They are asking parents to take up the cudgels on behalf of low-paid staff who are having to take a pay cut or accept stints working in other schools. And they believe the new move to do away with the "deep cleans" of schools during Easter and summer holidays will leave schools unacceptably dirty.

The Highland Council introduced a new regime in May which resulted in many classrooms and corridors being cleaned every other day, rather than daily.

Staff rooms are now done weekly, although toilets and certain other areas, including special education units, continue to get daily attention.

The decision to permanently do away with the special week-long school holiday cleans from next Easter onwards is part of a drive to prune £400,000 from the council's cleaning budget.

Following a meeting between unions and council management on July 24, it was agreed to give existing employees the option of removing nine days from their 40-week working year. That equates to a cut of between £3 and £4 a week in their wage.

Those who do not go along with the cut may be required to work the extra two weeks in another school.

The council agreed to implement the "last in, first out" principle if it did not get sufficient volunteers to work the revised hours. All new starts are meanwhile being put on the 38-week contracts.

The changes were deplored at Monday's meeting of Thurso and Wick Trades Council.

Willie Alexander, Thurso-based shop steward with the Unite union, said that too often the council expects cleaners to do more work in less hours without a drop in standards.

He said: "If there's complaints about the standards of cleaning, it's the cleaners that get the blame."

Mr Alexander said low-paid staff are a soft target when budget cuts are sought.

"All the cuts are being made at the bottom of the tree," he explained. "I'm sure cuts could be made in other areas without affecting the service."

He said that too often the council takes advantage of the goodwill and dedication shown by cleaning staff.

He added: "There's always the fear that if they don't do what is asked, they'll be out of the door."

Trades council secretary John Deighan said the staff are being put in an impossible position.

He said: "I think it's terrible that the cleaners are being forced into this situation and it's not acceptable that our schools are going to be left dirty – it's a scandal."

A council spokesman said yesterday that the changes to the school cleaning regime are necessary to achieve the required £400,000 cut in the budget.

Meanwhile, council employees are hoping an improved pay deal will be tabled tomorrow (Thursday) to avert the prospect of further strike action.

Caithness, like the rest of Scotland, was badly hit on Wednesday last week by walkouts, which forced closures across a range of municipal services.

Mr Alexander said: "There may not have been a big turnout on picket lines but Caithness was virtually brought to a standstill in terms of schools being closed to pupils and bins not being emptied."

He said union negotiators are pressing the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to improve the current deal, which offers 2.5 per cent for the next three years.

Said Mr Alexander: "Failing a breakthrough tomorrow, I daresay that further strike action will be imminent.

"We've had below-inflationary rises over the past 10 years and we're now lagging way behind the private sector."

He said that some manual workers will soon be only 50p or so an hour above the national minimum wage if they did not get a rise.

Mr Alexander added: "The offer made by COSLA in March was before the current credit crunch really kicked in. We're not asking for the earth – we're just wanting a decent, living wage.

"Strike action was our last resort to make them take notice of us. Nobody wants to go on strike and it has lost us a day's pay, but hopefully it will end up with us being better off in the long run."

Mr Alexander, who works as a gravedigger, said he had received only positive feedback from members of the public on the day of the strike.

iain-grant@ukf.net

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