SCHOOL staff in Fife have voted to strike with "mass closures" expected across the country.

Unison, the union which represents public service workers, balloted members last week over a pay dispute.

Mark Ferguson, Unison Scotland local government committee chair, said staff supported action in "unprecedented numbers".

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) had put forward an offer of pay rises worth around 5 per cent in April.

There would also be an additional, salary dependent, uplift from January 2024.

But Unison said there was an "overwhelming vote in favour of strike action in every council" after balloting closed on Friday morning.

Fife was one of the 24 council areas where the legal threshold of 50 per cent turnout was met.

Others include Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow.

Mr Ferguson commented: "School staff across Scottish local government have voted to strike in unprecedented numbers.

"Cosla must address the union’s calls for improved fair pay that recognises and rewards them for the vital work they do in their communities.

"Cosla leaders are meeting today and if they fail to address the reasonable demands on the back of such a significant mandate, schools across Scotland will close and nobody wants that.

"Unison remains committed to dialogue and hopes a satisfactory resolution can be found before staff are forced to take industrial action."

Unison Scotland’s local government committee will meet next week to prepare for industrial action, which is likely to take place in early autumn. The union says it was the "largest ever" vote to strike by school staff in Scotland.

It had claimed for a 12 per cent pay rise, or £4000, whichever is greater, as well as an underpinning minimum rate of pay at £15 per hour.

Of those eligible in Fife, 58.47 per cent turned out, with 90.96 per cent voting in favour.

Unison's Scottish secretary Lilian Macer said: "This is Unison's strongest ever strike mandate in local government, which shows the level of anger felt by staff.

"The union will do everything possible to get back around the table with Cosla to resolve this dispute.

"School staff would prefer to be in school working with children, not on picket lines and closing dozens of schools.

"But the Scottish government and Cosla should be in no doubt about the determination of school staff and they’ll do what it takes to get an improved pay deal for all local government workers"

Commenting following a meeting of council leaders on Friday, Councillor Katie Hagmann, Cosla's sesources spokesperson, said: “We had a good positive meeting of council leaders earlier today (Friday) at which they once again reiterated how much they value the whole of the local government workforce.

“In relation to this year’s pay negotiations for the SJC workforce, we discussed options for concluding these negotiations as soon as the outcome of current ballots are known, and to this end, there was agreement to hold a special meeting of leaders as soon as we possibly can.”