STRIKES which were set to cause ‘significant disruption’ to Fife schools have been called off.

UNISON has confirmed that the industrial action planned for Wednesday (November 8) will now be suspended while its members are consulted on an improved pay offer from COSLA.

The union say they have negotiated a ground-breaking commitment to tackle low pay across local government which should deliver above inflation increases for the lowest paid workers for at least the next three years.

The union also say that action by UNISON members over the past months has delivered an additional £100m into the pay packets of local government workers.

This includes an additional £17.2m secured in the last couple of weeks. The agreement to backdate the full offer to the beginning of April for all workers further benefits around 4 in 10 of the workforce.

The union will now put this new pay offer to their members with the recommendation that they vote to accept it.

UNISON Scotland’s head of local government, Johanna Baxter, said: “Over the past few months, from the employers original offer to today, the action of UNISON members has secured more than an additional £100m into the pockets of local government workers.

“This includes an additional £17.2m secured in the last couple of weeks. “The improvements put forward today help address low pay and support those in the squeezed middle.

"The commitment to delivering a minimum rate of pay of £15 per hour for all local government workers by April 2026 will go a long way to tackling low pay across the sector.

“It was UNISON members who stood on picket lines to fight for a better deal. It was UNISON negotiators who brokered this deal. And it will be UNISON members who determine whether it gets accepted.”

Chair of the local government committee, Mark Ferguson added: “The commitment to deliver a minimum of £15 per hour for local government workers is ground-breaking and should see above inflation increases for those on the lowest pay for at least the next three years. This will make a real difference to their lives.

“Where previous offers only offered talks about the possibility of this being achieved, these improvements make it happen. This has been a long-standing UNISON objective to help those on the very lowest pay and we will work hard with COSLA on the practicalities of delivering it.

“It is right we put this offer to our members and I want to thank UNISON members for taking action that has helped secure these improvements. Our membership has been growing at unprecedented rates over the past few months which demonstrates that workers know UNISON will deliver for them.”

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A statement from COSLA said that after intensive talks, the Scottish Government has identified a mechanism to underwrite limited additional one-off funding which can meet the extra demands of Unison.

It added: “This will now allow Councils to put additional funding into the offer, allowing all elements of the current offer to be backdated.

“Leaders recognise the importance of getting money into the pockets of our workforce as early as possible and today’s decisions will hopefully make that possible.

“Given that an extremely strong offer was made to our trade unions back in April and then revised in September, it is disappointing that reaching agreement has taken so long. But the priority of Leaders today is ensuring that nobody is left out of pocket ahead of the winter period, especially given the ongoing pressures of the cost-of-living crisis.

“We remain fully committed to working in partnership with all of our Trade Union partners. This is the final £17.2m to get a package worth more than half a billion over the line which will increase the wages of our lowest paid employees by £2000 a year, for the second year in succession, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.”