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Council workers manned picket lines in Lamlash on Wednesday as part of the one-day industrial action throughout Scotland.
Out of just over 100 workers who are members of trade unions about 70 went on strike according to the island’s senior shop steward Sandy Lammie. He said: ‘I am really pleased with the response. It’s been fantastic. It’s a shame that the ones who haven’t come out on strike will take the money from pay negotiations but won’t make this sacrifice. All these folk on strike will lose a day’s pay.’
At Arran High School local janitorial staff would not cross the picket line so workers had to come from the mainland to open the school.
Moira McKechnie, learning support assistant, was on picket duty. She said: ‘No-one really wants to go on strike. This is the last resort. We don’t want to be greedy; we just want fair pay. Every one of our classroom assistants has a second job to make ends meet.’
The mood outside Arran High School was good-natured as union members flagged down cars coming into the school car park to ask for solidarity.
School buses were given clear passage. Stagecoach manager Steve Kirk got out of his bus and spoke to the pickets. He said: ‘Thank you for letting the buses through without any trouble. It’s a matter of child safety.’
Steve Garraway, shop steward for workers in education, said: ‘A strike is a rarity nowadays. We’ve been negotiating with employers over single status for six years. This wage offer of 2.5 percent increase over the next three years is equivalent to a pay cut in real terms.’
At the council offices the pickets were out on the main road. They claimed to have been moved out of the car park by the island officer Gus McLeod.
Striking council worker Davie Ross said: ‘Only one bin lorry has gone out today. Out of 13 cleansing workers six have gone in.’
Jim McMaster, also on the picket line, said: ‘All the parks department boys are out. There is just one guy in the council garage and one guy out on the roads. The two grave diggers have gone in to work on compassionate grounds because there is a funeral this morning.’
Alastair Gold was one of the cleansing staff to break the strike. He told the Banner: ‘I went in to work for personal reasons. I am skating close to the edge financially. If I lost a day’s pay my children would go hungry.
‘Quite frankly I can’t see where North Ayrshire is going to find the money for an extra pay claim in a global recession.’
High school head teacher Douglas Auld said: ‘The school kitchen is closed today. I sent a note to all parents asking them to send in a packed lunch. We can get by for one day. Staff from my art department even took tea and biscuits out to the pickets.’
An NAC spokesman said: ‘All primary schools were open. The contingency plans put in place for vulnerable people worked effectively although services were limited. The council will assess the staff response to the strike call and the overall effect on services.’
North Ayrshire Unison chairman Colin Turbett said: ‘It’s about raising the profile of our cause. We want to get back around a negotiating table.’
