A UNION has warned schools will close across West Dunbartonshire after staff returned the "strongest ever strike mandate in local government" following a ballot.

Unison asked non-teaching school staff working for every council in Scotland what to do about the five per cent pay rise offer from employer body Cosla.

On Friday, employees from 24 councils across Scotland voted to strike - with 95.42 per cent of West Dunbartonshire union members voting yes to strike action in what Unison told the Clydebank Post was a 'huge mandate."

The union says it is the largest-ever vote for strike action by school staff in Scotland and will mean mass closures across the country.

Unison Scotland’s local government committee will meet next week to take the next steps to prepare for industrial action, which is likely to take place in early autumn.

Unison 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”

Unison is the largest union in local government representing 84,000 workers.

The membership groups balloted were employees in schools, providing services to the running and operation of the school.

This included early-years staff working within a school or are co-located with a school.

The ballot - which closed at 10am on Friday - did not include early-years workers in stand-alone nurseries or early-years centres.

Unison Scotland local government committee chair Mark Ferguson said: “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.”

Cosla say the pay offer on the table is five per cent rising to a seven per cent uplift by the end of 2024.

Commenting following a meeting of Council Leaders on Friday, Councillor Katie Hagmann, Cosla’s Resources Spokesperson said: “We had a good positive meeting of Council Leaders on 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 Scottish Joint Council 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.”

A West Dunbartonshire Council spokesperson said: "The Council was informed of the results of the ballot for an increase in pay and we await and will closely monitor the outcome of negotiations."