A strike by council workers has disrupted schools, nurseries and libraries.
Unison members at Stirling Council are taking part in a 24-hour protest, which has also hit rubbish collections. The trade union took industrial action in the wake of a dispute with council chiefs over wage and service cuts.
Stirling Council said staff are being asked to take a 0.5% pay cut and to work an extra hour a week, but Unison said the extra work following years of a pay freeze amounted to a greater cut.
Unison branch secretary James Douglas said: “We have been left with no option but to proceed with a strike due to the savage cuts proposed by our employer.”
He claimed the action had been a “huge success” describing the support from Unison members for the action as “very solid”. Members of other unions had also refused to cross picket lines and had stayed away from work, Mr Douglas claimed.
Stirling Council’s website showed two primary schools and 10 nurseries were partially closed as a result of the industrial action.
In addition 13 libraries were shut because of the strike, along with a local authority recycling centre, while no waste collections were being carried out.
Mr Douglas said: “We regret any disruption or inconvenience this strike may cause, but we feel we have no alternative than to take industrial action to protect our pay and conditions of service with Stirling Council.
“We hope that a one day strike will send a clear message to both Stirling Council and its management team that enough is enough. We believe that this will force the council to think again.”
Green Party councillor Mark Ruskell called on council leaders get round the table again with the union in a bid to resolve the dispute.
“Stirling is setting a classic example to councils across Scotland of how not to negotiate with its own workforce,” Mr Ruskell said.
“For years, unions have worked constructively to bear down on employment costs, but this recent round of changes has destroyed staff morale.
“So many council staff work over and above their contracted hours as it is. To reward this with cuts in pay will just encourage staff to ‘work to rule’, eroding the quality of services.
“I urge management and Stirling Council’s political leadership to get round the table again and resolve this dispute once and for all.”
Stirling Council chief executive Bob Jack has already insisted the changes the authority it making are “reasonable and mean that all employees, bar the lowest-paid, are being asked to take a fair share of the savings required”.
Speaking last week he said: “‘A growing number of our employees are now accepting the new employment terms – many times more staff (including many union members) have already accepted the changes than voted in all the union ballots to reject them.”