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THOUSANDS of civil servants, council staff and cleaners took to picket lines in Scotland yesterday.
Civil servants, who made up the bulk of striking public-sector workers in Scotland, sent a clear message to both governments in Holyrood and Westminster — “we’ve had enough of pay cuts.”
The 24-hour action, with rallies held in Edinburgh and Glasgow, saw many courts and museums closed.
The workers were among two million civil servants, teachers, local government staff, firefighters and transport workers who walked out across Britain.
Public service union PCS called on Scottish ministers to reject the Westminster-imposed pay cap.
Con-Dem pay freezes and below-inflation increases have amounted to a 20 per cent cut in real terms.
PCS Scottish secretary Lynn Henderson told Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney not to wait for the referendum to break away from Chancellor George Osborne.
“At any point in the last seven years he could have rejected a below-inflation pay cap and accepted the arguments of PCS that investment in public services, in public-sector jobs, in fair pay for civil servants that would help Scotland’s economy and help the way out of recession.
“Instead the people who work hard delivering government priorities have faced the devastating consequences of losing thousands of pounds from their household incomes as their pay has been frozen or capped and inflation has eroded their day-to-day living standards.”
