we can only urge them to take that opportunity.”

Parents are encouraged to keep an eye on schools' social media or websites as the situation continues to change.